Why Calmeilles?
When signing up with my first ISP, Demon Internet it was necessary to select a name to itentify my site. What to choose? It had to be unique in Demon's setup - no "Matthew" then. It had to have a minimum and maximum number of letters and preferably it should convey some meaning. Certainly it has meaning for me, but few if any who look at these pages would have much clue. This page is big clue.
Quite simply Calmeilles is the name of the village in the South of France where my family took our annual holdiays through my childhood.
Latitude: 42N
Longitude: 2E
Elevation: 467 meters (1532 ft)
The maps show where.
The departement of Pyrenees Oriental (66) lies on the western end of France's Mediteranean coast and streaches inland long the Spanish border as far as Andorra. The Pyrenees Oriental is part of the Languedoc-Roussillon region.
The department has four arrondisement; Perpignan, the prefecture, Prades to the west, Céret to the south and Thuir to the north.
Of the several cantons it is the Vallespir - the valley of the river Tech wherein lies Céret - and the Aspres - the hills between the Tech and the Têt - which I know best. Calmeilles is in the Aspres which are a range of hills outlying from the massif du Canigou, the highest peak in the eastern pyrenees. Quite rugged, roads are narrow, sharply twisted and steep. Land flat enough for agriculture in small supply (for readers of Terry Pratchet think Lancre) and summer rainfall slight. The soil is rocky and red from the refions red granit and the overlying sandstone. The cash crops are vines and, where irrigation is possible, peaches often. The peaches were once grown in terraces so narrow that each held only one line of trees. Today those are abandoned as they are impossible to mechanise but the dry-stone terracing can still be seen sdnaking around the hillsides.
