22 September 2016 – Col de Rates

A few years ago we decided to have a Birthday Week instead of just a Birth Day.   So instead of having one big day we would spread it over a full week.  “It” consists mostly of eating and drinking.

This is Jan’s Birthday Week, and we decided that today we would visit the restaurant on the Col de Rates.   This has long been a favourite, and a nice place to have a special treat.

We had planned to park at the restaurant, have a short walk followed by a well deserved coffee and cake.

Unfortunately the morning proved to be cloudy.   This was good for the walk, but not so good for the photographs.

Near the car park we found this little “shrine”, no name or details just as you see it here.   Presumably a favourite spot of someone no longer with us.

Having paused to admire the views we set off for our short walk

We have always thought of this as the “hidden valley”.   This was part of a lovely walk from Parcent to the Col de Rates, which we have walked many times in the past.

Unfortunately the owner of this finca has barred the path through his land and we now have to take a detour which avoids the “hidden valley”.

The Col de Rates is very much a German style restaurant, and rightly famous for its coffee and cake.  Our long time favourite is apple strudel, but today we choose cheesecake instead.   Hardly the healthy option, but much more so than the apple strudel with its ice cream and cream.   The photo does not do it justice, it was much larger and tastier than it looks.

The birthday girl found it difficult to finish her portion of cake

Fortunately her selfless companion was prepared to help her out

This was the view from our table

After our treat we had another short walk from the car park

The views of Parcent were, as always, quite stunning

As we left the sky was clearing and the sun making an appearance

Click on a photo to make the image larger.  You can also watch them as a slideshow.