Another weekend, another hike. In this case, not even a hike, more like a good walk. A beautiful walk though. Perfect also for the type of weather we had. It was quite warm, but really smoggy, as you can see on the picture below. So the view wasn’t really perfect. And if you hike towards the top of a mountain, it’s always a bit of a disappointment when you can’t enjoy the view.

That’s why todays walk at La tourbière du Peuil, near Claix, was perfect. It wasn’t a walk towards the top of a mountain. The idea was not to enjoy the far away view, but to enjoy the near surroundings. The flowers, the green shades of the trees and grasses, the loud frogs, the emptiness and the mire itself.

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Actually, before I go on, do you know what a mire is? If you aren’t a native English speaker, probably you don’t. I didn’t, at least. A mire is a what the french call a tourbière. Another word that I didn’t know, as my French isn’t that good. I looked it up, to understand what it is. I actually at first thought it was a swamp as it was pretty wet, but apparently it isn’t. A mire is wetland, yes, but a swamp is characterised by the trees that grow on wetland. With a mire it’s mostly grasses that you see. Grasses that grow on peat.

That was clearly the case here in the wetland area. Grasses, lots of grasses everywhere. And now, you see, I even lied before. A tourbière is actually a more specific type of mire wetland. It’s a bog, which is one of the two types of mire. Pfff. Complicated. Doesn’t matter. The good thing is that with entering this nature reserve, you can find a lot of information about all the characteristics of this area at the gate. A very rare sight in France, very much appreciated though!

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