Au sommet

We discovered a new walk yesterday. Having driven to Wakefield (Quebec) for the spring water that gushes from a pipe by the roadside there, we parked opposite the bakery and set off for a favourite walk of ours, up the hill behind the village school, towards the little cemetery where Lester B. Pearson is buried. Half way round, at the corner where we usually start making our way downhill again, a new signpost has been erected marking another trail that's marked Au Sommet. We couldn't resist and followed it, clambering over the rocks, to emerge from the trees into a clearing from which there was a sensational view of all the hills around, covered with colour, the village below and the Gatineau River; along the banks wound the steam train, making its unmissable entrance into Wakefield by blowing its whistle. The sky was mostly grey, but the trees seemed to glow underneath it all the same, and the stratus clouds looked as if they'd been painted onto the scene with heavy sweeps of a brush.

Because I tend to overuse the word "beauty" I looked for a synonym in my electronic Thesaurus, which came up with a long list, among which:

attractiveness, prettiness, allure, loveliness, charm, appeal, eye-appeal, heavenliness, exquisiteness, splendour, magnificence, grandeur, impressiveness, gorgeousness, beauteousness, benefit, boon, blessing, good thing, selling point.

"Selling point"? Oh dear, I hope not. The chairman of the NCC told us last Friday that no part of the Gatineau Park would be for sale to private purchasers, but you never know what might happen to its edges.