Smoke on the water

Sod's law ... yesterday was glorious, but this morning was the unusual combination of overcast plus a north-west wind howling off the Pyrenees. It was ten degrees colder than yesterday. It was also the appointed day for Pam's photography walk -- she runs a local Facebook photography group and loves walking. 

We met on the shore of the lagoon in Bages -- this in itself was an exploit as the road down to this small fishing village was closed, leading to a hopeless unsigned diversion -- I ended up going about 7 km in the wrong direction and then tearing down the road along the shore of the lagoon to make the rendezvous in time.

It was sunnier on the coast, but conditions were not ideal for walking or photography. It was still blowing a gale, the sky was hazy, there was glare off the lagoon, and the situation was not enhanced by someone deciding to burn some vine trimmings (not a smart idea on a windy day) resulting in clouds of drifting smoke. We noted a vanload of firefighters coming to check it out. My little camera couldn't cope at all with the lighting conditions. Result, I took few photos and deleted almost all of them. 

Still, I always enjoy Pam's walks. She's a good leader, enthusiastic and always brings enough coffee and home made cake for everyone (ginger cake today, it was delicious). And it's nice to chat with people I "know" on Facebook but don't meet often. Stats: 6 km, 100 m climbing, 2 hours 20 minutes including one substantial coffee and cake stop and a couple of others to admire the view/take photos (extra, even more struggle with the white balance here). When we got back to Bages we sat on sheltered benches in the sun and ate our lunch. Some storks flew over and there were flamingos on the lagoon, but they were much too far away to get a decent photo without a long lens.

Back home I lit the fire and lounged for a bit before heading back out to Narbonne in the early evening to see The Zone of Interest. Such a brave and unusual film. A far cry from the Holocaust kitsch that you see in fiction (looking at you, John Boyne). The audience filed out in silence at the end; I even felt a bit sick. The soundtrack: fantastic. The brief present day scene at Auschwitz was a masterstroke. Quite an "Oof!" reintroduction to the cinema after not going for months.