More Golf in the Sun

The focus of the day was another game of golf. We had an 11.30 tee time so a relaxed morning with croissant and pain au raisin before setting off to play. Elaine decided to give golf a miss so Anika and Peter set off alone. The weather was fantastic and as we finished the thermometer in the car read 33c! Back at home the backyard thermometer screamed 38c but can't be right.

The course was very quiet but for some reason everyone on the course was in front of us and those playing first seemed at times very slow. However they all seemd to disappear after nine holes and the threesome in front of us let us through and off we went. In the end we finished in under four hours and had a very welcome bottle of fizzy water on the terrace before returning to the house.

More later, we were going to go into La Rochelle for dinner but we have decided to stay in the yard and have a bbq - so off to the shops.

Bank Holiday Weekend

Saturday
Taking the 2.00pm Easyjet from Gatwick is a very civilised way of getting to La Rochelle. Travelling with no luggage means a pleasant walk to the Tram, train from East Croyden a door to door journey of just over the hour at a totla cost of £9.00.

We were joined at the airport by Elaine who had accepted an invite for a weekend of golf. The flight ran a few minutes late but with a flight time of an hour we were still parking the rented Renault Grand Scenic (hmm bigger than I had thought) outside number 8 about 5.00pm local time.

Moules at Viviers was the highlight of the evening and we enjoyed a spectacular sunset at we finished our meal. It was pretty much full and we needed to have booked. The MKAY sign sat on the same table we used when last visiting with M&A.

Sunday
There was a competition on at the golf club and so we booked a tee time for 15.20, an hour after the last of the competiton went out and so we set of mid morning to go into La Rochelle itself. Our plan was Le petit dejeuner at Cafe de la Paix and a walkabout, showing Elaine the essence of the town. So, after picking up the making s of Sunday dinner in the Casino,parking in Place Verdun was our first destination - no problem. Hmmmm the Cafe was closed. Ah well there are the two very buzzy spots in the square by the Hotel de ville. Did you see it coming? Yes, both closed - in fact very closed.

It began to look like the season had ended and how, or was it just Sunday? Fortunatley all the cafes by the Old Port were open and we had a delightfull LPD watcing the world go by in bright warm sunshine. We strolled by the Old Port and ice creamed on the small beach just beyond the sailing school and then toured around to the Marina before heading back to Nantilly to prepare for golf.

Playing conditions were perfect although the breeze that served to cool us was a bit strong on a couple of the holes. A good time was had by all and we finished the last six holes in the company of a member who was playing by herself. She quickly became Elaine's best friend as she deceded that chattering away in freanch to either Anika or Peter was a waste fo time. It was uncanny she played every shot (except putting) in exactly the same way - a five wood plonking it forward 20 to 80 yards and merrily made her way round the course with a tidy score.

Honey, lemon and tarragon chicken with roast potatoes, haricot vert and carrots for dinner and a glass wine and long conversations ended the day.

The holiday within the holiday - part one

Monday morning sees us setting of for the 75 minute drive to Royan to catch the ferry across the mouth of the Gironde estuary to the Medoc. This 25 minute passage offered the prospect of a meandering drive through the vineyards of this part of Bordeaux. There was a small problem of the ferry in that the "driver" thoughtlessly locked the doors with the push button on the ignition key. This set the alarm and once the ferry go into motion the alarm went off. As luck would have it we were close enough to be able to reset the alarm, over and over again for the rest of the trip.

The meander down the Medoc didn't work out quite like that as there is very little wine growing until you are quite a long way down the peninsula around St Estephe. Our first stop was at Paulliac to view the Lynch Bages vines - very nice too.

We had a picnic lunch over looking the Gironde in the company a camel! Here's an update on camel diets, they don't like celery.

We drove out of Paulliac on the Route of the Chateaux which was delightful although more in the style of fancy farmhouses of viniculture like in Burgundy and not like the royal Chateaux of the Loire. Arcachon was our destination for the day and in particular Hotel Le Dauphin. [At present we are a bit confused because in days of old the heir to the throne of France was known as Le Dauphin but then again the Dauphin also seems to be the french for a dolphin...hmmmm...] The hotel staff were very good and the location was excellent even if the facilities were fairly average.
Arcachon is basically on a lagoon which creates a bay like vista that has clearly become very popular with holidaymakers and even day-trippers. As we left the town we passed through a very stylish suburb that clearly showed that the idea that Arcachon was developed for the wealthy of Bordeaux had some real basis. The centre and seafront of Arcachon is a bit architecturally conflicted with some really horrible seventies geometric concrete with a Basque influenced vernacular. I am tempted to think that when the french planning process gets it wrong it really gets it wrong!

We had excellent dinner at the Cafe de la Plage - restaurant Chez Pierre. Anika had a very glum face when she looked at the wine list as it was very expensive - the best value being 94 euro for a 2001 Chat Lynch Bages. Fortunately we realised she was looking at the "fine wine" carte and we had a very serviceable white at a very affordable price.

Tuesday's departure from Arcachon was via Pyla Sur Mer to visit Europe's biggest sand dune, 340 feet high and two miles long. To encourage responsible tourism they have created a large car parking area and camper van overnight area and a whole bunch of other facilities including a fibreglass staircase to walk up to the top of the Dune. It actually is quite amazing and well worth the stop.

The journey to Biarritz was intentionally slow, taking all the "B" roads we could find - well really "D" roads here in France and for the most part they are pretty good. Which means that they, and the area, is tres populaire with camper vanners. Lots of caravans are still about but it seems that the camper vans are really dominating that style of holiday. I will look this up in the map book and update later - we paased by a large lake that has clearly been developed into a resort area and pretty pleasing it was. Offers the thought of an away day from Nantilly for a lakeside expereince.

We kept seeing that the Autoroute was very busy and so felt quite smug about our route choice or we were until we hit the outskirts of BAB. There are three towns on the coast, Bayonne, Anglet and Biarritz and they form one conurbation, BAB, and all three attract tourists. Anglet seems to be a development of resort facilities designed to fill the coast between the two Bs. As we approached the outskirts we hit traffic - a lot of it. we were able to get a good look at the urban space as we made our way from the Northern outskirts of Bayonne to the old centre of Biarritz, the southern most town of BAB.

As you would guess along with all the traffic came the horrendous problem of parking and yes our hotel did not offer any parking and were singularly unhelpful abut the best course of action. Fortunately a space in the square outside the hotel came free and we took advantage of it to unpack the car and check in. We realised later that the hotel staff were not being unhelpful so much as merely expressing the locals' view to parking. They do the Irish thing of pulling up outside where they want to go and ignore all restriction. Having been in the car for a couple of hours and clambering out into the sunshine of Biarritz is that you are reminded of one of the negative things about having air-con in the car. You lose the sense of the "real" temperature and boy was it hot.

It took us a little while to settle into the hotel and its surroundings and really it was only after we discovered the two level roof top terraces that we understood it value. The first terrace was a dining area and we took all of our breakfasts there as well as a lunch and a dinner. The second terrace was up a level and laid out as a relax with a drink area. Both gave brilliant views as well as great vantage points to observe the life of the Old Port area.
More in part two and picture to follow.

Last day in France for P&S

So where does the time go?
We seem to have only been back from the south for five days and here we are looking down our last day. (M&A are here until Monday and we are back at the end of the month so we don't have to run around "closing up" the house but still it feels like a day of getting things done.)
We have fitted in a couple of rounds of golf, two bbq meals at home and a trip to Viviers for moules.

Our ferry is from Caen at midnight tonight so we will doing odds and ends before setting off about 5.00pm. M&A are doing us a late lunch to send us on our way so it looks like it will be back on the diet once we are back in England.
Phot0's to follow.

La Tranche sur Mer

Key feature of today has been a trip out to the north to the seaside resort of LTsM in the Vendee(as above). We went there to meet up with four friends from Beckenham Tennis club who happen to be on holiday just north of there. Marie, one of the four is from the Vendee but has lived in England for the last 30 years or so. Lunch went on from 1.00pm to 4.00pm so very french style. I think it also means that our planned supper (Moule en cidre) is going to be served very late this evening.

Back from the "holiday in the holiday"

Yesterday about 3.00pm saw the two of us back in Nantilly after our road trip. Mon frere et belle soeur (M&A) were here to greet us. [More about the trip in a later posting]
We spent the rest of the day unpacking and catching up with M&A and cooked dinner on the new bbq. We sat on until late in the yard having a good old gossip.
M&A have gone off on trip to Il de Re and we are preparing for a 3.30 tee time down at the local golf club. "Preparing" mostly means doing the holiday washing but we did go off on our bikes for an hour long bike ride. Just as our energies were flagging on the final stretch before home we were cheered on by a group of young (6 or 7 years)kids with cries of Allez, allez, tour de france!