Pyrenean safari

Posted bymaryjane678Posted inUncategorized

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on August 25th 2025.

Mountain skies

Our roof is finished and we decided we deserved a day out so we hired a car and headed for the mountains for a day trip. Temperatures are on the rise again here and we lost a few degrees by spending a day in the hills. Ironically our new insulation in the roof is doing a cracking job of keeping the heat in! At least we’ll get the benefit in winter…..

As I write this it’s a stifling, sticky 34 degrees again so I will let the pictures be enough!

You’ve seen this before. We did this walk in October last year. But the pictures are all about the wildlife this time round.
Lac du Suyen
Mountain view
These three shots were all taken by Michael
An alien lurks in the grass
Beautiful butterfly
We shared our lunch spot with a few sheep.
And here they are getting to know my walking boot.
We spotted this beautiful butterfly earlier but it flew away before we could get a picture. Imagine my surprise when I saw it had landed on my rucksack! Never seen one of these before.
Obviously they have as much right to be in the car park as we do – or they think they do.

And that’s it for today. They are promising lower temperatures tomorrow and some rain. Fingers and toes crossed.

MJ

11 thoughts on “Pyrenean safari”

  1. James had a Pyrenean Safari earlier this year. Well, he had a fleeing Pyrenean visit en-route from St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago. He completed the full Camino Frances in 34 walking days. He said the Pyrenees were beautiful – between the downpours! – and at one stage was surprised to see a field of large birds, which turned out to be Pyreanean vultures!!

    I hope you cool down over there soon. We are enjoying 25° at the moment and that’s as warm as I want it.

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  2. The horses looked very like ‘Comtois’ horses which we saw at the Stock Gilyard Oak Fare. The owner said they were a French breed. The butterfly in the video could be a ‘Camberwell Beauty’ found both in France and UK, but I have never seen one.

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    1. Hi Antony. Absolutely right on horses and butterflies!! We looked up a bit more about the butterfly yesterday and apparently it is one of the longest lived butterflies, a year I think(forgotten already!) In the USA it is known as the Mourning Cloak. MJ

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  3. Glad you treated yourself to a getaway, albeit with lots of company, two- and four-footed.
    Hope the temps abate and you get some welcome rain.
    Maybe you can look into some form of ‘passive’ or natural cooling for Le Shack?

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    1. Hi Eliza. Thanks for the advice. We’ll look into that. But better today although it was still 30 degrees inside when we went to bed. Open door and through flow don’t seem to bring the temperature down. Not that there was any flow. No wind at all. MJ

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  4. Well done for getting the roof finished. I’m sure that will be a relief. You deserved a day out. Lovely pix as usual. So much interesting wildlife around, especially in the comparatively unspoilt environment of the Pyrenees.

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  5. Yes we do need to put down tools and enjoy a relaxing day out. Loved the sound of the sheep’s bells really felt I was up in the mountains with you too and a beautiful grasshopper ❤️

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