The landscape...       Our gaze travels far and wide, from hillside to hillside ; the silence is punctuated by the rustle of dry dead leaves which are moving in the wind ; down below smoke mingles with the fog to form heavy clouds which linger in the valleys, finally we are on the plateau. A panorama of ochre and grey, the landscape appears so much wider in winter. What can be said of a landscape so austere during this season ? Nevertheless, we are going to discover the different habitats, which, next to each other, sometimes even on top of each other, make up the plateau. Today they are like empty frames, but in the course of the forthcoming articles we will fill them one by one with colour and detail. We start with the forest. It is present on nearly every slope, thus forming a large belt which, in some places, “overflows” onto the plateau, and which is once in a while punctuated by some thickets. Although giving an impression of uniformity, depending on the exposition of the slope on which they are standing, the constituent trees are not the same; there are those who seek a place which is shady and cool, others who prefer light and warmth. Based on its water retaining capacity, its humus or stone content, the nature of the soil is another selection criterion. After the forest, the thickets. Shrubs dominate what remains of the spring and summer plants. The going gets more difficult, because in some places the shrubs grow close together, and are interconnected with prickly and raspy branches. Where the flora gets less dense, green leaves, laying on the ground, inform us of orchids getting ready for spring. Now, suddenly, the going gets easier, and we make some stones roll away. That means that no longer the soil permits the floral wealth through which we just passed. Without any earth left in it, the soil is as poor as bone here. Dry stems with small twisted branches grow between the loose stones. Seen from the road, such a hillside, like the one of Fontoupine, seems empty, but this emptiness is only apparent. From the first fine days on, specific plants open, spreading their colours between the stones, sometimes even covering the earth, and hungry pollen-gathering insects will fill the air with their flight. There are other places which seem empty, although the soil is not rocky. The soil is white and gullied, and with a network of blackish stems, small sombre shrubs cling to the bare surface. We are standing next to a small prairie where water seems to stagnate, and where grass and small trees have settled. After the rains, these places become impassable, saturated with water, and causing shoes or boots to stay behind in our own footsteps. We are in an area of a soil rich in marl. This habitat is extremely trying for the flora: in winter the roots are choking in the water, in summer, the marl is literally baked over and over again, and dried out by the sun. Yet, even here plants are still holding on and colonizing the place. Next we cross curious plains looking like prairies just with grass, and still other empty spaces where small shrubs seem to grow at regular distances from each other. Finally, somewhat more in the centre of the plateau, separated by hedges of trees and various shrubs, we find the laboured fields. The soil we find here results from the slow decomposition of the lime stone and from the continuous labouring that has been done for centuries. We will discover that at the edge of these fields, some flowers have come through time and space, following from the Middle East, the cereals domesticated by man. These different habitats constitute a real mosaic, and it is this that makes up its natural wealth. For us it is nature as we see it every day, we might even say normal nature. Yet, a lot of people do not hesitate to travel hundreds of kilometres to spend a few days in this landscape. Don’t we have here something which is rare, priceless wealth ?