March in France

 Saturday 3rd March

We’ve spent the last week or so catching up with friends and family before we leave. Last nights disco for the girl’s school friends went well, and ended in floods of tears! Elena pleaded for us not to go and did the most crying with Sarah. We’ve all received lots of cards wishing us well, and the girls got lots of really nice presents (despite them telling friends not to get them anything!). Fortunately, their gifts were small and we’ve managed to get most of them into their bags.

Both our families came round Saturday evening to say goodbye (more tears!) and our e-mail got inundated with messages from the girl’s school friends who had all been given the address at the disco. We did some more packing but still hadn’t finished when we went to bed at midnight. Will need an early start to make our ETD of 10am!

Sunday 4th March

Sunday morning arrived and we were up early to pack up the car. It seemed like every where we looked there were more and more bags which needed to be squeezed into an ever decreasing amount of space. We ditched the extra towels, dressing gowns and slippers (which we would regret once in Caro), but managed to pack the important stuff like Poker chips, X-box and several boxes of chocolates! I still can’t believe how much we managed to cram into the Terrano and the amazing Tardis-like top box!

Finally, we slammed the back door, hoping that it would shut, and made our farewells to my Mum and Dad (with only a few more tears). It seemed weird driving off, knowing what we were about to embark upon, but feeling like we were just going on holiday. I guess it will take a few weeks away for it to sink in.

The journey down to Portsmouth was uneventful and traffic free, although the rain stayed with us all the way. We ate a McDonalds for tea in the car (the only food we could find at 5pm on a Sunday evening, in March, in the rain) and sat watching ‘Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves’ on the portable DVDs whilst we waited for the ferry to start boarding. It’s worth pointing out at this stage, that portable DVD players are worth their weight, and undoubtedly aided in the smooth journey down to Portsmouth-by the time we boarded the ferry we had been in the car for 9 hours which passed in relative peace due to the 3 DVDs that had been watched. Also, Nintendos and IPods played their part!

The ferry was very nice, better than the P&O one we sailed to Holland in last year. Best thing of all….no smoking inside. What a joy! Madi and I had taken sea sickness pills because the crossing was predicted to be ‘rough’ at gale force 5-7. We ended up in bed by 11pm so must have slept thru it all as we were both absolutely fine.

Monday 5th March

We awoke to clear blue skies as we entered St. Malo harbour. Very different to the grotty weather we left behind in England and a great start to our trip! The drive to Alison and Bob’s house in Caro, Brittany, took us through pretty countryside and we were there by 10am. We unpacked the car and made a dash for a nearby supermarket for supplies. Only made 1 mistake (well, Andrew did!)-he bought runny yoghurt instead of milk, but fortunately Alison keeps a carton of sterilised milk so managed a brew. We knew the house had no central heating, relying on electric heaters and a log fire (oh where are my slippers?). Having never lit a real fire before it took us several attempts, but now, keeping it lit is an art we are struggling with! Apparently I’m rubbish at making a fire and Andrew has taken charge (as I’m typing he is huffing and re-making my efforts). Can’t wait for real camping!

The girls are playing football outside now (7pm). Elena has only said ‘I’m bored’ twice in the last hour, so all goes well! They’ve spied the 12 year old boy next door and so far they’ve ‘accidentally’ kicked the football over into his garden, and have just been told off for yelling ‘Vous jouer?’ to him like fish wives, because they are too shy to go around to him. I’m hoping it will translate to ‘Do you want to play? But with a Lancashire accent I’m not too sure!

As Andrew lights the fire for the fourth time (he’s making kindling with a big axe right now!), I’m going to find the girls and drag them inside for a game of Rummy-cub…….So ends Day 1 in the EuroSully house! 

We visited Vannes in the afternoon. We had no particular agenda but stumbled across a quaint looking tourist information office which had internet access. We are so efficient that we are carting any information that requires upload to the blogg on a memory stick around Jane’s neck…..this also acts as a handy leash to reel her in if she gets out of hand!

5 euros was exchanged in return for 30 min internet use, plenty of time for an odd e-mail and to cut and paste a diary entry, or so we thought. The last few seconds ticked away as I browsed for photos on the memory stick until it ended before I could click OK…..Hence no pictures until this entry. Of course, if Jane had listened to me and bought an extra 30 min for only an extra 2 euros…………

We witnessed our first French driving extravaganza today. A lady trying to turn left off a dual carriageway seemed to be obstructing traffic. Unfortunately the car behind her had two Policemen in it who frantically gesticulated at her to drive on and that she was making an illegal and dangerous manoeuvre. She ignored them, they gesticulated more frantically, she ignored them……and so on until a very irate looking policeman got out of his car and gave her big telling off through her passenger door. This flustered her so much that she put her car into reverse causing the other policeman to honk his horn until……crunch……….she got another telling off and was sent on her way. We were all laughing out loud at the side of the road and eating fresh French bread just bought from the bakers! 

The rain continues; it’s almost like being in England except I don’t have to get out of bed or work! It was the first day of school for the girls today. As headmaster I decided on a plan, and as head of science Jane decided it was not a good one and she would rewrite it! We spent two hours on maths with very good results and even some fun; the girls are now complaining we are not doing enough!

As we ate lunch (Home made by Andrew and Madi, chicken soup using leftovers from last nights tea) a slither of blue sky was visible on the distant horizon, this was a sign…..We grabbed our coats and jumped in the car heading for the fine weather. Our destination was Josselin and our only objective was to pick up some basic provisions whilst getting fresh air. It turned out to be a great afternoon. The sun shone and we wandered around the gardens of the Chateau taking pictures whilst the girls explored the woods. 

We awoke to beautiful blue skies today so packed up lunch (baguettes…what else!), and headed for the beach at Carnac, the megalith capital. The beach was deserted and peaceful until we marked out a football pitch and started playing! We are still amazed at how quiet everywhere is. It’s like we woke up ‘the day after’ and everyone else has been taken away on a space ship! We were eventually joined on the beach by a few other people, reminding us that we weren’t alone.

We found local internet access in the post office, but unfortunately it didn’t have a USB port, so couldn’t upload our photos. I tried out my French asking for 6 stamps to England. The guy smiled at me in a your-not-very-good-at-French way and spoke back to me in English. I’m still getting used to French and keep replying in Spanish to people, still saying ‘Si’ and ‘Gracias’ all the time.

We did the cultural bit and visited the megaliths, Alignements du Menec, which are over 1000 large stones in linear arrangements. Apparently they have been there since about 2000 years BC and no-one really knows what they were put there for. Because we were out of season we were allowed to wander amongst them, whereas normally you have to look at them from behind a fence. We tried to enthuse the girls about the megaliths because it is amazing (we thought) to wonder about why they were there. Elena’s response was ‘they’re just a bunch of stones’ and wasn’t all that impressed. History lesson over!

Met the English neighbours tonight and got invited to theirs for drinks tomorrow night. 

9th March

Maths lessons resumed this morning for a few hours, and then we got the bikes out for a cycle to Caro. We only managed to go 5kms because Andrews’s low gears didn’t work properly…decided to have a DIY session on all the bikes before attempting any more riding.  Went round to the neighbours in the evening. David and Hilary have been in France for 6 years now, with their children Marie (15) and Andrew (12), both of which speak fluent French. They have been converting a derelict farmhouse since before they permanently settled in Caro, and are putting an extension on it at the moment. It’s a great location, but sounds like it has been a load of hard work. They’ve no regrets about leaving the rat race behind in England and enjoy the more peaceful and relaxed way of life in France…food for thought!  

Another lovely day today so decided to go to Foret de Paimpont, the home of the Arthurian legends, where Merlin and the fairy Viviane lived. We still haven’t worked out why the French claim so much Arthurian history but they make the most of it as a tourist attraction (although, yet again, we had the forest almost to ourselves). We started at the Chateau de Trecesson, then fearlessly entered the Val Sans Retour (The Valley of No Return, where the witch Morgana apparently cast a spell over the valley to prevent anyone from leaving it…only Lancelot could break the spell!). Because of all the rain in past weeks (there is a lot of flooding all over Brittany) the river in the valley flooded the path in several places and Madeleine ended up looking like she’d had to fight Morgana to get out (covered in mud!). Saw the ‘golden tree’ (a tree literally painted gold) which marks the furthest spot reached by the great fire of 1990. Fantastic walk with great views off the tops.

We had late lunch at café in Paimpont (baguettes again!) and visited the patisserie (known to us as the cakery) for very large cakes which none of us could finish (even me!). We ended the day visiting Merlin’s grave, which was very strange and is just a tree with various bits of paper, photos, trinkets and rubbish all tied to it, and 2 large stones. Bit of anti-climax, and quite bizarre to think that thousands of people will come and ‘visit’ this site over the summer. 

We left Brittany and headed out to Bordeaux today. A 9 o’clock start was needed for the fairly slow (60 mph to do over 300 miles) journey: we therefore left at 11 o’clock! Fitting all of our kit into the car is a black art and needs practice. If I was efficient I would draw a diagram and have an itinerary, but…….I can’t be bothered!! Isn’t that the point of the trip?

The roads are great in France, I wish I had my bike with me….the Blade would be in its element…..warm but not too warm, well surfaced and maintained twisty roads with one or two tempting straights………..The motorways are quiet too, not surprising as the toll cost was over 25 euros for this journey! I can’t believe how little traffic there is, even the ring road around Bordeaux was practically empty.

The total journey including two stops at very scenic motorway picnic sites, took a little over 7 hours. This will be one of our few really long drives. The girls did great, no complaints or silliness, we only heard from them as they changed one DVD for the next, 3 ½ in total. Jane was pretty good at navigating with not a single U-Turn or last minute swerve for a slip road required.

With every hour or so on the road south the thermometer in the car climbed a degree until we were at 17 C when we arrived at our new place. We were chuffed to bits to see a cluster of gites bathed in early evening sun and even more so when we were met by the owner (Jane) who showed us around the place and steered me towards the “welcome pack” of red wine (Bordeaux of course) and fresh baked bread.

The unpacking only took 20 min and we were settled in and having tea within the hour. 

12th March 2007

Although I knew that Bordeaux is a wine makers paradise, I still wasn’t prepared for all the hundreds of vineyards and thousands of vines packed into every visible field. The vines are bare at the moment so you can really see the meticulously straight planting lines of the vines.  We visited Sauveterre-de-Guyenne today, just to get money, food and check out internet access (which is WiFi so we’ll need to return with the laptop to do any uploading). Nice little village.  Had a PE lesson before tea (playing badminton in the garden) ….not a bad day for Andrew’s first one as part of the Great British Unemployed (his holiday pay has finally ended totally!  

We’ve been at Le Manoir du Cèdre for nearly a week now and have settled down to our new French life. We feel like we’ve been away from England for such a long time it’s hard to believe that we’ve only been away for 2 weeks. The weather has been glorious and we’ve gloated whilst watching the weather forecasts for England. Today has topped 17ºC whilst back home I’d have been scrapping the morning ice off my car! With snow on the way back home, the weather next week might be a bit cooler here… but warmer than in Burnley!

Our home here in the Gironde is lovely (visit www.manoirducedre.com .. they also do B&B so if you’re ever in the area it’s highly recommended). Our hosts, Jane, Emma, and Roy are great and have ensured everything in our gite is perfect. They’re also on hand to offer advice on the best markets, and other places to visit. There is a huge stack of tourist brochures in our gite, and for those that know me, it’s been a joy….I have spent quite some time reading thru them, sorting them into ‘worth seeing’, ‘not open yet’ and ‘too expensive’! Andrew and the girls have nicknamed me the ‘Itinerator’ and delight in winding me up about my need for planning outings, of which I have many!

The girls are also settling into life away from home. There’s a dog and two cats here, so they are adopting them for a few weeks. They are still enthusiastic about school work. We’ve done Maths outside in the sun, working out areas, approximate estimations, and times-tables whilst wandering around the grounds, pacing out the garden, measuring the pool and estimating how much water we could get into Emma’s car! Our ‘Professeur de Français’ (Elena) has been teaching us all our numbers and greetings using games and flashcards and has even set us homework! The Professeur d’Art (Madi) has things planned for next week so watch out for pictures of our works of art soon.

We’ve started our French project- taking pictures of the shops and signs to help us learn (although we’ve sussed out Creperie already), drawing France and learning where we will be staying. We’re also scoring badminton and ‘Trionimoes’ (a great game we’re becoming addicted to) in French. Hopefully it will be interesting for us all to learn more about the French culture, not just the kids. They are making home-schooling very easy at the moment as they are great to teach and look forward to it- they keep asking when the next lesson will be! We’ll see how long this lasts!

As this blog is also a record of our trip for us to reflect on, I’m going to include some info on the places we visit. Andrew reckons this’ll be boring for anyone else, so you’ll just have to skip the bits that are!

The Gironde region is in the Aquitaine region in southwest France. It is famous for it’s wine-making (Bordeaux) and there are hundreds of châteaux estates surrounding us. We are staying in Castelmoron d’Albret, which is the smallest (by area) village in France. We walked round it yesterday and needless to say it didn’t take us long! It looks like it’s been built on the top of a rocky cliff-top, with the bottoms of the houses melding seamlessly with the rock. There are houses with wooden balconies and little rooms jutting out over nothing, held up by ancient trusses and beams. The houses look really old, with peeling shutters and walls that look like they’re half falling down. I suppose they could be described as being ‘scruffy’, but somehow, here, they just look ‘shabby chic’.

The nearest town to us is Sauveterre de-Guyenne (March 12th), which is one of several bastides in the area of Entre-Deux-Mers. It was founded in 1281 and still has its four Gothic gateways, although the rest of the outer walls were demolished in 1814. We’ve also visited Crèon (March 14th) and Monségur (March 16th), two other of these mediaeval towns called bastides, which are all planned around a square with roads that intersect at right angles. These central squares are surrounded by various buildings that house all the important activities of a town- commercial, administrative, religious and cultural. Bastides were founded by noblemen, or even the King himself, between 1222 and 1373, and brought together a group of people with the aim of developing a particular area. The nobleman levied tolls and taxes on the bourgeois (the settlers of the town) in return for providing the land. Monségur is built on a hill, and the name Monségur literally means ‘hill where you are safe’.

There are plenty of lovely walks in this area too. We’ve only done one so far…to ‘Lizard Lake’ (13th March), a few miles from where we are staying. We called it this because of the many lizards we saw, basking on fallen tree trunks in the sun. They are only about 4 inches long and are really fast. We also saw a deer just at the point when Elena started asking when we were going home…it kept her going a little longer with the prospect of finding another deer. We never did, but we finished the walk in peace! Madi has decided she loves walking and seems to be tireless.

Elena’s forté seems to be cycling and at this she is tireless. Today we started the first part of the cycling route which stretches 55km to Bordeaux. We only did the first 10km (and the return) this time, but Elena and Andrew want to do the whole thing. Me and Madi will meet them at the end and drive them home!

Finally, our school trip… to the zoo! On the 15th we set off to Bordeaux zoo, approx an hour away. The plan was to get to Bordeaux before lunch, park up and have a wander and a picnic, and then go to the zoo for the afternoon as it didn’t open until 1.30pm. As usual things didn’t go quite as the ‘itinerator’ planned. It took us an hour to get to the city, which looked fantastic as we crossed the Pont de Pierre. Unfortunately I didn’t know it was this bridge so got us a bit lost… the numerous roadworks and ‘deviations’ which abandon you half way thru didn’t help. An hour later, we drove out of the other side of Bordeaux heading for the zoo. We didn’t even get out of the car so next time around we’re catching the train in and making use of the trams… all the car parks are underground anyway which we haven’t a hope of getting into, roof-box or not! Finding the zoo then took another hour. The leaflet we had said ‘Sortie no. 12, suivre centre de recyclage’ so we duly followed the signs and got to the recycling centre. Unfortunately more roadworks along the way meant that we didn’t see a single sign for the zoo. After circling the area we knew the zoo had to be in, and asking directions from 2 people who didn’t speak a word of English we finally collared a passing cyclist how told us, ‘Premier la gauche, premier la gauche et droit (hope I’ve spelt it OK). We got this and found the zoo immediately!

Because it’s out of season we had the zoo to ourselves for the first ½ hour, with only another ½ dozen or so people entering after us. It is a small zoo, and after the length of time it took us to find it, quite disappointing. The kids enjoyed it but we weren’t there long. I still can’t decide whether I agree with zoos as the animals look quite sad. I don’t like seeing the lions pacing the fences as I’m sure it’s a sign they are going stir-crazy. The white tiger was Madi’s favourite.
 

Hello every one!
im missin ya all too, thankz for leaving messages im enjoying reading them!
Elena

hi
looking forward to seeing you in june.
enjoying ourselves a lot
look at our photos and keep sending messages
madi

We've finally found internet access but its 40 minutes drive away! Every other entry has been typed into a word document and saved until now when we can cut and paste.

We're all having a great time. I'm not missing work at all!! The kids are being very serious about their own school work and are very easy to teach, its fun.

There have been no major goings on to report on, we've only been away for two weeks but it does seem longer.

Keep the messages coming, we will get round to reading and replying to them asap

Andrew and Jane 

Yesterday we finally found internet access in Libourne so updated the blog with photos and diary entries and tried to catch up with e-mail. We didn’t linger much longer (only to grab some lunch) as the weather was gloomy (7ºC and a bit rainy) but managed a couple of photos on the way back to the car. We drove home via Chateau de Rauzan which was built between 1310-1350, but since the 18th century has been in ruins. It is now being restored and the public can visit it (except on Monday… the day we were there!).

We’ve driven past loads of chateaus and I wanted to make sure we visited at least one of them so today we went to Cadillac, another bastide town, to visit its chateau. It was built at the beginning of the 17th century by Henri III and was said to be fit for a royal palace in its day, so I looked forward to visiting it. The rest of the family weren’t quite as enthusiastic but since I’d promised we only had to go to 1 chateau they enthused on my behalf! We were, of course, the only visitors so had the place to ourselves. The exterior was quite impressive… alas… the interior…!

Perhaps the fact that in the 19th century it had been converted into a women’s prison should have given a few clues as to its state inside. In 1634 (so the visitor’s guide said) an English visitor had marvelled at its magnificence ‘nowhere in the whole of France can so great a number of fireplaces or impressions of art be found….The walls are covered with gold and silk tapestries….’ However, the guide then goes on to comment that the ‘moral violence of the repression, the perpetual and absolute silence imposed on the prisoners characterised a world distinguished in its tiniest details by an obsession for order and exemplary punishment inflicted on “fallen girls”…. The burden of this double life accompanies the visitor who enters this undisguised reality’. In other words….it still looks like a prison: cold, miserable, and empty of anything decorative or attractive (except for us, that is!). We didn’t stay long, placated the kids with a visit to the sweet shop and headed home.

Need to find a better example of a Château ………………….

The girls also had their hair highlighted by me! Since Simonstone School didn’t allow it I’d promised them their new school would. It turned out quite well, if I say so myself!