Third gear deeper into France

Reunion weekend over, we then pointed the car north towards our first planned stop at Villeneuve les Avignon.  Not too far a jump after just a quick race along the autoroute to around Beziers and a pit stop in Aix. By mid afternoon Yvonne thought she had found a piece of paradise. We had not been in this area too much since the 80s so we had mixed expectations which turned out to be way off the mark.

Our home for the two days was in a former C16 silk factory. Stone construction, interior gardens, lovely rooftop balcony and in a part of the city undergoing rejuvenation. Very friendly people who could not do enough for us. Easy access to Avignon proper which we visited on our rest day.

After a score of 10/10 we were ready for our catch up visit to the Tarn and the 'circuit des bastides'.

Lunch in Castres and then we arrived in the high heat of the afternoon to our next home Hostellerie des Gorges de Aveyron and another highlight (16/10). A former watermill in 5 acres of renovated grounds containing separate A grade restaurant, a range of exotic birds, swimming pool and our accommodation. Perfect again.  We were pretty much the only guests so were spoiled completely.  Breakfast served on the terrace overlooking the place. I could go on but suffice to say we loved it.

But the heat over our days there was another thing.  We duly toured the bastides of Puycelsi, Castelnau de Montmiral and Bruniquel as well as the 'City in the sky' of Cordes sur Ciel but these places were almost deserted. Either due to the oppressive heat and/or the time of year.

We have returned to these parts partly to keep alive or at least flickering Rs dwindling dream of a place in these parts. Well, even though his Canberra study has Bruniquel as its focal point, these idyllic places are just too sleepy outside of July/August to be a realistic idea. The only option for us around here would be the city of Albi - a gem.

And now time to head for a rest in the Lot. Macron is kicking a few goals but will that be enough to give energy to these parts of La France Profond?

A painter's paradise

After finding my way to Heathrow airport I flew to Nice to be greeted by many military with machine guns. Once I came to grips with that I was met by the second car load of artists who kindly waited for my flight. We drove for one and a quarter hours north west of Nice and well up in the mountains to our residence for the week, Le Vieux Murier, just outside of Lorgues.

What a beautiful venue. My room was in what used to be the dairy. Beautiful gardens, court yard area, swimming pool, all renovated and created by Judith. Lucy did all the catering which was fantastic. She spends winter working on a yacht, which may give you some hint of how good she is.

Our group was made up of Irish, Dutch and English, and what a wonderful group they were. We visited a different village each day, all in the surrounding hills apart from the day we went down to St Maxime and got a ferry across to St. Tropez. The week was in the mid 30's everyday so it was difficult to keep in the shade while painting. Each afternoon when we returned about 4pm I headed for the pool to cool off.

All together a wonderful week of learning, fun and friendship. My best painting course ever.

Devon and Cornwall revisited

And now for the first of two posts from Yvonne, this one covering her venture into the Southern parts of England😇

After three pleasant days in London I set off to revisit Devon and Cornwall after 30+ years, while Randall began his walk.  The weather turned to wet and windy for most of the trip, but I guess that's England. Our first stop was Winchester, voted the most liveable city in England and it was very pleasant indeed.

The procedure to see Stonehenge has certainly changed from when we first went there. An expensive bus ride takes you out and back. However there were hundreds and hundreds of people there plus a very good exhibition, shop and cafe. We stayed two nights in Exeter and visited Dartmoor and Tavistock and all its history.

We then moved on to Cornwall. One highlight of the trip for me was the little town of Boscastle which was almost wiped out by floods in 2004. A tsunami really as the water came in from the sea.
Then followed Tintagel and we spent the next two nights in Falmouth. Supposed to be the third largest harbour in the world!  The other real highlight for me was the open air Minack Theatre built high above the Atlantic Ocean by a lady who until she was well in her 80's still carried bags of sand from the beach for the building. I would love to see a performance there. Really amazing and a great story of what one person can do.

We also visited St Michael's Mount, Penzance, St Sennens 5th century little church, St Ives, a seaside resort popular with the English and then back to Falmouth via St. Just. Our return to London was via Penryn Bridge, Truro Cathederal, Jamaica Inn and Glastonbury. Only eleven hours on the road for our last day with one deviation to another autoroute due to an accident on the way.

So what was my overall impression of the experience?

The travel experience was not as enjoyable as my previous trip with the company in Scotland. But some of that comes from the differences in the people travelling with me. And as for England, perhaps a score of 7/10. 

Venturing out from Vence

After an excellent breakfast with my host I eventually headed off to Nice airport Saturday morning.  As one would expect with a gaggle of artists stressed to do their best every day of a tough week of painting and sketching, it must have been a hair down Friday night breaking up party as the first of them were not due to appear at the airport until after midday.  This gave me a bit of time to figure out how to operate the car and reset the gps to suit.

But despite a partial lock down at the airport to deal with some unknown threat, the rendezvous was successfully executed and we returned to Vence. A good catch up chat over a bite to eat followed.

Then after another magret dinner and despite an obnoxious English couple with an equally obnoxious dog in tow at dinner, we were beginning to get back on track.

We then spent Sunday driving around the area where said painting group operated so Randall could understand just what a tough gig this was. An excellent lunch at Tourtour was included.  But now it was time to dig deeper into France.

We had included a 2 day pit stop at Villeneuve Les Avignon over the Rhine from lesser known Avignon to begin with and this is where we are now happily esconsed.  I will have to start walking some big days again soon to keep in trim. Maybe a stiff walk up to Loubressac next week will do the trick.

Weather still very hot and Macron won the election in a landslide even if over 50% did not bother to vote in these second round elections.

And I am almost ready to sing the praises of all things French again. England is now somewhere in the dim dark past.

My travel computer of many years has finally turned up its toes so we are effectively down to just three computers. And worse, I have to learn about M iPad, almost the closest friend of Yvonne.  Such is the life of the roaming baby boomer.

Finally, do not yet give up on a post from Yvonne covering her English and painting ventures.

Oops oops and enfin

Well we are back together and already moving deeper into France after our weekend in Vence, Provence. As Sarah and Ben would remember this is a little inland from Cagnes sur Mer where we spent a little beach time together a few years ago.

But before I go further perhaps a little coverage of Randall's Channel crossing from twee England to Nice. Then a few words on the past weekend.

On Friday morning Randall walked over to Bristol train station and after a couple of changes he made Gatwick airport in good time. Surprisingly only a few pommie bogans on the flight, one dressed as a roman centurion and looking to lead his 5 or 6 mates for some fun somewhere around Nice. But then Randall had to wake up a bit and get the car and head for the hills. Only a couple of issues to get over.   "Mate, he said you should be at terminal 2. This is terminal1". So onto the Navette to the other terminal only to find the hire cars live there on the other side of the car park.  No worries just a few minutes walk.

Car arranged but then spent some time figuring out in the hot semi darkness of the car park just how this beast actually worked.  Oops so I do not actually need the key but it took a few minutes to figure one has to depress the clutch not the foot brake to get it going.  No worries now as I started up gps and headed into peak hour autoroute and a quick refresher on driving with the mad people down in this part of the world.

And that was after accepting that it was really 33 degrees in Nice and just a tad more than overcast Bristol was at 6 am.

But then 20 minutes later I had dumped the bags in my hotel room, showered and then into the old town looking to find a good restaurant for our first meal together for awhile the next night.

Success. My first magret de canard for a while and possibly the best I have ever had. Yes Yvonne will like this bottle of rose but maybe she will not go for my white chocolate mouse topped with a little dark chocolate and together with slices of banana. The location in a cute courtyard in the old part of Vence was perfect too.  Monsieur was only too happy to take my booking for the next night and so I headed home after my long day and a world change from May to Macron.

More to come on this story.

Breezing into Bristol

Well, another mens' walk is over and Randall is esconced in a Bristol hotel waiting for the art colony venture to be completed by gastronomic Yvonne in France. Our routemaster Peter guided the other 10 walkers for an estimated 200 kms, and 270,000 steps through countless stiles and gates over mostly beautiful country. Most of the time we did not know whether we were in England or Wales, not that it mattered. No deaths or injuries to report and only the occasional walker going off track but not for long. Maybe a few blisters here and there and maybe most of us are a little fatigued. Most belts are in a few notches despite giving full english breakfasts a good nudge every day and despite hearty dinners. And on that front I have to observe that UK food presentation and cooking has improved a lot since the last time we were in the country.

From a comraderie point of view this was a very enjoyable experience. But come Wednesday morning the tightly formed group was gone and we were heading in our various directions. One disappeared about 4.30 am whilst the majority headed for the train system to London, Cardiff, Falmouth and Bristol. Some going back down under, some talking a day or two to recuperate and some heading for other pastures. And finally the weather has turned warmer and drier just as the group finished. But by now we had the walking system down pat. Jackets go on, jackets go off. Count the steps going up the hills and take a break every x steps according to ability. Make sure we have at least one other of the group in sight at all times. etc etc.

Since the days rest last Saturday, we have been meeting quite a few walkers going the other way and heading to where we started in Prestatyn. And generally most were up for a little chat and a curious inquiry on the things that walkers have in common.

 And now that the election is over, has anything changed? No not really. Out here in the wild west, London and politicians are just as much on the nose as they are elsewhere. There is no visible tensions or even obvious police presence around. I think I have seen one police car since we left London.

And then perhaps a final interim observation. For me, England and the English are just a bit twee for me. Nice and polite in an old fashioned sort of way. Deferential sometimes to the point of slight irritation and with a class system sitting behind almost everything. I cannot yet put a finger on it but for me, the is just something about the place and the people that gets under the skin just a bit. I am now keen to get to Europe to see if I can flesh the feelings out a little further.

You may be surprised that Yvonne is yet to post a blog on her tour of England and/or her artists community. I am sure she has separately been keeping up with some of you but I am also confident that she has been keeping copious notes and pics to post just as soon as she can. It appears she has been producing new art and perhaps is selling some to passing tourists. But what she is reporting is heat, afternoon and after 'work' swims, pleasant aperitifs and wonderful dinners in the colony.

Watch this space for an update soon.

Meanwhile, it is too early to make a call about Bristol. Seems to be a mix of university youths with more tattoos than I have seen in the UK to date and more than a touch of Melbourne Docklands and Yarra river Southbank in an old city that is under rejuvenation. This afternoon was warm so there were a lot of the youngsters sitting on the waters edge/quais enjoying more that a few drinks with mates. Heaps of newish apartments along the water's edges. But also a fair level of down and out men around the place.

Climate Change

One minute we were in a tube with wings, filling in time, and then the next we were in the land of the red double decker buses. Randall is a slow learner and does some things the hard way so from border entry it was onto the trains and a couple of changes before we found our Coaches and Horses hotel in Kew Gardens. But we got there. Our body clocks had moved by the start of our second full day. We spent a good few hours at the National Archives on our first day out trying to find a letter written to Government in 1860 concerning our prime convict only to find that there is practically no chance it still exists. We looked everywhere. Quel dommage.

Still, we have tried and the researchers helping us were great.

For the rest of the day we visited Kew Gardens and enjoyed the quite warm weather. Speaking of which it seems from here that the Donald and the US have the whole world offside still and his empire could be fading away. As for here in the UK it is elections, elections and elections but the people are enjoying school holidays and very friendly and helpful, despite the times.

On the Saturday of the London incident, we visited Greenwich and inspected 'Cutty Sark' and the Observatory. The place was crowded, the weather was good and we enjoyed a tavern lunch. As it happened one of Randall's walking mates spent the day at Borough markets and lunched in the pub there. But here is the thing I think. It is a bit like going through an intersection where an accident happened this morning. These are random events. Sure you can mitigate risks by hiding under the bed but 'these things will pass'.

Now Yvonne has found her feet on her Rabbies Tour. It can be difficult as an older woman on her own but she avoided Rick Stein for something better it seems and is ready for further adventure from there before moving on to the end of the tour and to leave England over the weekend.

As for Randall, he has survived three long, wet, windy and tough walking days along the border of Wales. Lodgings and food have been variable but the group is coping. The fourth day started wet but fined up over the afternoon. And the group is looking forwards to a rest day now. Randall is tucked up in a little pub in Berriew Wales. We are split between pubs as the area does have some trouble coping with our group size of 11 grumpy old men. We had probably our tour highlight dinner last night in Oswestry. Fantastic. Although the only only restaurant diners who were an older couple probably on a special night out may not have coped with the noise we generated at times. Our hosts were great and right on the ball. Other places have been variable.

The election is today so it will be good to get in a pre and post vote note. From here there does not seem to be much local interest and we have barely seen any election material. But I guess if you are walking along a dyke dating back to 800 or so then it may be understandable. But Wales in particular seems somewhat stuck in the past and downtrodden so maybe London happenings are a long way from their agendas. Maybe May by a few or as a rag paper headline put it 'Don't throw Britain down the Cor-byn'. Maybe she gets back in?