They think it's all over ...

Monday was the first day of Relaxed Lockdown here in France but as it rained most of the day we didn't see much change.
Tuesday however was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a hike in the Dentelles and within 20 minutes we had encountered more people than we had seen in the last two months!  Hikers, rock climbers, mountain bikers, picnickers and dog strollers were everywhere, more like a holiday weekend than your average mid-week day.  I think we're going to miss the total peace and quiet of mountain lockdown!

The roads too are busier, not back to pre-lockdown levels although I do wonder if people will be rushing back to work, quite apart from the health risks I have to admit that I'd be happier extending the 'vacation' while the government paid me 84% of normal salary - with no expenditure on travel, eating out, holidays, entertainment and gym membership I'm pretty sure I'd be better off!

It's certainly not all over, but let's hope that this is, at least, "the end of the beginning" as the great man famously said.

Meanwhile the wild flowers are heralding the transition from Spring to Summer, this broad-leaved helleborine (top left) appeared about a week ago.  The flowers are more a pale cream colour than the white of the more common narrow-leaved helleborines, and of course the leaves are much wider.

For the past two or three weeks we have been watching the growth of some strange purple 'spikes', almost like asparagus but purple all the way to the tip and without any green leaves at all.
The absence of leaves led me to think that it must be a parasitic plant, feeding off the roots of something else, so I initially thought it might turn out to be broomrape, but as it grew it stayed obstinately purple rather than brown so that was out.
My next guess was that it might turn into purple toothwort (what a great name eh!) - but no, it wouldn't do that either.
Eventually the 'spike' blossomed into this spectacular flower stalk (right), a violet bird's nest orchid!

Proof that good things are worth waiting for I guess. 

Another recent arrival is the red helleborine (below), which as you can see is not actually that 'red' at all, not sure what that proves ...