promenadingpeacocks

7th june 2016

we have tried to camp at trebes on previous occasions but always had something ‘come up’ to thwart us but this time we made it. lou had been meteo watching to find three good days (june was particularly wet and grey this year) so as soon as he gave the ok, we were off!

the camp site was almost full when we arrived in mid afternoon and we got the last pitch with electricity. just as well as the closeness of the river meant we needed the electric moz killers on full alert. there were a lot of camper vans and couples of a certain age mainly dutch.  along the back edge of the site were several cyclists with tiny tents and cycle kit drying on washing lines.

despite it being early in the season the campsite restaurant was open so we opted for a meal onsite. served by a cheerful and helpful waitress who turned out to be the daughter of the camp ‘gerant’.  our first night was disturbed by the campers next door who were getting drunker as the night went on until i stomped out and asked them to please be quieter. they were a bit huffy but did call it a night, finally! the second night it was a frenchman who complained but a lot earlier than i had. 🙂

i found it hard to sleep as i could hear the motorway droning for most of the night. oddly i didn’t hear it the second night so maybe the wind changed direction. but a cup of tea made by lou, breakfast under the micocoulier trees (campsite named after them) and a decent shower soon perked me up!

the plan for our one whole day was to walk along the canal in the direction of carcassonne. sandwiches were purchased and an ‘ecluse’ identified as a picnic spot. the sky was blue, the sun was hot but it was sad to see so many trees that had been cut down due to the desease affecting them.

many cyclists came by, in groups and in couples. some asked how far it was on to trebes as they had started from carcassonne and were feeling the heat! thankfully for us the trees began to appear and give some welcome shade.

so an easy flat walk and so lovely to feel the sun on our backs after so many soggy weeks. it was almost midday as we arrived at the lock and we were amused to see the lock keeper closed it for lunch. we took bets on how many boats would arrive just as he wanted to leave.

sure enough, after one went trebes-wards, two turned up from the opposite direction!

all this kept us amused as we ate our lunch plus giving us several photo opportunities. once the last boat was through the lock keeper roared off on his motorbike which seemed a little out of sync with the slow pace of boats and bikes we had witnessed all morning.

then a slow wander back, taking in the wild life – herons -that took off from the water as we approached and then settled further along only to repeat the whole pantomime as we appeared again. back to the campsite to snooze until searching for supper at one of the popular canalside restaurants in town.

we had eaten here before and it is probably the only attraction of trebes, a rather plain town when all is said and done! we had prebooked so got a canalside table with view of the swans and late mooring boats.

as expected, fresh fish, simply and well cooked. smashing!

back to the tent where we decided the double mattress was an improvement on the folding beds but a poor use of space so back to the drawing board on that one. once the neighbours had shut up it was the turn of the noisily mating frogs on the riverbank and the nighingales in the trees to fill the night with sound!

packing up in the morning we found a toad beneath the bedroom groundsheet. he reluctantly allowed me to chivvy him under the hedge where he wouldn’t dry out.

so a lovely interlude but not a restful campsite. too near the motorway between toulouse and the med.

to celebrate my three score and ten it was decided to go to barcelona for a weekend as the russian trip we hoped to do couldn’t all happen in march due to lack of ferries etc.  then, just prior to the spanish trip, my mother became quite poorly and we nearly cancelled. she bounced back, as she does, having had us all worrying and organising a funeral, and so we carried on as planned. then my last and favourite uncle died the afternoon we arrived at the royal ramblas hotel. so a bitter sweet birthday treat followed by a trip to blighty for the cremation. there are a lot of photos of the three days i marched poor lou all over barca and one day soon i intend to post them on here.  but first, some recovery time……

friday 18th march

glorious segrada familia…

tapas lunch in the la boqueria market…

wandering in parc guell…

and paella to round off the day in barceloneta.

saturday

the joan miro museum

palau nacional

caixa forum

pablo espanyol

MACBA

time for apero and tapas

las ramblas

sunday….

palm sunday service outside la seu

palm sunday ‘fiesta

coin and stamp fair, placa reial

tapas lunch…yummmm

museu frederic mares

cafe de l’opera

looove barcelona!

a visit to la bourboule means not just a visit to the espace nordique but the chance to pig out on truffade or potee auvergnate, not to mention crepes.  the architecture of la bourboule and mont dore is fin de siecle and now a little sad as so many buildings are boarded up and  ‘a vendre’ signs are everywhere. however, there are still some lovely cosy interiors where you can while away a wet afternoon over coffee and a crepe.  we particularly enjoy the ‘comptoir de cyrano’ where you eat well to a background of jazz playing.

meanwhile, i’m a tad confused by this blog which seems to have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. it used to place my photos randomly in and amongst my text and now they are posted as huge slabs of colour between the black and white!

we came to do some raquettes around lou’s birthday so we felt obliged to have a go despite the n’orrible weather!  a chap in the hotel garage told us it was quiet up at la stele and there was less rain than in la bourboule, so we set off.  the car park was pretty quiet as we arrived which i was thankful for as i’d left my walking stuff in the car the day before in case we got lucky with the weather.  i struggled into longjohns, trousers and over trousers, thick socks and my walking boots, so many layers!

at the guichet i discovered there was only one raquette piste open although we could walk alongside two of the ski de fond runds.  we don’t enjoy that.  you plod along while skiers glide past, usually small children, seemingly making no effort at all! not good for the morale.

oddly, the new raquette piste plan showed the walk we were going to do as being shorter than on the plan i had saved from last year.  it still crossed rather a lot of contour lines, i noted.   as we set off the rain began to come down more heavily and there was a moment when we looked at each other and nearly bailed.  but we didn’t!

it was wet and misty but better under the trees where the colours of the mosses, lichens and last summer’s beech leaves positively glowed in the damp conditions.

as expected there was a lot of trudging upwards but it was quiet and we didn’t meet anyone except when we crossed a ski de fond track.  normally this would be bliss, we just needed some sunshine!  happily, all that climbing meant the last part was downhill, through thick powdery snow rather than the slushy ice we’d been trudging on.  the thought of the cafe/bar with its wonderful soup and cheese spurred us on. sadly the lack of customers, bad weather or change of management meant the cafe had changed and the soup and cheese was not advertised.  with a bit of wheedling i managed to order two bowls of soup and some hot coffee. we did ask very nicely!

as we left to go back to the comfort of the hotel a group of children on a school outing swished by…..oh, to be young and talented!

Back in la bourboule again and the aviation hotel. Last time there was loadsa snow on the pistes and the roads.

And it sleeted on us. Not nice. This time, sufficient snow on the pistes, none on the roads but rain and mist everywhere. So today we drove around until  we found a splash of blue sky. That was at st nectaire, a name that conjures smiling farmers wielding large cheeses.

We didn’t see any but saw an enormous church and a cafe/bar opposite where we took some lukewarm coffee. Onwards and chasing the blue took us to clermont ferrand, a town we have passed many times but never visited. Now we have! We parked under the place de jaude, a huge space full of fountains and statues.

there are two big shopping centres at one end of the place where we found lunch and then strolled through the older part of town up to the enormous and very blackened cathedral. Inside the stained glass is beautiful and  i was keen to buy the guide book but couldn’t find the ‘gardien’ in charge of sales.

Back outside lou was window shopping at all the outdoor clothes shops. All very expensive,  bien sur. I contented myself with a needed black cardi from c and a. I have simpler tastes!  🙂

The drive out of clermont required tomtom as signposting was not brill. We should have just headed for the greyest part of the sky! It became wetter and mistier the nearer we got to ‘home’.  No matter, tomorrow’s another day and we’ve booked a cosy restaurant for tonight. Meanwhile, i’m going down for a swim in the hotel’s delightful little pool.

so i never did write up the blighty trip on here. we were having so much fun there wasn’t any time to do so. plus the usual rubbish wifi in the hotel when there was a possible moment. tucked away in desk drawers and boxes in the loft are notebooks full of my scribble written in the days before technology took away the skill of pen on paper. holiday packing always included a notebook and still does. now it gets used to scrawl down notes for later transfer onto here. but i feel guilty for not recording our first trip to cornwall in ten years so here are a few photos!

but now i find i can’t because i have copied them onto a usb key and deleted them from this computer.  thwarted despite my best intentions! 🙂

bags packed …and repacked, due to looking at next week’s weather forecast -very cold. gale force winds in the channel and scary events in paris sending out shock waves across l’hexagon. not the best conditions for a holiday trip but travel hopefully!

gav’s chrimbo cake ready for the oven…

Years ago when our working hours were silly and our house full of teenage boys’ music and rivalry and the word ‘datenight’ hadn’t entered the vocabulary i told lou we needed a night out once a month to remember who we were and why we were. Now retired it is easy to slump into a sleepy routine apart from holiday times. So i felt we needed a day out. Truth be said i was feeling the anticlimax after the road trip. in 2014 we had been to lots of photo exhibitions and enjoyed them and the towns in which they were, so when i spotted a small report in la depeche it was seized upon. Several photographers exhibiting their works in black and white, lou’s preferred option, around the town of Rodez in the Aveyron, two hours away. We picked a day which turned out to be dry, warm and sunny after one of pelting rain. Quelle chance! I had hoped the first venue would yield up a comprehensive programme with town map. But no. Luckily i had researched on line and noted the ones we would probably prefer and related addresses. None opened before one o’clock so after a drive through lovely autumn countryside we found our way to the nearest car park and searched for place Foch –

which had an underground car park, stupid viamichelin for not knowing! A nearby bar/brasserie done up like an english pub provided a surprisingly good ‘formule express’ menu.

Then the grand tour of Rodez began. The galerie Foch was a single room on the first floor of a building that housed the conservatoire of music and was displaying work by serge clement. they looked like composites but the blurb said not!

From there we wandered back into the’Centre historique’ behind the megalith that is the cathedral.

The lovely waitress in the bar had given us a map of the town as my printout from viamichelin lacked most vital street names (plus a handful of beer mats for lou)!  We passed one gallery which wasn’t open but squinting at the photos displayed near the door decided it wasn’t for us, apologies to antonin pons-braley! Then i spotted a watch shop and went in to get a battery fitted in one i had brought along on purpose. My eyes fell on a case of colourful swatch watches and the bill increased accordingly! By now we had located the tourist office and asked about a specific map for the expo. But, no, clearly, beyond producing a programme no one had thought of that. On we went to find another shop gallery still shut.

No matter, we wandered further and found the galerie saint Catherine, a beautiful space in an old building overlooking the same square as the prefecture.

The square itself was decorated with floating pink umbrellas to celebrate ‘octobre rose’, the campaign against breast cancer. in the cool and lofty gallery I loved jacques pugin’s work with light.

By now we reckoned the shop, galerieAJx, should be open and it was. And quite a treat. Photographs taken with a plate camera by a canadian. olivier meriel, and a very enthusiastic curator keen to explain the work to us. Behind the shop was an exhibition space formed by enclosing an interior courtyard with a glass ceiling.


Lou was captivated! The surrounding buildings were very old and there was a stunning 14th century stone doorway. our own cameras were working overtime, comme d’hab! 🙂

The next group of exhibitions were away from the centre and in the ‘Jardin publique’. En route we passed the Mercure hotel with a very colourful mosaic exterior, 20s? 30s? An american, mitch dobrowner’s work, was displayed on huge posters around the bandstand.

Works depicting weather so a good spot but a bit neck breaking to look at if you are short! Onwards to the cinema passing the new musee soulages on the way.

The gardens were full of children already on holiday and students newly liberated for theirs. At the cinema the heat through the full length windows was overwhelming and the photos badly displayed with half of them in full sunlight which negated their misty effect. a shame for guillaume ducreux. Over heated and needing drinks and a sitdown we swiftly left and took our break on the busy corner of place des armes. The waiter twigged our accents and wished us a good afternoon as he took our order. Such pleasant bar staff in Rodez! 🙂 ready for home we stepped into the cathedral to gaze at its enormity with an organ to match. The blurb said it formed part of the fortifications of old Rodez but i do wonder if these huge edifices have more to do with the vaunting vanity of their commissioners than with an extravagant religious fervour.

Slight confusion about in which car park our car was waiting but soon sorted and heading for home, postcards and magnet nestled against that jolly new watch!

Our last evening of the trip and a catch up with some of the swiss family. We ate in a nearby restaurant and had filet de perche, the speciality fish dish of lake geneva. This morning the sun was shining again and a beautiful drive home over the nantua viaduct and across the auvergne.

A brilliant road trip but always good to come home….still in one piece even if the car might not be!

Well, himself always checks the weather forecast for our next day and destination. The forecast for the milan – geneva leg was ‘brouillard – persistent’. Persistant fog, wonderful, after a day of torrential rain. Not!

But when we went out for breakfast (down in the basement) the sky was blue although there was a nip in the air. And it stayed that way all day. The autoroute around milan was rammed with traffic. The m25, said lou! But after the last turn off for milan centre the road gradually cleared and we had a lovely drive through to the valle d’aoste

and then up to the mont blanc tunnel. We had seen snow on the mountain tops from a fair distance away and mont blanc gleamed as we approached. The valle d’aoste is very craggy with buildings clinging to ledges that look far too small.

At one place there was a hamlet below a rockslide. Bet they can’t get house insurance! Our last border crossing of the trip and into the tunnel. It is well organised and i tried to remain calm as the eleven kilometres slowly passed. On the other side the views of mont blanc were even more spectacular and we parked up to ‘aim and shoot’.


At annemasse lou and i played round and round the roundabout. Despite staying at the campanile there several times, we always manage to miss the slip road! 🙂