Wednesday, March 10, 2010

La Forêt De Choussy

This little forest is on the right bank of the Cher, just south of the town of Choussy. It's on the way between St.-Aignan and Oisly, the latter being another wine producing town in our area. I haven't explored the woods. In fact, I'm not sure how much is public. There are some signs in spots that mark private property, but not everywhere.

This road is limited to twenty tons.

Normally I just drive through these woods on the way to someplace else. This day I decided to stop at a spot were three roads come together in the middle and take some pictures. It was a showery day, and I got caught in a small squall while out on foot. I didn't mind at all. The rain was gentle, not cold, and there was no other sound except that of the raindrops hitting leaves. It was sublime.

A dirt road cuts through the woods.

Like many of France's forests, this one serves as a hunting ground in season, and it is managed and harvested regularly for wood. Our local forests are planted mostly with a mix of pines and oaks but they contain other species as well. There are many of these forests around us and we drive through them all the time. I need to stop more often.

11 comments:

  1. How typically French is THIS, eh? Man, can't beat it. Very nice scenes, very nice photos, Walt :)

    Judy

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  2. What a nice place for a "listen."

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  3. Beautiful and tranquil - thanks for sharing these.

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  4. The photos look so inviting. I love walking through the woods alone in nearly complete silence, hearing only the leaves rustle and the chipmunks running away.

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  5. Lovely photos. We have scenes like that in Derbyshire, lots of them, except that there would be 6 cars, 4 horses, 5 cyclists and dozens of walkers eating icecreams or take-away burgers (dropping the cartons on the road) in each photo. We live in a lovely part of the world but it is almost impossible to find peace and quiet anywhere.
    This is why we love France so much, parts of it anyway.

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  6. Why is it that my mind takes me right back to several places throughout Europe where these sorts of roads led to concentration and death camps?

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  7. Geez, A Lewis, why IS it that your mind takes you there? Seriously... I honestly don't associate this kind of scene with that at all. Did you see some movie that had a scene like that in this kind of setting?

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  8. My sister lives in an area like that.

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  9. I never thought of France having any forests.
    Are any of them ancient, like the Black Forest?

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  10. judy, it's a very common scene around these parts.

    chris, sometimes it's so silent that I wonder if the world stopped.

    diogenes, you're welcome!

    cubby, we don't have chipmunks here, but we do have wild boar.

    jean, I know what you mean. It's hard in our modern world to find these places, but as you say, parts of France are filled with them.

    alewis, are you having a bad day? ;)

    starman, in France?

    michael, not sure. These forests are remnants of old ones that have been cut and replanted countless times; some were planted where swampy lands were drained. They're all nicely maintained but still feel more wild than they are.

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  11. Beautiful.. I love a good verdure!! You know. I was half expected a deer to jump out like the one we saw when Alex and I were almost at your place last time!

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