Matemale is a “Must” …..

…. according to our new friends from here – Paul and Alice. This is where they, and hundreds of others, go to ski each season.

Only 63 Km from here, but pretty much up hill all the way. The road was so narrow in one section just after the village of Axat that traffic lights were used to make the road one way at a time. What a good idea 💡.

I stayed pretty much focussed on the road while Mick took some photos for us.

Not surprisingly, this part of France is popular for hydroelectricity stations. These were huge ugly constructions that looked fairly aged, but they were obviously still doing a good job.

Once up the hills, we were amazed how flat the land became. There were farms and small towns and the road was actually good enough to do 90km / hour. Our first stop was the skiing resort town of Formiguères. But, in case you didn’t realise, today was Monday (Lundi).

And pretty much everything except a ski outfitter shop and this supermarket was closed.

We had anticipated this might be the case, having lived here for a month now, so we packed a thermos of coffee and enjoyed that with a baguette (of course). This was a pretty town and there were loads of chalet-type accommodation on the outskirts. We could easily have ‘swung a cat’ here, as long as it wasn’t one we’re looking after, as the streets were almost empty. In a month’s time Formiguères will look very different.

Pretty as it was, our destination was Matemale to try our luck at this restaurant which came highly recommended by Paul and Alice. They told us the chef was Australian.

We noticed a woman cleaning in front of it, using water she collected from here.

So we were hopeful we might get a table. But …..

.… it was closed. Not just because it was Monday, but she told us it would open on Friday for the start of the skiing season. 😫

So, I turned us around and we headed down the hills. Much easier this way I thought. But Mick was still a little frightened- apparently.

We stopped in Axat and found one bar opened for lunch. Yeah.

This town is quite large and obviously houses lots of people who work for the energy company as well as loads of wood cutters.

We have decided buying the Plat du Jour, which usually consists of two or even three courses, is way too much for us in the middle of the day.

Mick chose his meal for our son Joe. They are having a competition to find the location of the best hamburger ever, currently Nambour QLD is winning, but this gave it a run for its money.

While I chose the local dish of cassoulet.