Les humans left la porte arrière unlocked....

...and zo we snook out of zee garage through zee cat-flap ("Eh, ou est le chat?") and in through the back door and now we are settling down to hibernate until les printemps.

Bonjour Mr Michael

Bon Anniversaire

Friday Fun - Ile de Re

The posh side of the harbour in St Martin

"There’s something oddly egalitarian about the French island of Ile de Ré. It’s Unesco-protected, attracts wealthy Parisians and British holidaymakers, and St Martin, the capital, has restaurants and boutiques that post prices to rival Paris or Nice. And yet its former citadel is home to France’s largest correctional facility, and until 1938 was the departure point for convicts bound for the French penal colonies.

The island is in its prime in the summer, but is equally appealing off season... " or so said Simon Horsford in a newspaper article a couple of years ago and so we went to test his view.

...and the not so posh - see the difference

The bridge is as ever a brilliant site as it crescents across the water. In the low season the tariff for a car is 8 euro - the tariff is now an eco-tariff, replacing the bridge toll as of January 1st. We passed by Rivedoux and pottered through a picturesque but (all bit) deserted La Flotte and pulled up on the quay in St Martin. It was - very cold - as it had been all week - but with less wind around we were able to have an amble around. There was plenty of life around the harbour including a several cafes open for lunch. We settled for a coffee and a snack in Fred's at Rivedoux before returning to Nantilly to settle in front of the fire for the rest of the day.

Wednesday's Wandering

With the main roads clear and the secondary roads OK to use with care, we decided on a day trip to Ile D'Oleron and Rochefort. Now this would be a rather big itinerary in spring or summer but on a freezing cold day in February it was more than possible. Our first target was to do a first time visit to the Phare de Chassiron that is at the far end of the island.
The whole island was eerily quiet and then we realised that we had arrived during the two hours of lunch time, that is clearly still observed, at least during the off-peak winter season.
The extent that Ile D'Oleron is a holiday place becomes very obvious on a winter visit by the number of businesses that are "closed until April", even most of the garages selling petrol have closed up.

Once at the Phare we parked up and donned every item of clothing we had with us set of for a cliff top walk. Most of the photos in the collage are from the point. Note the condition of the trees in the bottom left and you get some idea of the wind. The walk did not last long and was dominated by a discussion on the merits of thermal underwear. Oh for the days of summer when we complain about it being to hot!
We left the Phare and drove down to Le Chateau D'Oleron in search of a warming coffee but everywhere was closed and we found ourselves in the the square in Rochefort before settling into a cafe for cafe.
The photo in the bottom right is the Ecofrais Supermarche in Marsilly that has become our second home as we have bought just about everything we wanted there. Looking at the receipts we have made a significant impact on the local economy!

The trouble with shopping on the internet....

...is that what turns up may be a bit different to how you expect.... but at least I'm not the albino gnome any more....and what is more lads I am getting the whiff of chocolate banana cake.. get yourselves up here! 






That's better - I reckon the cake is in the box

Bonjour a partir des gnomes

Hey this www is great, I am ordering some clothes pour the nouveau bloke....ah you can keep zee netbook, thiz tablet (avec le android OS) est superb...quelle est cette chose skype?

With the roads clear we take a lunchtime trip down the coast

....and back to La Rochelle for lunch. Everything is startling clear in the sharp winter sun.

We have a new plaque on the wall to welcome all comers and a detail from the Swiss guard (or so they claimed) to keep and eye on the wine cellar.

A busy morning dans la cuisine

Je me demande ce qui est dans les escaliers?

Hi ho hi ho it's off here we go.......les humans want to talk to vous

Well it has been all go since we arrived in Nantilly. Lots of things to unpack from the car and a house that needed to warm up. We got the fire going early on, especially since we kept hitting the limit of our electricity puissance.

The car journey from Beckenham to Portsmouth was a bit trying. Very busy with traffic and we had to take a long way round because of bad problems on our preferred route. Usually we do the journey in less than two hours,  even close to an hour and a half. Friday's journey was two and a half hours.

The ferry was very quiet and we had a relaxing dinner in the restaurant and then retired to the bar to listen to "Over Easy" - a duo who performed nightmare versions of songs we thought we kinda recognised????

Arrival in St Malo was a very civilized 7.15/8.15 and with the ferry being so quiet we were off the boat and through the Border Control and on the road by 7.30/8.30. Four hours later we were unlocking the door of 8 Rue de Nantilly.

Once unpacked and had the house on the way to being warm, we took a stroll to the shops and picked up a few essentials and decided that it was so cold that a lazy night in was in order. Back at the house and Les Gnomes who seen to be taking over!

Hey so zis iz what we look like.... we gotta do zumthing about ezz clothes!

White Out in Nantilly

 Dimanche matin et le neige est ici aussi!

Dans La Cuisine avec Les Gnomes

Core this is a bit of alright - 'e can cook as well! We are going to ave to do zumthing about his clothes though. (And it is really warm here as well)

A Message from Les Gnomes de Nantilly

We don't know where he came from - but we know e haz saved us. All hail Zee Gnome dans Blanc. There's no going back - to the garden in zee freezing cold. Gnomes of France Unite - Equality, Liberty, Gnomety