Coming from the French word terre for “soil,” the word terroir originally described the special characteristics of a region, or piece of land, which gave different varieties of wine, coffee and tea their individuality. (Soil, climate, position, regional traditions….)

As the rain clouds gathered on Thursday morning, I jumped in the car with two adventure-loving pals and headed up to the ominously-named Pont du Diable (Devil’s bridge) in Céret to meet up with our guide from Extérieur Nature.