Pork simmered with herbs and clementines

In late October or early November, Corsican clementines appear in our supermarket in Nice. We use these seedless delicacies in fruit salads, and they go very well with duck breast or pork.


2 servings

About 300- 350 g pork fillet
6 Corsican clementines or other tasty clementines
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bouquet garni 
2 cm piece of fresh root ginger, peeled and minced
200 ml white wine
200 ml chicken stock
1 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard, moutarde à l’ancienne
Freshly ground black pepper
Parsley

Cut the pork fillet into large chunks, about 4 cm x 4 cm.

In a heavy casserole, cocotte, warm the butter and olive oil over medium heat and fry the pork until golden on all sides. Add the shallot and garlic and continue sautéing for 5 minutes. Add the flour and mix.

Pour the white wine and chicken stock in the casserole. Add the bouquet garni, ginger, black pepper, and mustard. Cover partly and let simmer for about 1 hour. Stir now and again.

When about 10 minutes cooking time remains, peel the clementines, and add to the casserole. Cover and let simmer.

Serve the pork with new potatoes and decorate with chopped parsley.

Visit to Domaine du Rayol Gardens

The Domaine du Rayol Gardens is situated on the Côte d’Azur coast about 7 km west from Cavalaire-sur-Mer. Cavalaire-sur-Mer with its about 4km long sand beach was one of the Allied landing beaches in August 1944.

In contrast, the coast around the village of Le Rayol has several tiny calanques. The beauty of this part of the coast lured the rich and curious at the turn of the 20th century. Two families, first Courmes, then the renowned aviation industrialist Potez, created and developed the Domaine du Rayol. Then, after decades of neglect, le Conservatoire du Littoral acquired the domain in 1989.
The park is now open all-year round, except the 25th December, and receives about 70000 visitors per year. Details can be found on www.domainedurayol.org (in French).



The garden is in a natural state but well-maintained. It is not a garden where you learn the names of different plants, but rather an environment to show plants growing in Mediterranean climatic conditions around the globe; from the Mediterranean basin to the Canaries, California, Chile, South Africa, subtropical Asia and Australia, and New Zealand.

We visited the Domaine on a sunny day in mid-November, and had lunch on the cafeteria’s terrace enjoying the warm and calm weather.

The area is large enough for a nice walk. But it was the overall experience, the clean air, the scent from pine trees, the unique setting of the premises by the sea that made the greatest impression.

We strolled down to the seaside and relaxed by the old boat house (with a mini-exhibition featuring the Mediterranean biodiversity), listening to the gentle lapping of the waves.

October hike above Madone de Fenestre

It was a clear late October morning, trees turning bright yellow higher up. The magnificent ridge comprising five peaks between the passes Baisse de Prals and Baisse de Ferisson (2254 m) south of Madone de Fenestre was once again our goal. From Nice, it takes about 1h 30 to reach the sanctuary.




As mentioned before, the network of trails here allows you to design your hike à la carte. This time we wanted to explore the less used trail from signpost #363 at Plan de Prals. We started from Madone de Fenestre, and took the familiar trail from signpost #361 that ascended following the Mercantour Park perimeter. At signpost #363 (4th image above), we forked right, heading southwest towards Tête de la Lave (2375 m), a peak in the middle of the ridge. We have previously hiked the longer version via Cime de la Valette de Prals (2496 m).

Once on the ridge, we could see the main trail continuing northwest, following its southwestern flank. We, however, continued along the ridge proper where another good trail continued to Tête de Cinant (2314 m), and could actually enjoy better views in all directions. Before Baisse de Ferisson, there was still one unnamed peak on the ridge.

Approaching Baisse de Ferisson, we saw a sheep flock near it, and three large dogs guarding them. One of the dogs was lying on the trail just before Baisse de Ferisson, and the two other dogs started to approach us, barking loudly even though we were several 100 m away. Having had a bad experience with sheep dogs this spring, we decided to make a detour. The only option was to descend “off-piste” along a steep but soft incline, thus avoiding the mountain pass. We knew that the trail back to Madone de Fenestre was somewhere below us, and located it soon enough. Anyway, it was a bit of an adventure!

The shepherds are resorting to more and more desperate measures to protect their flocks from wolves.

The rest of the hike was uneventful, we descended back to signpost #362 and hiked back to our starting point along the trail used in the morning.

Duration: 4h

Elevation gain: 551 m

Distance: 10,2 km

Map: IGN Vallée de la Vésubie 3741 OT

Duck legs en cocotte with carrots, potatoes and onions

Risotto with tomatoes, basil and chicken

Madone de Fenestre: Easy hike to Lacs de Prals

The Chapelle de Madone de Fenestre (1904 m) is a good starting point for several interesting hikes. The two most popular itineraries comprise the trails to Col de Fenestre at the Italian border, and Lacs de Prals southeast of the sanctuary.

The network of trails around Madone de Fenestre allows you to tailor-make your hike.

The Prals Lakes consist of 5 lakes in a basin at about 2200 m elevation, surrounded by majestic peaks. From Madone, the lakes can be reached from the north, along the trail along Vallon du Ponset, or as we did this time, from signpost #361 (1820 m) below Madone de Fenestre.




We ascended along a good trail familiar to us along Vallon de Prals, passing signpost #362, then 363. We came to a vast alpine meadow called Plan de Prals and continued to signpost #364 and a crossroads. From here, you can head directly to the lakes by taking the left-hand trail. We continued straight towards Baisse de Prals. However, just before reaching this mountain pass, we forked left along a good trail that was marked with a cairn at the crossroads. The direction was straight towards the lakes. In places, we had to negotiate rocky parts of the trail, but reached the upper smaller lake soon enough.

 We felt that for a moderate effort we got great views, and the atmosphere of high mountain summits. It is simply stunning every time! This detour was much less used compared with the main artery to the lakes.

Needless to say, Lacs de Prals was a perfect spot for picnic for us and numerous other mountain lovers.

We headed back along the main trail to signpost #364, thus closing our little extra loop. We then took the same trail back to our starting point.

Duration: 3h 30

Elevation gain: 470 m

Distance : 9.6 km

Map: IGN Vallée de la Vésubie 3471 OT

Corsica: Cliff walk from Bonifacio

The trail from Bonifacio to the southernmost tip of Corsica, Capu Pertusatu, is characterised as an easy stroll in some guidebooks. We agree with that. Hiking boots are not necessary, good jogging shoes suffice. It is a leisurely cliff walk with fantastic views to Bonifacio and over the strait to Sardinia.

Note that the tower seen from Bonifacio above the cliffs is an observation and radar tower of the French navy. The old lighthouse in Capu Pertusatu is a bit further away, and becomes visible when passing the military area.

We started from the Bonifacio Harbour, and walked around the old town before heading to the trail.





The trail started from Col Saint-Roch just above the harbour and below the old town. We first ascended along a wide cobbled trail. The path soon became narrower, levelling off, and we followed it, heading east. The military tower was visible most of the time, making navigation easy. There were no signposts. We eventually came to the D260 road near an intersection. Here, we forked right (south), following the road downhill for about 3 minutes. At a bend before the road starts climbing again, we forked left along a well visible trail, climbed a bit passing a ruined house before reaching the same road again. In fact, many tourists preferred to drive here, parking near the naval tower, obviously missing the great first part of the trail!

At this point, the old lighthouse was visible. We now followed a nice paved trail (cars not permitted) that took us directly to the lighthouse which was under restoration, and hence closed. We walked past its perimeter to the cliff which was our turning point today. It is possible to descend down to the beaches along trails that start before the lighthouse, or by continuing a bit further east to Cala di Labra, known for its overhanging sandstone cliff. All along the trail, mind the steep cliffs!

We returned to Bonifacio along the same trail.

Duration: 2h 30

Distance: about 9 km

Climb: about 200-250 m