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Rodes photos taken August 2004
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The street off the square, with the village restaurant , a view of the valley beyond the River Tet .. and our accommodation in the last house on the left. |
The small square in Rodes, home to an old tree and a new bar, favoured by the younger crowd. |
From the balcony of the house can be seen the rest of the village, and the intervening gardens. |
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Leading off from the village square and its three-storeyed buildings are some views of the old village ... |
... with its narrow passages and winding steps, to shady alleys with greenery and flowers, and tended with care. |
Most of the old and steep part of the village has received a complete makeover in the form of tiling in the walkways, adding railings to flights of steps and asphalting the more level sections. |
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The nearby parts of the village, including a crenulated tower! |
The view from the lounge window - a palm .................. |
................ with fruit. |
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Some of the local gardens are intensely cared-for and are very productive. A good few are tended less, probably a feature of the hot summer months.
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A newly-planted grove of tress (could they be olives?) next to the sheer concrete walls of a dried-up stream .. not the bisse. Bamboo grows throughout the village, and indeed the region, wherever there is water. |
On a Saturday morning the fish van calls. The supermarket in Prades is about ten miles away, so fresh fish on your doorstep is a service that is still viable.
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From the hillside overlooking Rodes, its location by a sizeable area of cultivable land is revealed. Today, perhaps, this translates into building plots. |
Both types of cactus seen locally, together on the path above the church. |
Figs growing on a house wall in the older part of the village.
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Olives growing on the valley side, ob the walk up to the dam.
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The village boasts a number of bisse or irrigation canals . The road into the village sees an example running fast with clear water. |
A complete surprise on the walk was the number of cacti, here starting to flower.
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The village in evening light, from the road and across the bisse.
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An impressive flow of water is conducted by the roadside, and then under many of the houses, before reappearing and heading on down the valley, contouring all the while. |
As is much else in Rodes, the neatness of the canal's construction, and the tidiness of the village, shows well here. |
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The River Tet |
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The River Tet enters a gorge section as it flows past Rodes. Old mining works can be seen on the northern wall of the gorge, and the roadway which leads above the dam.
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The holiday home came with its own garden of woodland and a private beach by the river! |
The largest flood to come down the river can always be gauged by the largest rounded boulders in its bed! |
The Tet can increase in flow suddenly, if the dam needs to release water. A warning notice was posted in the village, but in the summer months this is more than unlikely. |
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The dam at Rodes, with Vinca and Mount Canigou in the background. |
From above the old village, westwards towards the dam. |
The land between the new dam and the village is relatively flat, agricultural and with provision for irrigation. |
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Swimming at Vinca |
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A view of Vinca from above the dam in Rodes. The Pyrenees masses in the background. |
The lake is split by a causeway, carrying both the road and the railway up the valley. The bathing area faces the enclosed inlet. |
The bathing area from inland of the lake.
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The highly eroded area to the east of the lake at Vinca. |
From the swimming area the pyramides and gullies are clear. |
In evening light the gullying stands out well.
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The soft sediments, here sands and gravels, needed for pyramides, are seen in this exposure. To prevent erosion there needs to be a larger stone to act as a cap rock.
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