Susie's Report No 44

Bonjour Madame’s et Monsieur’s - Hello to All,

Well, here we are back in the England, for our very good friends John (Henry) and Gaye Kaye’s 50th Wedding Anniversary and renewal of their vows. 

Driving down from Canterbury we had some great company! We followed this semi trailer all the way down.

H.H. is having a well earned rest nestled in our hosts Ann and David’s front yard in Tadley Hill surrounded by plants and flowers and Ann and David are surrounded by 7 noisy Australians, which, they will have earned a very good rest, after we have all gone. 

The wedding was held at the original church in Weybridge, September 10th, at 3pm. Father Ian conducted the service, ( he would be a casting agents dream come true), dressed in smock and sandals, an absolute character with a fabulous way of communicating with the flock. It was a great ceremony and party afterwards.

We then head to Cornwall - Golly Gosh, this coastline is rugged and beautiful.

 We arrive in Newlyn to catch up with Marcia, Pete and Lu Lu Bell. We take the 2 vans ( Daisy & H.H. ) and stay the night at a farm stay. Next day Marcia takes us on a tour in her car into St.Ives and along the coast. Just perfect, as some of the towns H.H. would find very unnerving to manoeuvre in and out and so would my blood pressure.

We go back to Poole again, along the Harbourside and for old times sake, it’s yummy calorie and fat laden Cod and Chips (excellent tucker) for lunch. This is where we catch the Ferry to Cherbourg. (France). A 4 1/2 hr trip, a nice crossing.

There was no security checks and no stamping of passports either on arrival or departure!

We potter around the Normandy area, there is always so much to see, and I’m sure I’ve forgotten a lot as I haven’t been doing my notes, never mind,  I don’t want to bore you to much.We visit a French Passion where we have been before and catch up with some old friends.

A delightful place.

We end up in the Loire Valley which is stunning, with gorgeous cycle and walking paths. We were going to Le Mans to put H.H. through his paces on the race track but ended up elsewhere.
The river Mayenne flows 195 km, it joins the Sarthe, then the Maine and finally the Loire, south of Angers. The Mayenne has the Chateau-Gontier, mills, locks, and church’s.

We rode in to Laval-Change, this is an area pushing for Tourist development all along the old tow-paths, it has lots of Flora and Fauna, great for Anglers.

It’s harvest time for the grapes and also Sunflower seeds and we have stayed at a couple more French Passions at Vineyards and some amazing Chateau’s. One particular area is where Leonardo Da Vinci resided in the town or Ambois.

We move on to Joigny. From 1630 onwards Joigny had been a Garrison town for the last 4 Centuries and it had important involvement of this city with the French Resistance during World War II.

Every town has so much history waiting to tell. This is where we catch up again with the infamous Vagabond with Captain Stuart and motley crew.

Max has ridden his now repaired Triumph down from Carnac, so we all settle in for a couple of days of laughter and light refreshments.  Even H.H. does well - he gets 4 new tyres from this pit stop, hopefully these will see us out till the end of our adventures, (couple of years maybe). Our tyre changers were a couple of wags.

Riding along a canal through a town called Vincelles, we stopped as we saw a perfect setting for an Artist, the photo tells the story, this was someones backyard, mind you, we had to climb through the vegetation and step over some railway lines to take this scene, it was the fragrance wafting through the air that alerted us to it. Thousands and thousands of miniature cyclamens, fabulous.

Moving along on our 4 hour drive today, we have been through huge rural areas, mostly wine areas, through tiny villages where you would think nobody lives, to large city’s (Lyon), to huge industrial areas again and then back down again to the Rhone. Stunning views along the river, small roads and motorways. If we’d taken the toll roads our journey would be quite benign as far as scenery goes. The bonus is it’s a Sunday and NO trucks on the roads.

I just thought I’d mention H.H. is loving his new tyres on all these different roads, this is with a higher P.S.I. These should be good for him when it gets a bit icy.  While I’m typing this Terry tells me it’s going to be minus 2 degrees overnight. Winter is fast approaching.

A nights stay at Tournon sur Rhone then to Avignon. We are at a campsite in Chateaurenard, where Ken and Jen and friends have rented a house for about a month, and it’s 7 kms away.  We meet up with Sue, Kevin and Sue, the latter not feeling so good, Pharmacie tablets are not doing the trick, Doctor on the morrow. The outcome was abscess on the Appendix, Ouch !!! Hospital for two days, now we are told - good as new !!!. And a great thanks to Jen and Ken, Terry now has a new phone, and extra goodies from home - old phone battery kaput. They stood in the line-up at Apple Chermside, Qld. on opening day to purchase it for him, it’s cheaper to buy in Oz than France. Thanks Grunt…..

Still in catchup mode we decide to all meet for lunch -  minus Sue of course, she’s awaiting her OP.  Avignon the chosen site, Terry and I take off on our bikes and end up at Villeneuve Lez Avignon, and can’t work out why we are not at said meeting place (cause we can’t find it !! ) We had been here last year and we thought Villeneuve Lez Avignon was Avignon…We have argued with the Tomtom who repeatedly tells us we are going in the wrong direction. So !!! Next best thing, we stop a couple strolling by, Terry in his best French tries to explain - they laugh and answer us back in an Aussie accent, we have a chat - they tell us we have to go and cross 2 bridges and there we find the old City. (the Tomtom was right). Just as well we left early, we screech to a halt, tie up the bikes and join the team, lunch was great, courtesy of Ken and Jen, followed with a lovely wander around the town.

As we were saying our farewells with hugs and kisses, the Google earth street car took a photo of the corner we were all standing on, I bet we all get photoshopped out of the shot…….will let you know.

The Autumn weather has been stunning with average 22 degrees, so off for more sightseeing to CARCASSONE:  This is a medieval fortress city with a history dating back 2500 years. Sadly full of junky souvenir shops, lolly shops and loads of restaurants. Walking around the village you at least got the gist of what life would of been like way back then. You know the score….lots of sword fighting, battering, pillage and a lot of nasty things.  And………they, (for what ever reason ????) have an Australiana Park near by with Kangaroos etc, and Aborigines  (not sure if they are alive or fake). By the look on his face on the promotional brochure he looks Taxidermic and scary.

Time to go, no go, can’t get out of the parking lot. We have H.H. up at the barrier trying to validate our ticket, and of course instructions are in French.  So….off I go in search of help, find the parking man, and after paying him, he roars down on his bike and lets us out. We head off with many Merci Beaucoups. Life is never a dull moment with us ……..off we go to a French Passion for the night. It’s at a vineyard and they have just finished harvesting. They tell Terry they have had an excellent year, the quality of the grapes was very good, but the quantity was down. 2015 should be a great year for all French wines due to the warm summer they have had.

Next day it’s off to ALBI:  O.M.G.!!!!!  The Cathedral - some would say awesome. We decide to broaden our minds and go to the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum to view some of his works,  but…….damnation.. the Museum is closed on a Tuesday from Oct to March. Why you might ask… so did we, and by the look on other tourist’s faces so did they.  So in we go and have a look inside the Cathedral, its enormous, the paintings on the walls were quite mesmerising. One, the “Last Judgement” would scare small children.

There were people lighting candles for various reasons, and my neck was straining looking up at the stain glass windows and there is of course restoration happening on the outside, as everything is just so OLD……and in need of some T.L.C.

We are now back in the LOT Valley area on the Lot river. This area also is the home for FOIE GRAIS - poor ducks, but it’s the French Culture and big business. I did hear, some people are trying to stop this type of farming practise, you can actually go to the farms where they demonstrate the procedure.  It’s very rich in flavour and price. I think we’ll just stick with ordinary old pate. 

We spent 2 days at a great campsite looking over the Mediterranean ocean at Frontignan, but they were closing for the season, so we could only stay two days.They even had a half reasonable beach!

Everybody had to leave as this was the end of Sept, they close this early as some years the weather is really bad at this time, others very good. They just don’t like that risk. The weather was superb and remained so, this Autumn is fabulous by our terms. We drove through SETE and BEZIERS and have made a note we must return this way some time again. 

I must apologise to everyone as I am all over the place in France, I haven’t written anything for along time and some of my notes don’t even make any sense to me, I’m in one region, missed a couple and jumped a few more. My compass has gone haywire…….

Still in the LOT Valley we go to ROCAMADOUR: Wow, this is a medieval town suspended on a cliff, built on Limestone plateaus, it glows in the setting sun. There are lots of Pilgrims who come to worship the Black Virgin (a small figure in black wood) and if you feel like a bit of exercise there are 233 steps to the monumental staircase.

Next off to the Dordogne valley.

We return to SALAT again, as we know it well. We park H.H. in a busy Aire right beside the cemetery. H.H. is in desperate need of a bath and the carwash here has a platform to reach the roof, which is great. Looking refreshed off we go, L.P.G. tank refilled, food and alcohol replenished - we settle in.  Next day I’m a Birthday Girl, and after many funny and fabulous renditions by phone of H.B. to you, and great emails, it’s off to the local markets to wander through.

This spans over streets and alleyways, its colourful and festive, with lots of goodies and stalls to choose local produce. Sarlat is known as the gastronomic capital of the Dordogne. We had zero degrees overnight and its a bright sunny day. 

We leave mid afternoon to a campsite that overlooks BEYNAC Castle, which is sitting perched on a cliff overlooking the Dordogne. That’s all they seemed to do in those days is to build castles, chateaus, towns and villages. All built on cliff tops at death defying heights to defy and stop marauding villains, attacking armies or people doing cold calling, or maybe just Seventh day Adventists! But, seriously I would have liked to watch the first bit of foundation put down, This castle started around the 12th century, it was remodelled and enlarged in the 16th and 17th century. They say Richard The Lionheart took the fortress in 1194, and finally the French got it back after the 100 yrs war in 1453. Good for them…I say…Anyway after an excellent Birthday dinner, we decided to walk and have a look, up we go, taking deep breaths, the lungs, calfs and  thighs, appreciated the magnificent views. There was a few hot air balloons pottering around also.

We were about 600ft up and said Bonjour to the local cemetery cat who obviously didn’t like our accent, so down we came.

 

The cobble stones are very hard on the old ankles, I don’t know how they managed back then…
We are also back in the old Troglodyte territory, where semi-nomadic people settled some 17,000 years ago. Gosh…….

We spend a night in PERIGEAUX:  A large town with a magnificent Cathedral - I know I keep saying this but….sometimes I am lost for words (maybe I should use a thesaurus), actually this is the 3rd Cathedral I have managed to drag T.Lee into in three days.. a world first.

We drive through LIMOGES to visit the Martyr Village - ORADOR-SUR-GLANE  This is a tough one…the imagination along with the visual after effects take over.  This is where the WAFFEN SS Unit  “Das Reich” murdered on June 10th, 1944, 642 men, women and children, by weapons and fire. To preserve the memory of this barbaric act, the Village has been left in exactly the same state since 1944. Unbelievable !!!

Next off to COGNAC: The home of the much loved after dinner….anytime really, drink. We stayed at a French passion and were surrounded by large vats doing what they do best. They also had a very good harvest. Once again H.H. was parked right beside the vines, who after doing their job were slowly turing brown and looked gorgeous in the setting sun.

 

A quick overnight stay at ILSE De Re: 14 euros for a crammed spot, and the road toll 7. 80 euros and another 8 euros to cross a bridge = annoying. Captive audience !!

Moving next to NOTRE DAME DIE RIEZ: This campsite heading towards the coast was fortuitous, it allowed Terry to watch Argentina Vs. Australia in the Rugby World Cup, huge bonus for him, but the few English there were barracking for Argentina, we all know why but I’m glad I didn’t go - I would of told them, disloyal bastards, what about the commonwealth connection. The owner, a French lady with an amazing combination of English accents said we were the first Australians to stay at her campsite, and all for 8 euros a night.

A quick trip to LA TURBALLE was next and a good find. We are nestled behind a hedge in this excellent  campsite overlooking the Atlantic, the waves at low tide pounding below.

Terry and I walk along the shore to the Village and Marina. Next morning I join a few people oyster gathering, armed with screw driver and knife, gumboots on, off I go to attack some rocks. It’s raining and  blustery, and its a lot harder than what I thought.  Unfortunately these were hard to open, we managed to eat a few, but hey!! I had great enjoyment  trudging through sand and incoming waves.The sun popped out late afternoon, we sat in H.H. and watched the fishing boats trawling along the horizon. The Atlantic Ocean is very clean - no rubbish on the beach. The Bretagne region extremely pretty.

We arrive at CARNAC, our final destination for a couple of months. We arrive at Max’s apartment, with its ever changing scenery of colours and light. He is on the 6th floor overlooking the ocean, it’s stunning.

 His renovations are coming along beautifully, it’s a credit to him, the changes are fantastic, with more to come. He has flown back to Australia, so we are the caretakers for a little while. We quickly find his hidden stash of expensive wines and proceed to demolish them. They are old and need to be drunk quickly before they go off!!  I’m sitting here at the table writing this, with the sun streaming through the big glass sliding doors, its low tide so all the rocks are exposed, Terry has just made us a coffee. 

I’m off to the Tabac to buy the winning Lotto ticket for tonights draw, it’s Friday the 13th.

Next blog, I’ll explain about my family’s French connection in Carnac.  I am absolutely startled. I don’t know about you, but I believe there IS such a thing as coincidence’s, because I have many……
Bye for now = Au revoir

Love Susie,Terry & H.H.   X X X