I go out walking with a group of friends most weekends. A lot of the time we are up in the mountains with a picnic when lunch comes around, but we’ve had a series of landmark birthdays in the group (everything one ending in 0 from 40 to 70) which has led us to investigate walks with restaurants on route and I thought that I’d share them with you.

One of the loveliest places round here is the Donezan so we headed towards it, up through Axat and the Haute Vallée of the Aude. This valley is a series of precipitous limestone gorges, with wonderful deciduous forests, with ash, maple, beech and elm covering the sides of the gorges and the Aude, so full of water again, rushing briskly down stream, feeding the several power stations on its way.

Most people are perfectly capable of taking themselves off for a walk in the countryside, but have you ever considered what you might be missing? Do you sometimes wish you could find out the origins of a church you’ve passed, or be able to name that familiar wildflower and butterfly? Or more seriously have you ever got lost, got caught out in a thunderstorm or after dark unintentionally? All the more reason to hire a qualified guide, an International Mountain Leader (IML) or ‘Accompagnateur’

Martin Fourcade, a 26 year-old, tall (184 cm) non-commissioned officer of the mountain infantry brigade at Chamonix, emerged from the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games as the new star of biathlon, with three medals, two gold and one silver.

CLICK HERE FOR LOADS MORE EVENTS IN MARCH WHEN & WHERE? WHAT? Tuesday 1st 3pm Theatre Jean Piat, Canet en Roussillon Children’s Show  ‘Il était une fois 3 princesses’ Tuesday 1st – 12th Médiathèque Intercommunale…