Monday morning and the rain comes....

Having heard the rain through the night it was a pleasant surprise to wake to a bright sunny morning - however it did not last long as the rain returned and there is a threat of thunderstorms. So we are likely to tootle about the house doing a bit of preparation for our return tomorrow and look for a break in the weather this afternoon.

Yesterday was a decent enough day but a little short on sunshine. The highlight of the day was a trip out to Port des Minimes where we could see the work being done to expand the complex from 3,600 berths to 4,800. We then took a walk along the cliff top towards the south and got a bit of fresh air in our lungs and a bit of exercise for our legs.

Saturday was a trip out to visit the town of Cognac. It is about 60 miles from Nantilly, so very accessible and yet we had not been there before. Checking the weather it seemed like a good idea to head south for a better, warmer day. That part of the plan was not realised as we could tell no difference in the weather to that we had left behind.  Obviously we arrived just as all the shops closed for the three hour lunch break which they still do even though it was Saturday. On top of that, it not yet being "the season", the visits to the Cognac houses were also closed for lunch. Cognac has a handsome centre, with the main shopping streets now pedestrianised, making for pleasant strolling. On a sunny day in the summer it may well be worth a revisit but it does amount to a three hour round trip and Saints, Royan and Rochefort are closer and probably have as much to offer.

New gardeners seem to be taking over the backyard

Friends of 8 rue de Nantilly have responded to the observation that les gnomes have gone missing by sending in photos as evidence of them being seen at the address. The first snap seems to show then hard at work on the sage bush. This was very encouraging as the pruning back of this plant is on the do list for our holiday and a task we have been postponing.

However on checking, first thing this morning, the sage bush is un-pruned and les gnomes nowhere to be seen.

The second photo also locates them in the backyard and hanging around the remains of the other sage bush. This is the bush that was severely hit by the frosty weather of 2011 and was hard pruned to see if it had any life left in it. Again I checked for signs of les gnomes - nothing but there is a bit of life showing on the bush. Hmmm I wonder if there is a connection?

I can't believe it is Friday and we have been here a full week.We will have to make full use of our last four full days.

With the prospect of sunshine we headed for Ile de Re

WE had heard a rumour that the gnomes had good for an Easter Weekend break and had not returned so we thought we had better go in search.....

But wherever we visited there was no trace, we will have to call in the Gendarmerie.

Last August seems a long time ago

The Thursday night ferry from Portsmouth to St Malo was it's usual busy self with lots of family and school groups creating a great buzz. Although delayed in departing it was an on time disembarkation in France that meant we had cleared the Border Control and were free of the port by 08.50 on Friday morning.
We made good time on surprisingly busy roads and were sat down at the kitchen table of No 8 rue de Nantilly by 12.30.

We weren't 100% sure of what business would be open over the Easter Weekend so we did some basic menu planning and made sure that we had sufficient supplies should we want to stay put. This took us to our local shopping district and our first discovery of the trip. Our lovely "new" Ecofrais supermarche from last year has undergone a re-branding; it is now a "U Express". Ecofrais and U Express are all part of the same brand family (Hyper U, Super U, etc) that was adopted by Co-op Atlantique when it moved away from the "Carrefour" association last year. Ecofrais boasted about its "local, sustainable, organic" qualities. U Express - hard to say??? I'd hazard a guess at "convenience" coupled with own brands - but the problem with the idea of convenience is that they have carried over the customer service style of Ecofrais of never having anyone at the checkout until a queue of four has built and someone goes looking for an assistant.

Also in the centre is a new shop selling nice, but mostly pointless, stuff to adorn one's house. As the picture shows it has taken the unit between Toto Pizza and the Florist. What is just out of the picture is that the two units to the right of the florist are also being fitted out. Perhaps by summer we will know what they will be.

The second discovery of the trip is that house building is popping up in every conceivable corner of Marsilly. It clearly has become a place for the local Charentais to live when they need to be handy for La Rochelle but don't want to pay the higher prices in the Communes closer to la ville.

On Saturday we made a point of going in to La Rochelle and today we wandered out ot visit Fouras and Chatelaillion-Plage just to remind ourselves what lovely spots they are. Typically, we have not yet adjusted to the rhythm of life here so were bowled up just after the markets had closed and during the lunchtime closure of everything, except places serving lunch. By the time we thought about lunch (in ChP) - the out of season lunch places had all closed. Still we wont't fade away.

A trip to the Old Port

It might be 35c but that doe snot stop the intrepid travelers popping into La Rochelle for a stroll around the Vieux Port and to take a beverage in the shade of a quay side cafe-bar. It being Saturday morning we called by the Market that was in full swing. However our search for chicory/endive failed and so plans for a green bean and chicory starter were abandoned. Such hardships.

Charron and Port de Pave

Les Tracteurs de Port de Pave

Just north of Marsilly is Charron and its Port de Pave. Port de Pave is at the point where the river, Le Sevre Noirtaise meets the bay, Le Baie de l'Aiguilon. The port serves the needs of the mussel and oyster fishermen / farmers and consists of a broad concrete runway that dips into the bay/river enabling the launching and collection of the specialist craft used in the activity. Such launching requires a tractor and on this trip there was a fine collection of tractor on show. I am now searching the shops for a copy of I-Spy Tractors but no luck so far.

And Mary and Sheila were there aussi

Greetings from Nantilly

We did a combo evening meal of tapas and bbq - Michael got some help with the tapas "ere what's with the Spanish stuff...."

NN has been to the Olympics in London

Here's a link to the snaps we took on our visits to London 2012. You will find four sets.albums, one for each of the days we went.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mckaysnaps/
Eat your hearts out gnomes!

What's that noise?

Ello, what iz going on - there's loads of movement and funny noizes in zee house? I wonder if we ave de burgerlairs?

Where has the week gone?

 Well, we moved some furniture around - swapping the desk and the cupboard around. We think this will make it possible to make better use of the cupboard now it it more accessible.

We went out on the bicycles a couple of times. Sheila is in two minds about getting a new cycle so we need to lots more on the bikes to make it make sense. The trouble was that when it wasn't a bit too hot for cycling, it was a bit to windy.

Talking of it being too windy - we endeavoured to play golf twice on our local course. It was rather windy and therefore a bit disheartening. At the end of the first round we decided that our poor play was all down to the wind. We were both a bit tired at the end of the golf and decided the wind had made the whole thing difficult.
So on the second time out - with a stiff breeze still evident we thought having a buggy would make a difference - it didn't.

In between the two rounds of golf at La Pree we headed of to Ile d'Oleron with the idea of enjoying the island and perhaps playing the Nine hole course on the island, As ever our first stop was Le Chateau where we hoped to buy some of the pink "bordeaux" salt that has proved such a good element to cooking steaks - but the shop was closed for lunch! So on we went to the golf course to discover that there was a competition was happening and we wouldn't be able to get on to the course until well after 3pm. At least this opened up the chance to visit Boyardville where we enjoyed a salad lunch by the harbour.

We had heard somewhere that the replica of L'Hermione, the sailing ship that took Lafayette to America in 1780, that has been in progress for over ten year was nearing completion. So we thought we'd pop in to Rochefort on our way back to LaR. And caught a glimpse of it we did - but only just. Now out of the structure inside which the construction happened the site is now surrounded by 2m high panel fences to make sure you pay the €9 per person entry fee to get a good look. We felt we did not have time to made do with our glimpse. It is due to set sail for the USA in the not too distant future so we will keep an eye out for when that happens.

On Thursday - it rained - at lot - all morning. With clearing skies we headed  in La Rochelle in search of Tamarind for a recipe. We headed for a "Flavours of the World" shop we noticed on the last trip - quite close to the market. As wonderful as it was he did not have Tamarind but he directed us to an "Asian" shop about 100m away and there we had a choice of the fruit or the sauce. Asian is defined very widely to include China, Japan, Thailand and seemingly, Ireland (bottles of Guinness) . Suffice to say that between these two shops we reckon we can get pretty much any exotic ingredient we are ever likely to need. Although buying fresh coriander still presents bit of a problem. The day did clear up to a very pleasant afternoon but not quite good enough to warrant a bbq and outdoor dining so the Tamarind Chicken Kebabs got done on the griddle.

Friday (today) has started well with almost clear skies and welcome morning sun - if the wind has gone, perhaps a round of golf, or a bike ride and then the men's semi finals from Roland Garros.