One of the things I love about hiking is that you never know what you’re going to see. We were expecting this view over Le Lac de Serreponçon, Europe’s second biggest artificiel lake:
But we didn’t think we’d find such an enormous flock of sheep just the other side of the mountain. We hazarded a guess that there were about two thousand.
The sheep probably belong to several farmers who have grouped their flocks together to employ a shepherd and “rent” a mountain for the summer months. This transhumance allows the sheep to graze in higher pastures whilst the farmers cut and store the hay on their fams for the winter months.
We’re lucky enough to have sufficient land behind our farm to allow the sheep to graze all summer without sending them into the higher Alps.
But our flock sure looks small in comparison!
The mountain dweller 
Your view of the lake is a different one than mine when we are at the place we frequently rent above Embrun.But I often come across large flocks of sheep on “my” side, too.
Yes, Embrun must have an excellent view too, especially as it’s so much closer to the lake than we were when I took the photo.
like the sound of being able to rent a mountain for the summer, what a great idea !
It appears to me that your flock is large for you… all that you require and can manage with care. Too large creates more headaches…. too small creates want. So to find yourself in such a land that supports your little flock, which supports you is all the riches anyone could desire in this old world. Never get bigger than your joy.
“Never get bigger than your joy” – I like that!
That top photo makes me wish I was there….superb view! The ‘mountains’ in general that you depict in these images are more, to me, what I think one would find in the south….limestoney, not much growth on them, almost Australian in the ‘feel’.
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