TRAVELS IN THE LANGUEDOC
Pouring Rain & Gusting Wind Are Not Good Reasons to Skip a Picnic in Gruissan
Foul weather adds magic to the watery landscape
I’ll admit that picnics are probably more enjoyable when the sun shines and the winds aren’t blowing, but I’m also fine with pouring rain, car picnics and watching a stormy sea. Downpours only add to the watery and slightly melancholy beauty of Gruissan.
In rain or sunshine, this is a landscape painted in pale, dreamy watercolours. The fishermen’s cabins and small boats faded by salt and wind, driftwood and grasses bleached to sombre shades. Even the flamingos, standing in shallow lakes, seem less vivid.
Gruissan appeals to my slightly melancholy side — perhaps that’s why visitors don’t always share my enthusiasm. I sometimes wonder if it’s boredom I’m sensing as I point out Gruissan’s marshes and lagoons. While no one has asked whether we’re en route to Narbonne, just 20 minutes or so away, I suspect only politeness prevents the question.
We’ll get to Narbonne eventually I promise — the shops, restaurants, magnificent Gothic cathedral and Les Halles de Narbonne, probably the best-covered market in the region — but first I want everyone to love Gruissan as I do.
Perhaps beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
But there are other things to do in Gruissan besides picnicking in the car and watching the rain — there’s a small mountain of salt, for instance. Also a salt museum and a shop where you can buy . . .take a wild guess. Right. Natural salts, flavoured salts, bath salts and Fleur de Sel, an extra fine crystal harvested in Gruissan. Salt production in the area dates back to Roman times. It’s helpful to know all this if you realise you’ve forgotten to put salt in the picnic hamper.
And when it’s not raining, Gruissan is also a wonderful place to hike and enjoy some great views. AllTrails offers trail guides and curated tours for all interests and levels of fitness. When I hiked with my French friend Hélène and a couple of her friends, also French, we kept it simple. She loaned me a couple of her poles and carried on a running commentary in Franglaise about what we were seeing. Then we had a picnic, but not in the car.
The medieval village of Gruissan is also worth a visit — something I mention to my visitors if they grow restless looking at faded fishermen’s huts and salt flats. Built-in a circle around the castle, it is classified as one of the most beautiful villages in France. It also has frighteningly narrow streets.
More about the village another time though. For now, I want to stay on the salt flats in the pouring rain. I know, I know, you want to go to Narbonne. No? You like it here, you really like it? Great. There’s more. Some of the fishermen’s cabins are for rent and you can buy fresh oysters and mussels from one of the little shacks — when they’re open. If it’s windy or raining, you might be out of luck.
But you can always bring a picnic and sit in the car.
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