We had decided to cross the Pyrenees from coast to coast and here is one of my sketches done on a rare damp morning at a small camp along the way. This tangled tree was right next to our parking spot and when the sun came out later it gave us some welcome shade while we took our lunch.
The tree had flowers and fruit at the same time and I enjoyed using my watercolour pencils to capture the fuzziness of the seed heads.
We only had one stop on the Mediterranean coast at Roses, just across the frontier in Spain, which has a wonderful bay with sandy beaches and an interesting history. I sketched and stitched the palm trees just in front of the café where we took our daily aperitif.
We then spent a week at Argeles Gazost, a wonderful place just south of Lourdes, the famous pilgrimage destination. The snow capped mountains surrounded the town with a fast flowing river running through the valley.
This is the view from a high point in the town which I was able to sketch and stitch using some threads and organza I found in the weekly market that filled the centre on the Tuesday.
We discovered the 'voie verte,' a cycle track made from a disused railway that runs from Lourdes to Pierrefitte Nestalas. What a fantastic couple of days we spent cycling in each direction and enjoying the views and the cool air when we came close to the river.
I was totally captivated by the sight of the cold water rushing over the different coloured pebbles so I tried to capture it in a stitchpic.
Another view by the river, a clump of poppies caught my eye and soon that became another embroidery and then a birthday card for someone special.
We finished our holiday at St Jean de Luz for a few days then on to Nantes for a couple of nights on the last leg of our return home.
I didn't have time to sketch while we were at St Jean de Luz so here is one I did on an earlier visit showing the typical architecture.
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