where art collides

Only took me about five minutes to “do” the German Submarine Base at Saint Nazaire. Interesting enough to see but not much on display. Looking at the pens you could imagine the activity levels there during WW2.

Mosied further along the seafront. A very pleasant place to while away a couple of hours before setting off to pick Simon up from Nantes Airport. Not many folk around and a hot sunny day. It was difficult to picture the place full of occupying troops. Lovely small beaches.

Was quite glad that Waze did not take me back over the bridge across the Loire. It was a seriously squeaky bum moment driving over it from Noirmoutier. Probs the highest bridge if ever driven over. Had to stay totally focussed on the car in front and not look to either side.

The pickup was seamless enough albeit the flight was somewhat delayed and we got to Cecile’s mum’s place in about 25 mins. It was nice to see her after perhaps thirty years. Her house is very close to a train station but it was a 45 min wait until the next one so we Ubered it in. The AirBnB is fine, does the job anyway and we headed out into the night.

Touristy stuff today.

Slept for knocking on twelve hours last night. In bed before seven thirty! Catches up on you doesn’t it?

As a result I awoke reasonably refreshed this morning and am now sat outside on my terrace glancing occasionally up at the white walls of the turreted chateau under whose walls the hotel nestles.

I can thoroughly recommend the Hotel Le General D’Elbee. Extreme comfort. Really requires a few of you to stay, or at least a couple, to enjoy the bar and lounge, the latter of which really pushes the levels of style and comfort you would see in any hotel. Sounds of Noirmoutier waking up although I can’t see beyond the walls of the hotel. 

Drove here yesterday afternoon from Les Sables, really just a large beach resort but with an interesting old bit of harbour with Priory Saint Nicolas, which was closed. The main point of the place is that it is the start and finishing line of the Vendee Globe Challenge. You couldn’t help but think of adventure on the high seas when walking along the quayside towards the open waters beyond.

The Vendee is really flat and quite uninteresting. The approach to Noirmoutier reminded me of Cape Cod. Lots of sand dunes and pine trees. Came across some salt pans but everything was closed. Did give me the opportunity to take the defender off road along some narrow dirt tracks to get there 🙂

Picking Si up from Nantes airport this pm and figured I’d stop by the German Submarine Base museum in St Nazaire en route. More as it happens…

A light breeze wafts over Camping du Lac de Saint Pardoux carrying a freshness that signals a ten degree drop in the temperature forecast for the day. The prospect is as refreshing as the breeze itself.

It is still warm enough to sit out on the deck. The bushes that separate the “Premium” chalet from the lake are rustling and there is movement on the surface of the water that was not present yesterday. As I write the dawn has arrived and the birds are chattering.

Ordinarily I might look up Saint Pardoux but on this occasion my levels of curiosity are very low to negligible so I’ll leave it to you if you so choose. Something to do with the lake?

During our stint here in France we noticed a few Aires, roadside services and parking spots, named after saints. An ignominious memorial if ever there was one. The further south we ventured the fewer such Aires we saw. Not sure what that tells us.

Yesterday the three remaining tourists visited the Oradure Sur Glane memorial village. The site of a massacre during the second world war. Nazis striking out as their war entered its final phase. I was a reluctant visitor but the others wanted to go and I guess I am glad I went. The ruined village, left wrecked as it was after the atrocity, really was a reminder of the horror of war. I felt uncomfortable walking around.

The heat of the day, in the thirties, took its toll and we moved on to the campsite, the pool and the lake. We had an early meal, ably cooked by Ajax on his teppanyaki grill and early to bed. A month or more of rugby touring starting to have an effect.

This post, written by the side of the lake, will probably have been uploaded in La Rochelle. There is next to no connectivity here although I did manage to book a hotel for the Tuesday night and the Caen to Portsmouth ferry next week.

Tonight I return to Hotel en Ville where THG and I stayed on our way down. Being later in the season it is half the previous price and a bargain considering you were served up one of the best breakfasts of the trip.

Funny that the current temperature of seventeen degrees I still consider to be t shirt territory. Half thought about digging out my fleece but that would involve walking the twenty metres to the car:)

At twenty past eight there is no visible movement around the campsite. Ajax got up when I made the tea but then went back to bed and no sign of Jezzer. This very much feels like the actual overdue approach to the end of summer and the onset of an autumn that I know is already well under way at home. However the temperature is set to climb back to the mid twenties by the weekend. Do the French have the concept of Indian Summers?

There are two things I am very much looking forward to when I get home, three if you count seeing THG again (which I do obvs). Our party has been posting pics of them eating fish and chips and walking their dogs, unseen for weeks. Mine will be a proper British takeaway curry on the Wednesday night followed by a cooked breakfast on the Thursday. Fosters back bacon and spicy farmhouse sausage.

I am also quite looking forward to getting on with some work. Whilst I have been doing the odd bit in France the busy season is fast approaching. It’s already there really.

Ma belly is full. Sat here in my room at Hotel Europe, window open to let in a breeze that lulls us into a false sense of security as the temperature today is set to hit the thirties.

We found a good bar last night. PQP. Good beer and a big screen for the rugby. In between matches we popped along to the Kashmiri restaurant for onion bhaji and lamb madras. I guess for France it wasn’t bad but wouldn’t really give it more than six out of ten.

Left the boys to it and wandered back to the hotel. Only a short walk from all the action and has a pool and a secure car park. The latter is v handy but not sure I’ll use the pool despite the warm day ahead. See how it goes.

Definite signs of autumn driving down the back lane into the village this morning. The occasional brown leaf appearing and undergrowth starting to die back in the hedgerows. The harvest seems also to be pretty much over around the Manoir.  I like the good feeling that comes with the ease into autumn. Still very much a warm sunny day in prospect though and the pool will very much be on the agenda.

Went into Montaigu this morning really just to buy milk for breakfast. THG then requested fruit and a variety of other bread based requests came in via whatsapp. Sfine. Only problem was I was there half an hour before InterMarche opened! Everything else could be procured in artisanal and organic shops on the main street but not the milk!!!

Fulfilled all the requests and had to sit in the car waiting for my milk.

Last night we ‘hit the town’. Couple of beers at Cafe du Centre in Roquecor followed by dinner at L’Artichaut back in Montaigu de Quercy. All in all a v pleasant evening. Back in time to watch the rugby were it not for the fact that we couldn’t immediately get the tv to work in the main house. I didn’t stay the pace, partly down to the large glass of calvados, and hit the hay earlyish.

Walking to the bar in Roquecor we saw dozens, hundreds even, of conkers lying on the ground. They seem to be rampant in this part of the world. No sign of anyone picking them up as would be the case in the UK. Conker paradise.

This morning’s wildlife sighting was a pheasant in the lane. I was on the way back from fetching the croissants and there it was in all its colourful splendour. The bread came from Chez Domy as recommended by Richard the caretaker. A good decision. The pain au raisins were huge.

Another red hot day in prospect. We have apparently been blessed with the weather. According to Brooke, last night’s chef, by this time in September it normally starts to cool. I don’t spend time in the sun unless it is in the pool.

The group splits up today with half headed to Toulouse for the night to watch Japan v Samoa. A late start that has occasioned an AirBnB for the night. Those left in the Manoir are off out to dinner locally. A couple of sherberts in the bar in Roquecor followed by nosh at L’Artichaut. Both highly recommended by those who know.

One of the joys of rural France is the ample supply of free open air parking in the towns we have been visiting. Villages really. None of the stress associated with parking in cities where vehicle height restrictions and complex pay and display machines rule the roost. The pay and display machines are no different to those in the UK really when it comes to complexity and difficulty of use.

One bemusing aspect of travelling in France has been the use of English language options when it comes to purchasing things, be they online or at a machine. Quite often only some of the screens have English text and revert into French for some parts of the transaction. This has not caused a problem, yet, but it does raise a smile.

This morning I experienced another issue. On the boulangerie run this morning to pick up the croissants a taxi pulled up in front of the shop. I cadged a business card off the driver and then realised I might as well see if he was free tomorrow evening for our jaunt into the village to dine at L’Artichaut. He told me I needed to ring the office as he didn’t manage the bookings.

Fair enough I thought though the alarm bells should have rung. I only just managed to understand him because of his deep regional French accent. Back at the Manoir I called the office but had to give up as without being there face to face I couldn’t understand a word he was saying. A bit like a Frenchman trying to understand Rab C Nesbitt.

Instead I messaged the caretaker to ask if he would enquire for me. It would be useful to at least know how much the fare would be before booking.

…

Caretaker got back to me. Apaz the taxi company people are on holiday and I was talking to a recorded message. Doh!!!

Sat in our huge living room at le Manoir. It is one of three. None of them get used. Outdoor living innit. It is light out. I made the tea at seven thirty and figured I’d nip to Intermarche in Montaigu de Quercy to pick up some bread, specifically for toasting but checked and it doesn’t open until nine. Figured I’d have a toasted bacon sandwich for breakfast plus maybs toast and marmalade. Simple things in life. See how it goes.

MdQ is seriously in the middle of nowhere. We are surrounded by fields for miles around. Self sufficiency is largely the name of the game. MdQ itself is five kilometres down the back road out of the manoir.

…

Bit of a jaunt to Montcuq today. Not much there. A few shops and caffs. Bought a case of different red wines of the region. All medoc, this being Cahors. For taking home not consuming here.

Had a coffee at Le Rocking Horse followed by lunch at Cafe du Centre. The place was rocking with aged expats. Not sure what sort of a life they have out here. It almost felt as if they were withering on the vine.

On the way back we spotted a sign for “Truffes Noires de Montcuq”. I’d noted earlier whilst perusing the area on Google maps and looked it up. Decided it wasn’t worth a special trip to visit, if only because black truffles are expensive and we don’t use them in cooking at home. So when we passed the sign I turned around in a farm track and went to explore. 

When we arrived all it was was a sign outside someone’s private house with a pool and deckchairs. A bloke appeared through some sliding doors. He was on the phone but waved. I took a snap decision to abort the visit and turned around as he started to walk across the lawn to where we had pulled up. Didn’t seem worth getting into a conversation.

Then we passed a sign for the Ecole de Parachutisme de Bouloc. Another place of interest on Google maps. We didn’t find that but with hindsight it does explain the sighting of the occasional light aircraft above Le Manoir.

Back at the ranch we discovered that the sunflower field behind the house had been harvested during our absence. Good job I’d cut a single plant myself when we set off on our trip. Thought we might as well plant some back in Lincoln and see how they get on.

The next challenge is to go and fetch some more red wine! We apparently drank the six bottles purchased yesterday.

Bit of a chill in the air this morning as I went to collect the croissants. Found an artisanale boulangerie in Montaigu de Quercy. I suspect most of them are labelled “artisanale” Missed it the first time I drove past and found myself out of the village before I knew it. Was only a small gaff. Quite pleased that the entire conversation with the woman behind the counter was conducted in French.

The annual bike and booze day was starting in Montaigu. There is a 30km route with a stop every ten clicks for wine, cheese and sausage. Also a shorter route for walkers. The road past village hall was bustling with bikers and walkers setting off on their jaunt.

An eight am start precluded participation by any of our touring party. The thirty kilometres would also have put most of us off. Everyone had the right gear.

I took the back road out of the Manoir. Just a track really. Had to lower the suspension on the defender as the hedging on either side arched quite low forming a tunnel over the track..

The walls in this place are almost a metre thick. They have fttp and a mesh wireless network so the internet connectivity is great. Our room however, thanks to the thickness of the masonry, gets practically no signal.

…

Later a jaunt to the Sunday market in Roqecourt. A small affair. Three of us blokes decided fairly quickly that the best way to ‘do’ the market was to sit in the cafe on the square in front of the church and leave the sheilas to it. Didn’t take long for them to latch on to the fact and join us. Cafe, cafe au lait, cappucino, Perrier, the. That was tea. Couldn’t get the accent to appear for the French word.

The market stalls were all local traders. One or two smallholders selling fruit and veg. THG bought a couple of butternut squashes to take home. The tomatoes were huge.

Now sat around the pool. There is a perfect shaded bit. This manoir is as luxurious as it gets.

Sat on our terrace looking up at Eglise Saint Julien, Creissels. There is a freshness to the morning here in the mountains. We are located in Parc naturel regionale des Grands Causses. Last hotel stay for a while.

Lovely dinner last night fair play. Bit of banter with some of the locals on other tables in the restaurant. We had a table booked for 7pm and were the only ones there for a while. Then an English couple turned up but the room didn’t really fill up until eight when the locals began to appear. We like to eat early and get up early.

The conversation will be mostly in English for the next week as we home in with some pals on the Manoir we have booked for a week. Everyone coming in independently from different directions. I’ve been getting on fine in French but it is sometimes hard going (shrugs shoulders). 

Happy to endorse Hotel Chateau De Creissels. Room great, food great. Didn’t have a bar but the receptionist brought my beer to the lounge where I was sat watching le rugby.

Thassifornowwerroff.

Great day out at the rugby. Met Guy and his pals at noon as arranged. Game started at five forty five so a bit of a liquid warm up seemed appropriate. Amazingly, apart from an initial difficulty finding the tram, everything ran like clockwork.

At the stadium the queues were fairly minimal helped, probs, by our early arrival and the service at the bar seemed to have improved. This time they had separate people pouring the beers and serving the punters.

The remainder of our touring party arrived just before the start having come by taxi. An element of ‘tour fatigue’ is beginning to show. We will all benefit from the week at the Manoir that starts on Saturday.

Apparently there was heavy rain and thunder overnight. I heard none of it. The deep sleep of the just 🙂. This morning the rain had morphed to a very gentle drizzle which was most refreshing on my short stroll to the snack bar to pick up the bread. Deux croissants et une baguette merci. Oh et un cafe, longue. Pierre does a good coffee fair play. I assume that is his name. 

D’aujourd hui we will be recovering from yesterday, sorting out the chalet and packing for the next leg of our trip. A walk to the (pebble) beach is in prospect and maybe, dare I say it, even a paddle in the Med. After all we’ve come all this way…

We did swim in the med at Cassis. Feels like a long time ago now but it was only last Thursday. One week. It’s going to rain off and on all day today but we may well swing by the pool. It has a covered area that I have been using to stay out of the sun but today it can keep the rain off. Doesn’t matter if it is raining once in the pool.

I remember a family holiday to Brittany perhaps fifteen years ago. It rained twelve days out of fourteen. One day looked to be a bit brighter so I bought a load of snorkelling gear and we hit the beach. The boys all went snorkelling and the girls sat on the beach. 

After half an hour or so I looked up. It had started to rain and the beach was deserted except for Anne and Hannah huddled under an umbrella waiting patiently for us. We hadn’t noticed the rain. I can still picture the scene.

Some of the others in our group have started wending their way in the general direction of Montaigu de Quercy. It is around 650km from Nice so a fair old distance. Our plan is to drive around two thirds of the way tomorrow. We’ve booked into a nice gaff for the night. 

To a large extent we are retracing the steps coming here from Toulouse for which we took a relaxing 5 days. Some are visiting the places we stopped at. Avignon for one. Makes a lorra sense to me. I expect that someday they will get around to finishing that bridge at Avignon. Must have run out of budget. Or the builder went bust, or similar.

We did toy with the idea of leaving Nice today but figured we had already seen a lot of the places en route and that some downtime would do us good.

Right, breakfast beckons. Croissant anyone?

…

Rain has started again. The heavy rain which can be quite pleasant when observed from the covered deck outside the chalet. A river of water is running down the road. A plane flies by on its descent into Nice airport, nobbut six clicks away.

…

Very much a mooching morning 🙂Popped in to reception to ask if we could check out a little later tomorrow as I have a meeting at 9.30am whereas they want us out by nine. Hadn’t quite factored that into my planning. The receptionist needs to discuss with ‘the manager’ so I have to  pop back after lunch.

After six days at this site we’ve just spotted that the birds making the racket outside our chalet are green parakeets. Gosh.

…

As the sun creeps inevitably over the yardarm at La Vieille Ferme Camping it has started to rain. Again. It has not yet resulted in the river flowing fast by the deck of chalet C1A but it may yet do so.

I have, as a result, been discouraged from a visit to the bar and am instead helping to empty the fridge by consuming the gin and tonic resident within. Formerly resident.

The river has started as I write. Doesn’t take long here in the Tropic of Provence. The parakeets that frequent the trees around the chalet have stopped squawking. Presumably keeping their heads down.

The defender sits squarely on the drive in front of the chalet. Feels totally at home in the rain.

Two people walk separately past the chalet. A young woman strides confidently up the hill. A man, probs about my age, maybs a little less, walked a more tentatively with what looked like a table tennis bat. There is a ping pong table uo there. They both just scampered back down. Rain must have started again although I didn’t really notice that it had stopped.

On the main road I hear a siren. Feels as if we are cocooned from it all here in the campsite. Live goes on. Births, deaths. Here the main decision is when to eat dinner. I am somewhat governed by THG who has a very high metabolic rate due to her exercise regime. THG is an amazingly fit woman. I am proud to be married to her.

It’s been a wonderful week in the south of France. We would come again at this time of year but probably opt for a villa. The idea of staying in a campsite was so that we could be with our motorhoming pals. Unfortunately the crazy rush to book accommodation for the Rugby World Cup resulted in us having to stay in separate sites. The ones we identified as target sites booked up very quickly.

Funnily enough we haven’t really seen that many rugby tourists here. Maybe this is just a popular site full stop.

Another rugby day ahead after a day doing the tourist thing in Nice yesterday. We’ve done Nice now and the spare day tomorrow which was being held back in case there was more we wanted to see can now be used for relaxation, a bit of swimming and tidying up in anticipation of a long day’s travel on Friday.

The campsite wants us out by 9am on the last day with is a bit of a challenge knowing what time we’ve been getting up so pretty much all tidying and packing needs to be done the day before. Slightly annoying that I have a conference call at 9.30 am. In my mind I’d have had that call before heading off. Some negotiation may be necessary.

We will be glad to leave the campsite and its tiny chalet bedroom with low bed and not much space to maneuvre. La Vieille Ferme is a nice enough site. It just ain’t particularly luxurious but we don’t expect that. It’s served a purpose.

So the plan for today is to meet @Guy Osborne at Van Diemen’s Australian pub at noonish and head to the ground around three. The others in the group look like meeting us at the ground. Our last bus back from the airport (via tram) is at nine forty five pm which should give us enough time to get there from the ground. Game starts ast five forty five.

This has been such a full on trip it was easy for us to decide to stay on until Friday even though our last timetabled event, the Italy v Uruguay game, is tonight. The next week is going to be spent in extreme levels of comfort at a manoir deep in the heart of the French countryside. The touring party will I think appreciate the downtime.

Il pleut overnight ici. Could hear it on the roof of our chalet. Rain is forecast for most of today. We are having a pottering around morning in which a visit to Intermarche is planned and I will be doing some (a limited amount) of work.

For this afternoon a tourist trip to Nice is planned. A walk around Vieille Nice etc. Anything to squeeze the max value out of my Lignes d’Azur 7 day pass for which I paid twenty Euros but then found it was no use on the bus and train services serving our campsite.

I get why people like to walk on the sunny side of the street. I, however, am very much a walk in the shade. Person. I do not have blues on parade though. My outlook is sunny. It is simply that I fear the sun.

When I sit outside a bar, in a harbour on the cote d’Azur maybe I like to sit in the shade. I like my beer tall, cold and refreshing and the service to be quick. Better to order the next before finishing the one in front of you.

I like the conversation to be convivial with a thread of wit but don’t mind occasionally sitting alone enjoying my own company.

Ten past seven. Cassis dawn. A red glow on the Mediterranean horizon. Worker hurries into the hotel below me. My breakfast needs preparing. Sounds of shifting beer barrels. Gentle breeze rustles the surface of the water in the harbour, shimmering in the early morning light. Two white vans and two cars drive lights on along the quay in front of Bar Mistral.

…

Comfortable enough drive from Cassis to Nice despite the Bip&Go not working at one of the peages and a big accident holding everyone up for a while as three lanes merged into one. Could have been worse. Sat nav lost the plot a bit around some complicated roundabouts near our destination but we are glad now to have abandoned the car for a while, save the occasional supermarche run.

All is quiet in the chalet after a very pleasant light lunch in which I consumed some duck liver pate with a tomato and bread. We shall shortly make our way to the pool which is nobbut 60m away.

Tonight’s plan is a quiet night in. There may be rugby on the TV in the snack bar. I’m assuming there is a TV though not seen one 🙂

There is abundant public transport here. In an ideal world we wouldn’t need to use it to go to Nice as a taxi would seem to be far quicker and easier, assuming we are able to find one. We are less than twenty minutes by car from the Allianz stadium but by public transport it is more like an hour. Coming back the likelihood of finding a cab seems pretty remote. Thirty thousand other rugby fans will be looking for the same thing.

…

We are in our chalet watching the rugby with the BBC radio commentary. The radio is almost a minute behind but it is better to have it that way than the inane French commentary. They get excited at the slightest thing and are mostly boring. Ok I realise this is not very politically correct but it is what it is. 

Our touring party are currently somewhat dispersed. One lot are in an AirBnB on the Promenade des Anglais. Three are in their own campsite on the other side of Nice. We assume this to be the case. Radio silence is being observed. There were no more MoHo slots in this, our preferred choice site. Went in a flash. Ah well.

Tomorrow morning we have bacon. It is French bacon. Almost certainly rubbish but we have to give it a go. I realise that the enlightened amongst you will be saying that I should not pass judgement before trying the bacon but I speak with great experience. Even in the UK there is a lot of crap bacon. Almost any bacon sourced from a supermarket, for example.

Having now settled into our chalet it must be observed that several items appear to be missing after our two weeks of itinerant existence. Firstly my copy of the Band of Brothers book. Could have sworn it put it in my duffel bag but no that would appear not to be the case.

Secondly there were around six bottles of Kronenbourg 1664 somewhere to be had. Posh ones. They must be in the same bag as the book. Bit annoying, especially if I’ve left them behind somewhere. They are all replaceable. This is not a life or death sitch. Annoying all the same.

I have three bottles of particularly fine eau de vie in the boot. Calvados, armagnac and cognac. I am planning a taste test next week when we all converge on the Manoir. That’s after Nice. Eight days hence. The input from the guy in the shop who sold me it is that the bottles need to be kept in the fridge. None of this room temperature stuff. Some of them are at cask strength. The cognac is a blend with 70% dating back to 1990 and some as far back as 1926. Rare grapes. We will enjoy it I’m sure.

Tomorrow we are off to see Wales v Portugal. First a lunch is planned with our old friends @David Hopinks and @Cecile Hopkins. V excited to see them. The game is not until five forty five so a leisurely lunch in prospect followed by a few beers and rugby. More anon…