April in France

We left Jane, Emma and Roy yesterday after 3 lovely weeks. They have been perfect hosts and we’ve really enjoyed our time in Bordeaux. Jane gave the girls Easter eggs as we left, and is going to follow our trip on the blog. Jane and her husband were travellers years ago when it wasn’t as easy and was much more dangerous. She has loads of tales of scary moments which hopefully we won’t be able to add to!

We arrived in Narbonne on Saturday. Our house is in a small group out in the middle of the fields full of rape seed and vines. It’s lovely and quiet. There is an outdoor pool (which is open… and freezing… but the kids are adamant they’ll be in it tomorrow) and garden with climbing frame and swings. We went to pick Ali, Will and Sam up from Carcassonne airport on Sunday afternoon- they’re staying until the 12th, so we’re looking forward to it. The kids went off playing outside after tea, and we spent an hour watching a pair of Marsh Harriers (we think this is what they are) circling the fields. We’ve seen so many large birds of prey alongside the roads and haven’t been able to get close enough to decide what they are. We think we’ve seen buzzards before, but these today look exactly like the pictures of Marsh Harriers in my book. We tried to get a picture of it so that Dad can confirm it (it’s not a very good picture so do your best). Alison came out with another one of her classic statements (to compete with the red car one….M&D…you know the one) as we watched the birds. As we were looking at the bird book, trying to decide which birds they were, Ali came out and said, ‘Well, it looks like a seagull to me!’…. that’s because it was a seagull! The Marsh Harriers were in the other direction!!

Andrew has also reminded me that this a blog, not a blahhhhg, so I’m going to bed now (it’s 12.30). He thinks I’m writing too much
 

  Well, between Janes Blahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhg writing and the girls constant use of the laptop to play games, oh and then Janes use of the laptop to change perfectly good photographs into “works of art” with photoshop, I can finally have a turn at writing for the blog.

Not quite true actually, I’ve only got this opportunity because everyone else (Jane, Madi, Alison, Will and Sam) have gone on a walk while I play nurse to Elena who has a bad chest cold and is feeling pretty rough. If it wasn’t for Elena’s illness I would miss my go again!

So, over the last few days since Alison and the boys arrived we’ve done a lot of stuff. (Jane would have taken at least a page to write that last sentence!) We had a trip to the beach on Monday, which was so blustery that there were large breaker waves and we were all sand blasted as the wind howled along the sand. This didn’t stop the kids rolling up their pants and paddling, Sam eventually dropped his trousers and played in his skimpy briefs! The car is now full of sand and I keep finding odd socks under seats and bits of wet tissue created during changing clothes and warming up.

Oh yes the car, I’ve had to desensitise myself to the way the car is used. I’m getting less agitated about the consumption of food and less strict about the positioning of feet on floor mats, and only on floor mats. I drew a line however, at the suggestion of tearing up and then eating French bread in the car! So far it has been the perfect vehicle for the trip. We load it to bursting point and set off on our travels, it’s so composed you would never know just how loaded up it is. It’s still getting at least 25 mpg and on occasions nearly 30. It’s quite narrow for a 4X4 so it’s easier to manage on the very tight twisty roads. We’ve just clocked up 3000 miles now (2400 of which are the journey itself) and as yet, touch wood, its spot on. Just about a litre of oil has been burnt which is expected during running in. I’m so glad I didn’t get a large estate car; I’d be regretting it now. We’ve actually had to use the four wheel drive system on a couple of occasions! [yawn, yawn, how boring –Jane and Ali]

We left the beach and found a lovely picnic site (They are literally everywhere throughout France, the country is really well geared up for travellers or people on outdoor activities) threw a load of bread and sandwich fillings on the table and tucked in, the kids then ran around while we packed up in time for the mosquito’s to arrive. We left without bites….The kids pestered all the way home, wanting to try out the pool. It was a cold day; the pool is outside and not heated so against our advice they went for a swim. The water literally took their breath away but they were adamant that they would get a good swim and they did. Maybe that’s why I’m writing this now, with Elena curled up on the settee feeling sorry for herself and not out enjoying the countryside??? I told them so……..

On Tuesday (3rd April) we returned to the picnic site of the previous day where we parked the car and set off to find caves in the hills surrounding. The weather was great; about 20 degrees and no wind so it was t-shirts for everyone. After half an hour of trekking through scrub land and over rough paths we came to the edge, literally the edge, of a sheer drop to a lagoon below. We decided that that was the place to have lunch and set off to find a safer way to the bottom of the cliff face. Another half an hour and we were setting up camp eating baguettes (again!) looking at the local wildlife, namely lizards. It was at this point that we realised that we were looking for caves that do not exist and that the lagoon was our destination and somehow we (Jane and Ali) had got our translation mixed up. There are no caves………….much disappointment but “them’s the breaks”……….

We took the long route to the car which passed a small farm with pigs and goats for the kids to “ooh” and “ah” over for ten minutes before the constant whinging of “I’m tired”, “where’s the car” and “are we nearly there yet?” from our shorter legged children! The total walk was only about 4 or 5 km but they all enjoyed it. We even found a large grasshopper to look at and photograph at one of our many resting points.

Before our trip I knew the highlight of this region for me (Jane) was going to be a visit to the citadel of Carcassonne, a medieval town restored in the 19th century by Viollet-le-Duc (for those of you really reading any of this, this is the famous French architect who restored Chateau de Roquetaillade, which we visited a couple of weeks ago). It wasn’t a disappointment either! 

La cité is very picturesque, surrounded by a double perimeter wall, each with 26 towers. We walked thru the Porte Narbonnaise (built in 1280, and has 2 portcullises, 2 iron doors , a moat and a drawbridge) up in to narrow streets (lined with touristy shops- each of which we had to visit to decide which of the numerous gifts the kids all wanted…..it is after all the most important part of a day out to them!), and headed for the Château Comtal. When it was built around 1130-1150 for the Viscount of Carcassonne, it was supposed to be the most modern in the western world and is actually a fortress within a fortress (see photo of us and the Jowetts in front of the east face of the counts’ castle- the Tours de la Porte Orientale).

As we entered, we watched a movie (which was one of the best ‘tour’ movies I’ve watched and kept the kids engrossed –had English subtitles which helped) explaining the various stages in the fortifications of the cité over the years, as it faced battles against Barbarians, Arabs, Franks, and the Catholic Church. These latter battles with the church were due to the fact that it sheltered Cathars, a new creed, which threatened the power of the Catholic Church. In 1209, the Pope approved a crusade to fight the heretics at Carcassonne, and two months later the cité fell. Eventually the cité ended up in the hands of the King of France, who made even more fortifications, resulting in it becoming impregnable. However, as Carcassonne’s importance as a strategic post diminished, the cité began to ruin, until the middle of the 1800s, when Viollet-le-Duc was charged with restoring it to what it is today.

We also went on the tour of the ramparts with an English guide, which gave us the views of the city you see in the guide books. The one we have here is of the south wall of the Count’s castle with the Tower of Justice in the foreground. For the movie buffs, Carcassonne is where the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood was filmed, and this picture is the back drop for the scene where Robin Hood flees the castle on the Sheriff’s horse, just after he has slashed the Sheriff’s face- we watched the film later that evening just to work out where we had stood in relation to the film etc….very sad I know! The scene towards the end of the film where Robin’s men are being hung, was filmed in front of the Count’s castle (we stood there……..!).

In the evening Elena took some photos of the evening sky…see below!

5th April

Sunny but windy today, so felt chilly. Went for walk on canal – as you can see from the photos, Alison’s bikini wasn’t needed today, so we dressed for the wind instead!

6th April

On the way to Narbonne beach a couple of days ago, we spotted what we are assuming is a military base, on the top of one of the hills. We named it Naboo, because Will thought the communication tower looked like something out of Star Wars. We went back to get a closer look (which wasn’t very close actually) and had a picnic there. We then headed back into Narbonne to have a ride on the little tourist train that toured the town. Although the commentary was in French, we enjoyed it anyway. 

7th April

The wind came in use today, because we went to the annual wind and kite-surf competition at La Franqui beach. The north westerly off shore wind- called the Tramontane- is apparently renowned for its vigour and is good for speed runs, whilst the south-easterly wind – the ‘vent marin’- rouses the sea and makes good waves for kiting and surfing. It’s a big event, spread over several of the beaches around Leucate- full of young surfer-dudes with long blonde hair. We even saw last years champion (like…wow!)- classic look with long shorts, flat tummy, necklace, long blonde hair and under 20- up on stage telling everyone how he’s going to beat the Frenchies – not a very PC term, but nobody seemed to mind.

The kids found the candyfloss stall, bought kites, and had a go on the trampoline-thingies fixed to a harness for super jumps and tumbles in the air. Andrew found the beer tent (was miffed it cost 3 euros for a small beer), and me and Ali just did a bit of surfer-dude spotting (men in skin tight wetsuits…) 

8th April

Went to Etang de Bages (salt water lagoon) today, which is like a mini Camargue. Our villa info said it was home to pink flamingos and other unusual bird species so we set off to find them. The bird list highlights include White pelican, Little Egrets, and of course the flamingos. We’d seen a large flock fly over head as we watched the pelican, so we set off to see if we could find them. As we drove over the narrow isthmuses between etangs we were panicking we’d missed them. However, as we crossed the next isthmus, there was a huge flock of them standing in the etang (see movie and photos). Really fanatastic sight!

 

Visited Minérve on the 10th- a small village sat on top of a rocky outcrop. It’s linked with the Cathers again, having been besieged in 1210 for 7 weeks. Finally 120 Cathers were burned at the stake because they wouldn’t renounce they faith. The village is accessible via a high bridge which spans a gorge (see photo). We ended up exploring the natural tunnels carved out of the limestone (which act as bridges) and walked thru the gorge. Very pretty.

Never on a Wednesday. That should be remembered for swimming baths in France, because on Weds (11th April), the kids get a day off school (they work Sat mornings instead). We decided to go to the local pool for the toboggan slide. Big mistake! Imagine 200-300 kids in one pool (the toboggan was shut), very few adults in sight, and a free-for-all dive in off the side. Andrew wasn’t there (no speedos yet!), because he’d have just walked in and turned on his heels just at the noise levels. We survived an hour and even the kids wanted to get out.

Thursday morning we took Ali and the boys back to Carcassonne airport for their flight home. We’ve had a great time and look forward to seeing them in June. We went on a shopping spree to get the girls some clothes (growing out of what we brought already) and ended up at C&As of all places. Great bargains though!

Rained on Friday 13th (not that we’re superstitious or anything) so spent a quiet (Yes, the boys had left the building!) day inside getting packed up for Saturday’s move.
 

We drove to Le Lavandou on the Côte d’Azur on 14th. 

The weather improved as we headed further East. Had lunch in the Camargue (flamingos, egrets, cormorants ands loads of ducks) and arrived at our house late afternoon. We knew it was going to be a small place from the details the owner had sent, and yes, it was very small. It’s on a part-residential, part-holiday home estate and is very homely. Next door have a Doberman which spends it’s time in the front garden barking at people as they go past. Next –but-one neighbour also has one and there’s another yappy dog close by. 

We thought it was going to be a nightmare but up to now (the 20th) it’s actually been very quite, especially at night. The weather has been glorious all week and as school was closed for a couple of days (teachers got snowed in), we headed for the beaches planning to visit a different one every day. So far we’ve been on 6! We’re rating them on quality of the sand, and number of fishes and other wildlife, and the kids favourite so far is Aiguebelle and Cabasson. The sea is very cold still, although Andrew and the girls have been snorkelling-I’m not that crazy! The snow finally melted so school had to re-open (!), but only in the mornings- the afternoons are for rock-pooling and sun-bathing! 

We’ve also done the coastal cycle ride- not quite the epic one in Bordeaux, but a fair 20km instead. 

21st April- Hyéres

At the end of the 18th century Hyéres was one of the first health resorts along this coast, and it’s still a lovely town today, with narrow medieval streets full of little shops and cafés. We drove up to the ruined castle Ste. Clair which overlooks the town, and climbed up to the top of it. Fantastic views of the town and the coast. 

22nd April

Up at the crack of dawn today to drive to Nice airport to get Jane. We had a picnic lunch at Lac de St-Cassien on the way back. Took Jane into Le Lavandou for ice cream. Hard choice for us all, what with 48 flavours to choose from… but we did our best!

Andrew is becoming alarmingly taken by all the boats, and is trying to work out how we can buy one to sail back along the Med after Xmas. If we sell everything we own, we could do it, but then we’d have to live on it forever! This appeals to Andrew of course because the sea is like a duck pond at the moment…. Just waiting to discourage him with a nice little storm! Here are a couple of photos of prospective boats. One Andrew wants, but he’d have to sell everything we own and everything else everybody we know owns, …and one we can afford now…so, we’ll just leave it for the moment! 

23rd April

Triple itinerary today! Planned to hit Grimaud, Port Grimaud and end up at St. Tropez. We started at Port Grimaud, a small town built in 1966 as a little Venice. The streets are canals and the ice-cream coloured houses have their own moorings. Very big boats and very expensive houses! We went on a little boat ride around the town, bought our car sticker, and then headed for Grimaud itself for a picnic, a really picturesque little town built around a ruined chateau. 

After lunch, we headed for St. Tropez. Both Jane and I had an idea in our minds what St. Tropez would be like. We had both imagined a lovely beach, palm trees and a café lined promenade. Obviously we should have checked the guide books before we set off. The beaches, Tahiti and Pampelonne, which are supposed to be the ones ‘to see and be seen on’, and are a few kms outside the town. When we got there we were really disappointed as the beaches had not been cleared of the winter debris. The sea and shoreline were covered and the girls couldn’t get to the sea, let alone swim in it. We braved it for ½ an hour and then decided to go to St.Tropez for ice-cream (Jane was on the hunt for ‘Bounty’ flavour).

St. Tropez was much smaller then we thought: a small harbour full of expensive yachts, surrounded by cafes and very expensive restaurants, and painters displaying their work. It did seem a bit pretentious, highlighted when we saw a photographer trying to capture a model poncing up and down in front of a café. We all had to wait whilst she repeatedly walked up and down the same 10 feet of road. The crowd gathered, but guess who got fed up first and walked into the photographer’s viewfinder? Hmmm……..

Anyway, the girls found a great sweet shop, we got ice-cream (but not Bounty-favoured), another car sticker, and found out who won the first round of the French elections held the day before. We had seen the posters with a dozen contenders (see photo), and found out it was now down to two after 75% of the people turned out to vote: Nicholas Sarkozy and Segoléne Royal. Sarkozy is the pro-English/American Conservative male candidate and is the favourite, whilst Royal is a female socialist who gets slated for earning loads of money, being clever with her tax contributions (ie not paying enough) and therefore doesn’t appear to practice what she preaches! She would be the first female president if she won. The next round is on 6th May so we’ll find out who wins then! 

24th April

We went under the sea at Le Lavandou today in ‘Seascope’. The kids really enjoyed it, but we didn’t see much (Jane has been to the Caribbean so it looked pretty tame compared to that!). We renamed it ‘sea-not-a-lot-scope’! After lunch, we headed back to the kids favourite beach at Cabasson and spent the afternoon baking in the sun. We all swam in the sea this time (even the two Janes!) and built a big sand-chateau. 

25th April

 Jane needed to be back at Nice airport by 8pm today so we planned to travel up the coast sight-seeing to end up in Nice for the afternoon. Things didn’t go quite as planned though. We drove thru Cannes (which was really busy, but looked really classy with big yachts in the harbour, palm tree-lined promenades, and huge hotels) because we couldn’t park anywhere, so had lunch just outside Antibes, overlooking Juan-les-Pins beach. 

We headed up to Nice, along the coastal road, and drove up the eight lane Promenade des Anglais, a 5km road lined with beautiful hotels and palm trees. It looked really great but we couldn’t park anywhere along it’s route so we headed around the back of the Colline du Chateau to park somewhere in the town. 

Unfortunately all of the city parking is underground so we stood no chance of parking in our Terrano+ top-box, so after Andrew dodged crazy French drivers we had to admit defeat and headed back to Antibes for something to eat instead. Of course we keep forgetting that there is no chance of food between 4-7pm so had ice-cream (again) instead (Jane still couldn’t find Bounty flavoured) and then set off to find some food. We ended up in a ‘grill’ called Courtepalle, which turned out to be a very bad ‘Little Chef’, eating very poor-quality steak and chicken. We returned Jane to the airport having failed to find her Bounty ice-cream. It was nice to catch up with Jane and I think she liked the South of France and will return someday.

26th April

Although we have been to Sea-Life in Florida and seen killer whales before, Madi was only 18 months old and Elena only 4. Neither of them can really remember seeing Orcas before so when we realised Marineland at Antibes had them, we decided to blow our ‘savings’ (we’ve managed to stay under-budget since we’ve been away and even saved some of our allowance every week). It was really expensive (120 Euros for us all), but the girls really enjoyed the killer whale, dolphin, and seal shows. We have, of course, now got hundreds of photos of said animals so here are a few.
 

28th April

We left the Coté d’Azur and Provence and headed north to meet Jane's Mum and Dad in Nantua in the Rhone Valley. The house we have booked in right on the edge of Lake Nantua. It is typically French with many original features: tiled floors, tall wooden fitted cupboards, fireplaces. Two of the bedrooms, and the main living room have French windows opening on to the balcony overlooking the lake. It is very peaceful and tranquil.

29th April

Mum and Dad arrived at lunchtime, just in time for what is now becoming a staple part of our diet: Andrew’s home-made tomato soup! We went for a walk around part of the lake, watching Black Kites (of the feathered variety) diving down to the water to catch fish.