Poppies along the Canals and Concrete...

Last day of the month again, and yet again a rush to finish off a few posts before midnight...
I have such a backlog of blog material - none of which has taken any form which is even vaguely 'postable'  - so I won't be respecting any real chronological order.

 As I was rowing a few weeks ago, I saw all these beautiful flowers and grasses along the paths and cycle tracks that run parallel to the canal. I went back to photograph them from the safety of dry land!

I was particularly thrilled to see some magical pavots pharmaceutiques which appear to have escaped from the industrial fields scattered around the region. These cultivated poppies are quite hard to locate so this made this encounter all the more special.

The mauve petals were offset by the more common-place red poppies, of course, and their colour was picked up by the violet vetch too. The final effect was even more striking due to the bright green of the canal water in the sunlight. The last yellow flags of Spring were still holding in there, before this week's raging temperatures set in.

Finally, a stunning wildflower field (albeit artificially sown) near the concrete complex that has grown in the most pervasive manner all around the TGV train station. Ironically, just a few years ago the whole area was just simple fields before this ambitious development project took off. Nevertheless, this vast stretch of flowers really was a beautiful sight...