We even have a photograph of the hand drawn cadastre of 1821 kept in the mayor's office (above), and very little seems to have changed since then. There are clearly defined boundaries to the south (the road), the west (the stream) and to the east (our neighbour has put little white markers), but to the north, where the wood turns into scrub and it gets very very steep there is nothing.
One person's land just runs seamlessly into another's. It is of negligible value so presumably nobody really cares. But curiously, oddly, and I don't know why - I do.
I decided therefore, to go off piste on our walk and climb the steep hill. It was much steeper than I had imagined. And much much higher. About two thirds of the way up I began to wonder if this was really such a brilliant idea for an inveterate sufferer of vertigo. But I couldn't possibly have gone back as that would have meant I had to look down.
As I was on my own, I began to wonder what would happen if I got stuck or, even worse, injured. Christopher McCandless in the film "Into the Wild" came to mind more than once.
The place is infested with wild animals, like this oversized fox I spotted (briefly) in our field the other day. I assume it was a fox but, apparently, wolves too are making a comeback in France. I've read that they are coming over the Alps from Italy. Admittedly we are quite a long way from the Alps (about 375 miles), but you never know.........
I battled on, putting all thoughts of dangerous carnivores to one side until, eventually, I reached the top. Suddenly I was on a high ridge between two valleys, with stunning views in every direction.
I still couldn't quite work out where our land began and ended, But, without doubt, part of it included part of this ridge and now I want to build a summer house up there - on top of the world.
