Vineyards and the Massif des Maures at Gonfaron
By Hans-Josef Jeanrond on Sunday 1 February 2009, 17:10 - Provence / Var - Permalink
Fog clearing below the Massif des Maures
Nebel lichtet sich am Fuss des Massif des Maures
Le brouillard se lève au pied du Massif des Maures
31 January marked the end of the season for "season greetings" in France.
This extended season gives French people a lot more time than those in most
other countries to recover from celebrations before sending their New Year's
wishes. It shows we have a different sense of time. (I say "we" since I have
adapted a long time ago. Having to be exactly on time has become a
strain...)
So it is time, even in France, to follow the greetings-entry of this blog with
a new posting.
Even though we have already had a glimpse of spring last Sunday (25 January)
seeing the mimosas blossom in Bormes les Mimosas, let us first come back to the
spot that figured on the greeting card in the last posting.
Driving across the
Col de Gonfaron from Collobrières (on the D39) around 10 am on a Saturday
morning, we came across this spot showing the the valley around Gonfaron under
a cover of fog.
By the time we had come to the plain, the fog was already clearing up.
(Click on the images to enlarge) 
All of these images were taken on the way to another destination, in a bit of a
hurry, within just 20 minutes. 
So I decided to come back the next day, a bit earlier and with more time,
hoping to seize the whole process of the fog clearing up. Being earlier than
the day before, I found myself around 9 am in this environment:
Little did I know how much time I would have to spend!
The fog clears up in waves: As soon as the the sun clears up a good patch,
humidity starts evaporating from the ground, creating a fresh cloud of dense
fog.
Around 10:30 am
In the meantime, the fog had cleared enough (by 9:50) to allow the view of
the Massif des Maures that I used for the greeting card in the last posting.
(See the first image in this posting)
I wonder, how many people have spotted the figure 2009 painted as a "cloud" in
the sky on the greeting card.. (go back to the previous post to have a
look.)
During the waves of new fog, I was sitting in the car, listening to one of
the typical French Sunday-morning-intellectual-radio programmes that are quite
entertaining but which you forget more or less as soon as they end. They allow
people to expose their intellectual brilliance more than they dig deep down
into any subject matter. Before anyone attacks me for such arrogant statements
I hasten to add that some brilliant French intellectuals do go below the
surface in their radio programmes. ☺
While listening to the radio, I watched the landscape unfold in the rear
mirror of my car, getting out periodically for a series of new
photographs.
By about 11:30, the fog had mostly cleared up, so that I could get back home
in time for lunch.(Important, we are in France, after all!)
(Click on the images to enlarge)
