We were up with the sparrows this morning (0600h) to join in on a Zoom meeting with NECEN (North-East  Community Energy Network) back home, to hear about their success in getting a grant to set up a Power Hub information centre for the North-East Victoria region. About 30 people from 15 different community energy groups joined in, but Rita and I were the only ones joining from France! This group, founded under the auspices of our Federal MP Cathy McGowan about 5 years ago and now with support from her successor MP Helen Haines, has been very active and successful in establishing and developing community energy schemes in our region. Their bi-monthly meetings have proved very useful in keeping us up-to-date in this fast-changing field. Hopefully, the new Power Hub will continue to support such activities at an even greater level.

Since we were already up and awake, we decided to do something with our time. Our host, Sarah, has a big birthday coming up, so Rita decided to get her something special for her garden at Besain. So she bought her the making of a raised herb garden, and this morning Rita got to work assembling the garden and planting a variety of herbs. Also, because their garden can be somewhat unruly, she bought her a brushcutter ("debroussailleuse" in French) so that she could create and maintain pathways through their wild-flower garden, to be able to reach the herb garden. And then she got me to assemble, start and use the brushcutter to make said pathways. It was like being back home again!

Given our recent trip to the Cascades de Herisson to see the waterfall in full flow, we thought we would try our luck again by visiting Baume-les-Messeurs, which also has some nice cascades. On our previous trip in 2019, it was again in a dry spell and the cascades were not as spectacular as the advertising would have you believe. So around noon we started out for the half-hour drive south from Besain. The Jura countryside and towns are stunning and we thoroughly enjoyed our drive through towns such as Bonnefontaine and Mirabel. Even the local Haflinger horses were cooperative in posing for us (despite the local flies that were driving them crazy).

When we arrived at the town of Baume-les-Messeurs, I attempted to turn left to head towards the cascades, but was stopped by a Tourism Office official who told me I couldn't turn left and go through the town to the cascades, but should turn right and "park somewhere down there". I couldn't see any one-way signs or similar, but took her advice and looked for parking north of the town, only to discover nothing available for quite a distance. Indeed, we reached the bridge across the stream running through the town, so crossed it and found a parking space. But now believing that we would not find any parking near the cascades, we got out and started the 3km walk to the cascades. Oh well, we needed to get our 7000 steps done somehow today! It was indeed a pleasant walk, although it was in the hot sun and the last section was very uphill. The campsite in the town looked very pleasant with campsites spread out along the clear running stream.

The town itself, like most other towns in the Jura, was also very attractive, with beautiful stone buildings and spectacular background scenery.

As we left the town and continued the walk to the cascades, we realised that some cars were indeed going to, and coming back from, the cascades. However, we didn't know if there was any parking at the cascades (there was in 2019) or whether the cars coming down the hill had just been turned around at the top and were coming back to find some parking. And since we had now walked nearly halfway, we just decided to keep on walking. It wasn't too dificult (we hadn't reached the steeper section yet) and the scenery was stunning.

When we got to the top, we were a little bit hot and sweaty, so we sought out the nearest place for a cool drink. And directly across the road there was indeed parking, directly in front of the cascades. We could have gotten here without stepping out of the car, but then what would I have had to talk about for the past several paragraphs and photos? After finishing drinks and cooling down a little, we went for a closer look at the cascades. They did indeed look a bit different to what we had seen last time in 2019. Instead of a moss-covered pile of rocks with a little dribble down the front, the cascades were now approaching what they are advertised to look like!

As if we hadn't had enough uphill walking for the day, we then walked even further uphill to the source of the water going over the cascades. In 2019, it was just a small amount of water seeping out at the base of the cliffs. This year, however, there was a reasonable gush of water streaming out from just below the entrance to the Grotto.

After all today's walking, following Herisson the other day, Rita's ankle was starting to play up, so she waited at the top of the hill, while I walked down then brought the car up to pick her up. As we drove back down through the town, I watched out for any one-way signs near the corner where I was re-directed this morning, but saw none. So maybe it was just a temporary one-way system during the high tourism season. On the way home we took a different route, via Chateau Chalon, another place we visited in 2019. Since we had run out of provisions at home, we thought we might treat ourselves and dine out tonight, and so we headed for where we had a drink last time. We arrived early (1830h), but were told the kichen had not yet opened and that, when it did, they were already booked out tonight. So we took a quick picture of the vineyards on the other side of the valley to remind us of the visit and then headed back down the mointain to a supermarket we had seen on the way up, to get something for dinner tonight. We then headed back up the mountain (past all the sections of roadworks dealing with landslides from the recent rains) and headed back to Besain.

Later that evening, as Rita was again working in the garden, she called me to see the rising (near-) full moon. I know, from lots of previous experience, that it is nearly impossible to get a good moon photo (especially with a phone camera), but the one piece of advice I remember is to take a photo of something in the foreground with the moon in the background, so that the camera doesn't try to focus on the moon. So I picked my favourite thing in the garden (the yellow flowers that bloom at night) and gave it a try. Not a classic "moon-shot" but a nice reminder of the garden at Besain.