HARRY’S DIARY 2013

[Not expecting any new readers at this time, there’s no ‘sticky’ post at the head of this sequence; if anyone wants to see the ‘backstory’, try scrolling down to “The Story So Far”, dated December 31st. Go, Harry!]

December 30th, 2012: Leaving little Sally-car in charge of Sunejo, THEY were eventually ready to drive away – at 12.15 – for our new year visit to England. There was a wedding to get them to, and I needed an MoT test certificate. The weather was sunny and the Pyrenees snow-covered.

View of Pyrenees as we drive away.

But at Pamiers we turned our back to the mountains, took a toll ticket and tootled northwards. A very quiet night on the Aire de Porte de Corrèze, 35 kms south of Limoges.

December 31st: ALWAYS fill up at Limoges! There’s a big Carrefour Centre Commercial just off junction 37, where the fuel is well below the motorway price, but HE thought we had plenty and didn’t need to stop …. HA! By Chartres HE was desperate to find fuel at any price. (Actually, we had enough for another 50 kms, but I didn’t tell HIM that till we were almost at a ‘station service’!)

Remembering a difficult time getting round Paris with little Sally in October, THEY decided to go via Rouen. There was a diversion round a closed flyover, but it gave us a chance to see Rouen’s lights:

Rouen’s festive lights

Then a bit further on, parked in dreadful weather at Bosc Mesnil service area, THEY enjoyed a real New Year’s Festive Feast, a true Harry Special:

CHEZ HARRY

Menu du St. Sylvestre 2012

Truite Fumée, garnie de sa petite salade

Lapin au Van

Choix de Fromages

Le Pudding de Noël, sauce au rhum

Café

Armagnac ou Whisky, au choix

Tuesday, 1st January, 2013: The awful weather continued through the night, with the wind rocking me a bit and the rain hammering on my roof (“It was a dark and stormy night …”) and the New Year began in the same way. But – and this has happened before – as we got near the Channel, the wind dropped, the skies cleared and the White Cliffs of Dover could be seen from France. A smooth crossing ended with a super sunset – I didn’t get to see it, of course, parked DOWN THERE, but THEY took some pictures:

A friendly native?

Arriving at sundown we get a different view of the White Cliffs.

We were booked in to the Club site at Welwyn, but Chrys & Jan invited us to a meal with them and made space for me, with hook-up, on their forecourt, so THEY slept in the house that night. HE left my central light on all night which caused the neighbour over the road a bit of concern, but never mind.

2nd January: We moved to Welwyn, mainly to be nearer to Hitchin where the MoT place is, then THEY went visiting in Jan’s car which they’d borrowed.

3rd January: HE took me to Hitchin where the specialist Motorhome service people were going adjust my rear lights (fog light was on the wrong side for the British MoT) before doing the test. SHE went and had her hair cut and picked HIM up later at the garden centre next door. Then THEY went and had lunch with Hilde. What THEY didn’t know till later was that owing to a misunderstanding between the boss and the mechanic, I got a full service as well as the lights job and the test! No charge for that, of course, cos THEY hadn’t asked for it. The test was OK, too – there’s nothing wrong with me …..

4th January: Travelled to Mudeford and parked up on the Caravan Site at Bransgore. Then we went to find Martyn & Jas in their new house. While we were there – and THEY were treated to a nice evening meal – THEY told Martyn about the missing handle for extending the dining table at Sunejo. Martyn said he could make one up during the weekend; and he did! (It would be a while before we could find out if it worked ….)

5th January: HE went to see the chiropractor for some work on his leg and later we went to look for Trevor at the Premier Inn. THEY found him and Pam with a party of about 20 having a meal at the Beefeater Pub beside the Inn. People made room and THEY joined in. (This wasn’t a gatecrash – honest! We had been invited, but hadn’t fully understood the nature of the invitation.)

January 6th: THEY had a really good pub lunch and then on to the Church for Trevor and Pam’s wedding. Weather not good and parking difficult, but a very nice Church:

January 6th – the setting for Pam and Trevor’s wedding.

standing room only, and a lovely atmosphere.

Nice cake, too:

January 7th: Up early for some more treatment to HIS leg, then the drive North to Golcar with a break in Stockport for a meal with Dan. They manoeuvred me round to the back of the Manse in Golcar – didn’t like the shunting on that steep bit – and ran the cable out from the garage. It was cold, but I kept THEM cosy!

January 8th: It’s disappointing, but although we have plenty of good photos from these two days, we have to be cautious about publishing them. Still, here’s Nina’s Snowman:

Harry had a day off on the 8th, so I’ll write this. There was an exchange of presents when the children came home from Playgroup, then in spite of indifferent weather we all walked up the hill to the Golcar Lily for lunch. Later, after bedtime, Chris & Michelle beat us at bridge – thanks for that!

January 9th: My turn again! Unfortunately, six people can’t travel in me, but they can eat! Chris and the little boy sat behind the table, and HE drove, while SHE went in a little red car with the other girlies. Little red car was a bit like our Sally, but not really; Japanese, I think. I don’t think she speaks French …

We went to the open farm at Cannon Hall near Barnsley, then everyone got round my table and HE made scrambled eggs for all six. Then they went off to see the animals

and play in the playground, where Dad and Grandad had fun pushing the children in a basket swing:

January 10th: We moved on, but not far. Rachel and Sean now live near Wakefield, so that was next resting point. On the way, we called at HIS old school, Silcoates, where the changes are significant, but the old buildings are still recognisable, though the swimming pool is not!:

Silcoates School swimming pool – but not as Philip and I remember it!

January 11th: We zoomed up the A1 to visit Florence and congratulate her on her MBE. Back at Oakleigh Close, Sean had been to fetch Megan and Becky, so there was time for a quick ‘Hello’ before bedtime.

January 12th: Another day out; the girls and Rachel rode in me, while Sean took HER in a funny little car with only two seats. Not Rachel’s Smartie, a sporty MG. We went to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, and after lunch at the restaurant they all went for a walk round this big Park with wierd sculpures dotted around.

HE says his leg seemed a lot better after the treatment in Mudeford.

Back with me, everyone had tea (or coffee) and Christmas cake.

Sunday January 13th: The first leg of the journey south. Easy travelling down to Surbiton. Fine weather, in spite of constant warnings of snow expected. GPT had tried very hard to find a place for me to park while THEY slept chez Carol, who has also just moved home into the flat next to her Parents’. (Parenthesis for the potentially confused: we have a duplication of Carols, Chrisses and Seans! The Carol referred to here is my niece. GPT is my brother, known by his middle name, Phil(ip).) Thank you! In the event HE was able to manouevre me into a visitor’s parking space inside Porton Court, which Philip had grabbed when it came free, by putting his own car on it.

Once in, I stayed there till Tuesday morning, with my diesel heater running to avoid issues with water freezing.

So while Harry just kept that heater ticking over and a watchful eye (headlight?) on comings and goings, we were entertained first to tea /coffee and birthday cake ( Christine’s x0th …, congratulations, or something) then to Sherry (“What you don’t drink you take with you” – I like that idea! When I’m the guest, of course.) That evening we took our joint hosts, and Judi, out for a meal at the nearby Café Rouge.

Monday 14th: Retail day! Philip was kind enough to provide transport, insisting that Harry should stay where he was so as not to lose the parking space, and we hit the shops! First, a cookshop within walking distance provided the grill pan we’ve been needing since we arrived at Sunejo, then we all four went into Kingston. The weather was unhelpful (though worse was to come, we know) and THAT leg was playing up again. Shopping at John Lewis’s, where we had lunch weather-watching over the river, was a bit disappointing (i.e. we didn’t buy anything), but useful jobs were achieved with good service at Barclays (What? Praise for a BANK?? Let it not be said that I don’t give credit where it’s due – or that they don’t!) and we did shop at B & Q, Boot’s and Sainsbury’s. Our final evening, for now, in England was spent convivially at Porton Court.

Tuesday 15th January: Apart from a jacket which HE left hanging in Carol’s wardrobe, we were packed up and road-ready by 8.50am. Even with a stop at Maidstone I got them to Dover with the suggested hour to spare (for once!) but this time the boat was late – when we should have been sailing the ferry still hadn’t docked from the crossing from Calais. The weather had been good and there was a better view than sometimes of Dover Castle, from the road:

The Pride of Britain is one of P & O’s newest ships and very nice on board, THEY say, but the crew made me drive up a very steep ramp to the deck above where we went on, and I did not like that at all – kicked up a bit of a stink about it in fact! (He did, not us; it was his clutch – he’s never liked going uphill slowly.)

THEY had a good meal during the crossing, but we were still 30 minutes late at Calais. We had to pick up fuel before getting on the motorway and heading for Rouen where Daniel (another duplicate name – French teacher of English, not Carol’s son!) was waiting to be taken out for a meal to celebrate his birthday of yesterday. We were there before 7, in spite of everykind of bad weather in Picardie – AGAIN!

Wind, snow, rain, hail, ice …. well maybe not hail, but at one point my driver’s side wiper was iced up, which was a bit disconcerting for HIM.

Daniel let us run a cable from his garage so that the fridge and a heater could run overnight, and I believe THEY had a good meal at Daniel’s chosen restaurant.

Wednesday January 16th: The electricity was a good thing because a little bit of snow fell overnight, but then the temperature in the morning was below zero. Daniel had to be at a commitment in Rouen first thing in the morning, so an early start was convenient. However, HE didn’t go through the pre-moving checklist which includes the warning about keeping right and cheerfully set off on the WRONG SIDE of the road! The motorist coming round the first bend the other way got a bit of a shock …

Having got out of that safely with lots of apologetic waving, smiling and “GB – nuts!” gestures, we managed to cover the 400 kms to the now familiar Porte de Corrèze service area without further incident. Except that we DID pull off the motorway at J37 and go to Carrefour to fill up – some people do learn from experience! The parking area at Porte de Corrèze was covered by a thin layer of snow over ice, but no big worry.

Wrong Aire! This is actually Aire Jardin …. (see below)

Heading for home through beautiful snowy scenery, SHE became totally snap-happy and there are SO MANY pictures to choose from:

[Well, there were a lot to choose from, but they’ve disappeared! (edit 2025)]

During a lunch break at Aire Jardin, it was possible to take contrasting pictures from those taken in November:

BUT no-one had realised just how icy this parking area was! When we tried to go, I just couldn’t get a grip! All I could do was spin!

Still, what do we carry an old curtain in the back for? Just a little adventure … something to relieve the ‘ennui’ of a long journey.

By Toulouse the snow had more or less vanished. We stopped at Pamiers for fuel and to order some thingies (a patio set and a rug) at Mr. Bricolage, then made our way home. Little Sally was waiting for us under her shelter and all was well in the house –

EXCEPT it was very cold! We’d probably overdone the reduction of the heating to ‘frost protection’ only, so we tried to warm it up by using all available heaters. This seemed to cause an overload! At first we thought there was a problem with the socket for plugging in Harry’s cable, but then it cut out again – about the 4th time – with him disconnected. We decided to reduce the heaters to 1kw each and warm ourselves with mulled wine!

Next morning, whereas in October we had a magnificent sunrise, this time we had SNOW:

But it didn’t last; it turned to drizzle and disappeared, and when the time came to go into Chalabre, little Sally-car started on the first turn of the key.

Mais naturellement! How else would I welcome you home and wish you

BONNE ANNEE!!

(Which is French for “HIPPO BLUE BEER!”)

Aber nein – dass ist ja Blôdsinn – that’s just silly.

Il est comme ça, tu sais – that’s how HE is ….

THE STORY SO FAR.

Start of November 2012

My first attempt at ‘blogging’, or keeping a photo-journal as I prefer to call it, was two years ago under the title ‘Travels With Harry’. Harry’s our motorhome:

DSCN3795

Harry was followed around, very closely, by a little red car called Sally – another cinematic reference. (Harry is a Chausson ‘Flash’ 04; Flash Harry, get it?)

Bugarach and Galamus (14)

We spent two months of that autumn (2010) trying to decide where to live in France, looking mainly at the area west of Poitiers, known as the Marais Poitevin:

and Languedoc, where we had holidayed before, but friends had warned us to check it out out of season before deciding. In spite of the risk of cold winds, Languedoc won by virtue of the spectacular scenery:

We found a house we really wanted to buy, in a little town in the hills, called Sournia:

and we thought all we had to do was get back home to Garth View:

sell up, and come back with the money!

Ah well, it didn’t work out just like that! It took a year to sell Garth View and by January 2012 a lot had changed. Rachel had married Sean

and become Stepmother to Megan and Becky; Chris and Michelle were about to adopt a family and the house at Sournia, which would now have been too small anyway, was off the market.

Quirkily, some may think, to help sell Garth View, we bought a flat in Appleby!:

Well, it helped us declutter …. We did take time out for a month in France but we didn’t house-hunt; instead we went down the west (Atlantic) coast as far as the Pays Basque:

Throughout that trip the diary was kept as a series of ‘postcards’ as written by Harry. But shopping and excursions were done in the little red car, Sally:

PTDC0002

so it became necessary to let her write a few of the postcards in her more excitable, Gallic style. Increasingly, the two vehicles were sparking off each other in a ‘married couple’ sort of way – a bit like us, funnily enough…. and they were coupled together a lot of the time!

The new family situation made me hesitate again about France, so when the opportunity came to film ‘A Place in the Sun, Home or Away?’, we took it, looking on camera at three houses in Cornwall

and three in Languedoc.

There was no competition! Once a way to manage inheritance issues had been explained, it was a simple case that the money we now had from the sale of Garth View would not buy us anything as nice as Garth View in Cornwall,

but something even nicer in France. What was to discuss? We offered to buy one of the properties the ‘Place in the Sun’ team had shown us:

BUT! On the way to sign the contract, before we even got to Dover, Harry broke down big time. We spent 3 weeks with Esperanto-Speaker, Trevor, waiting for the repair. The expense of that and the realisation that we might need to upgrade the motorhome meant we could no longer afford the house near Quillan. We withdrew, and eventually came back to the same area and started again. Spending two months living in Harry on a delightful, we might say, idylic campsite, beside the lake at Puivert,

we looked at about 30 houses and finally chose this one:

On the edge of a village and with a small swimming pool it seemed to be what we were looking for. A long wait ensued. French bureaucracy moves slowly at the best of times, but during August ! – nothing moves. We took possession on September 21st and the furniture ETC. (oh, yes – and the rest!) arrived a week later, as did our first visitor, Cousin Mark, by motorbike:

Five days later we had to turn our back on everything and head for the Channel. A brilliant 3 weeks included Nick’s wedding (one of Carol’s nephews):

Rachel’s 40th birthday party

and meeting the new Grandchildren.

Now here we are, all builders and boxes. And we are Harryless! On the way north we left him in Poitiers for a repair to some damage to his back end, expecting to pick him up three weeks later. Another ‘best laid scheme’ which ganged a-gley! M. Antoine, the nice motorhome-specialist-repair-man can’t get the part! The little red car was at first intimidated, then dead chuffed about bringing us all the way home on her own!

So for the next few weeks anything worth putting on the blog will be house related and unlikely to be reported by Sally, at least until the day comes when we are able to go and re-unite her with Harry. (Watch out for pink print – you’ll know she’s back!)

‘Sunejo’ is an Esperanto word meaning ….. (more or less) ‘A Place in the Sun’. This was sunrise the morning after we got back from the trip to the UK:

NOVEMBER …… DECEMBER ….

Bathrooms finished! THE MEN returned for a couple of days, so we now have a complete en suite to the guest room:

(with gruesome, ghostly image in the mirror!)

as well as a little cloakroom off the corridor.

Living room furnished! Carol got down to staining the woodwork round the stove,

and laying the new carpet:

The piano and other items got moved to their intended position,

and on Tuesday December 18th we took delivery of the sideboard:

Yes! As if we didn’t already have an excess of furniture, we decided we needed a sideboard and found this one in a second hand depot in Mirepoix. We’re very pleased with it.

Christmas and Boxing Day Less than a week before Christmas we were having lunch outside, followed by a siesta in the sun, and wondering whether it was true that Christmas dinner is sometimes taken on the terrace …

Anyway, we bought a duck ( a dead one!) and tried to find the base for the fibre-optic Christmas tree; then we learnt that Daniel had decided to join us for Christmas and would be arriving at Carcassonne airport at 17.20 on Sunday evening. The duck, we were sure, was enough for three, and the tree base came to hand just in time:

I made a cake, put the marzipan on on Christmas Eve and iced it on Christmas morning, but for some hours after that it looked as if my snow scene woud be just that – snow and nothing else. But then, while I was looking for something else (of course!) the cake decorations appeared and in a festive frenzy of ‘stick ’em all on!’, Daniel and I probably overdid it ….

Well, that matched the cake. My cake is usually underdone, if anything, but I haven’t fully adjusted to Sunejo’s electric oven yet, and I think we have a few burnt currants!)

The weather was fine and the meal could have been taken outside, but the morning was uncertain and I set the table indoors. There was no great enthusiasm for moving everything out – and we don’t have our planned patio dining table and chairs yet, so we settled for apéritif outside and the dinner inside.

Given the choice between Galamus Gorge and Andorra as Boxing Day’s exursion, Daniel chose the latter with its prospect of snow scenery and tax-free shopping.

[Galamus, of course, is just beyond and below Bugarach, the one place on earth where the world wasn’t going to end last week; it caused traffic chaos all around, lots of police activity and the cancellation of several evenings’ events in Quillan – perhaps that was the end of the world for some!]

As we climbed towards Andorra, it became apparent that we were indeed in for a snow-fest and I was a bit worried that we might be turned back, having no snow chains. Or that fresh snow might fall while we were up there and we’d get trapped.

But the cloud burnt off, and the roads remained clear, so that at Pas de la Casa, although we might have benefitted from more suitable footwear, driving little Sally was no problem

Where last time we went there was a thin line of (probably) artificial snow, this time the mountains were a hive of activity; all the lifts fully active and skiers and snow boarders sliding down, falling down, whatever else they do.

We went to our usual “buffet à volonté” restaurant for lunch, which was very busy, and thanks to Daniel for picking up the bill, then we drove on up and over the highest point for the less expensive fuel and the shopping. Still not wanting to be ‘up there’ after dark we shortened the return by taking the tunnel back to Pas de la Casa. This let us start the descent into an interesting sunset:

‘Interesting’ because it seemed to be in the wrong place! In the east, not the west – we were travelling North, we thought, and it was on our right?!

Daniel left this morning, and we are turning our attention to our next episode: we return to the UK on New Year’s Day; Trevor, our host for the three weeks of Harry’s breakdown in May (Esperanto hospitality to the rescue!), is getting married on January 6th and we intend to battle whatever England’s weather chucks at us to be in Mudeford for that event.

We’ll be coming with Harry only –

Et moi, qu’est-ce que je fais?

Tu restes là, et tu gardes la maison – that’s a big responsibility, you know!

Is it? Vraiment? Oo là, là!

– and we’re hoping to get him sorted with an MoT (he’s still UK registered). We’re also hoping to get me some treatment for this leg which has been playing up all year, and, of course, we’ll visit as many family and friends as we can.

What a year it’s been! Perhaps our wish for ourselves is that 2013 might be a little less exciting – or exciting in a different way! And for family and friends we can only wish you health and happiness, and if there’s anything left – that n all!

December 28th, lunch time; cheers!

GET HARRY!

“Get Harry”. Hmm …. Could be a film title; ‘Get Harry’. Or has it been done? Or something like it? Ah, yes – ‘Get Wilkins’.

CARTER!

Right, yes – I knew it was one or the other. And that’s how to mix cinema references with children’s literature from the fifties! Does anyone recognise the character? Mr. Wilkins was saying Doh! long before the creator of Homer Simpson had sharpened his first pencil !

Last Thursday I bought a new computer. On Friday we got up early and left Sunejo before 9.30 to try to get to Poitiers before M. Antoine closed at 6pm. 330 miles ….

You see? They do it again! They drive me all day at French motorway speed; they try to wear me out!

No, we don’t! We had two good stops and you know you enjoyed it really.

Yes, it was fun. A very nice drive in pleasant weather and lovely autumn colours all around.

The last bit alongside the Vienne River was really nice – you should have taken some photographs of that.

Sorry!

We couldn’t have taken photos of that section along the Vienne – it was getting dark.

Ah, oui, cest vrai – I had forgotten …. but this is a bit boring, you know, without pictures. But then we found Harry!

Hello, Big Van!

Hello, Little Car!

It’s been a long time.

Ja!

We would have come a month ago, you know, but you weren’t ready. Ce n’était pas de notre faute, tu sais.

Ja, I know. It’s OK – it’s not been bad.

Anyway, you’re looking good – I don’t mind following your ‘new’ back end now!

The front’s been done, too:

Do you remember – HE went gutter-bashing in Prades two years ago? From what HE wrote on the blog at the time, * HE seemed to think it was funny – well, HE stopped laughing when got M. Antoine’s bill!

[*’Travels With Harry’, Post 23:Due to the delay in arriving on Wednesday, it was getting dark as we uncoupled and parked up. I didn’t realise that there is water available with the electricity just beside the pitch, and I thought we had to go to the service point beside the the toilet block. I misjudged it, or really just didn’t realise how low the roof of the building is. CRUNCH!

So who got the best / worst of that bout, then? It was obvious I wasn’t the first, and when I ‘confessed’ next morning, that nice warden was very good humoured about it.]

– It was a lot of money for a little scuff, which you can hardly see on the photograph – I’m sure the gutter cost a lot less! So obviously my assessment as to “who got the best of that bout” two years ago was a bit adrift. We all make mistakes.

N’importe – it does not matter now. We spent Friday night at the ‘Futuriste’ caravan park as usual, and, as usual, M’sieur et M’dame were unable to be ready to travel before 11.30am!

Well, you have to enjoy Futuriste’s croissants for breakfast!

Oui, entendu, of course; but all the Dutch people left in convoy about 3 hours earlier!

And when THEY did leave, all they did was drive down to the lay-by by the river and have pain-au-chocolat.

No wonder they are both putting on weight!

I’m not, actually. – Are you two ganging up on us?

Aber nein!

Absolument pas! Of course not!

Hmm … Just decide who’s going to write the diary and get on with it!

Harry can – he hasn’t done any for two months.

Daß ist aber nett! How kind!

(They ARE up to something! …. being nice to each other ….)

So – finally THEY decided to travel and got onto that long, straight road towards Limoges. (See first photo)The weather wasn’t very nice, grey and drizzly, so in spite of autumn colours, no photos, until we stopped in probably the best off-road lay-by on that section, where THEY had lunch.

The grass bank between the road and the lay-by:

H & S parked up in the lay-by:

We had a shopping stop at the big Carrefour just off the (free) motorway south of Limoges and when we moved on from there, there was quite a good sunset, but difficult to photograph on the move:

It was too early to stop for the night while still on the toll-free section, so THEY decided – after some debate! – to pay to stay on the motorway so as to have access to service areas and lay-bys.

That was a GOOD decision as we ended up at Aire-Jardin des Causses du Lot, an absolutely superb service area. We’ve been in before for a quick stop, but not to spend the night. We woke up to this view:

and although we weren’t inclined to breakfast al fresco there was a profusion of picnic tables, at one point appearing to cascade down the hillside to the valley bottom:

There was a nice shop and a good restaurant, had we wanted it, and clean, sweet-smelling toilets.The whole area is as litter-free as anyone could expect, bearing in mind that there are always some idiots who would rather bung a bottle into a bush than a bin. (“I wish I loved the human race ….” – a strange little rhyme for a Christian minister to quote, but me father often did!)

We enjoyed croissants from the shop with our coffee –

Nochmals!

Encore!

Again, yes, why not? Then since we weren’t in a hurry to get under way –

HE’s getting at US now!

Oui, il nous provoque!

– we decided to walk off the calories

Oooo!

by exploring the site:

Remember, this is a motorway service area!

Down by the lake, we had the distinct impression that a certain British MP had got there before us!

The weather deteriorated from then on, so no pictures were taken during the journey home and both twelvsies and lunch were taken in uninspiring surroundings. Five minutes from home THEY uncoupled us on the car park in Camon, for ease of manoeuvring, and we pulled into Sunejo just as it got dark.

To match the ‘Cumbrian’ weather* we treated ourselves to a ham and egg supper after a minimum of unpacking. There’s no place like home …

Hey, Harry!

Yes, Sally?

Good to have you back, Big Van.

Thanks, Little Car. – How was the trip to England and Wales?

Comment? Tu n’as pas lu mon journal? You did not read my blog? Ca alors! Well, first we stayed at Potters Bar, where M’dame had a haircut and M’sieur had a tooth mended …..

*Sorry! We’ve been hearing that the weather in the UK has been anything but funny, We hope no readers of this journal have been badly affected, and offer long-distance sympathy if you have. Even here, we are now into our third day of cloud and rain …..

NO MEN, A TRIP INTO THE MOUNTAINS – AND COWS!

We’ve had a week free of MEN! However, a week ago on Friday (9^th) Martyn fixed up a water butt for us at the SE corner of the house:

By Sunday morning it was FULL and overflowing! It does rain here sometimes, and when it does ……

But on sunny days we have lunch out on the terrace and the temperature, in the sun, can still be over 40°C.

We’ve had another battle with THAT BANK, Santander; I set up a standing order to have most of our money transferred each month to the currency brokers. A few days later I found our account was blocked. It took two 20 minute phone calls, much of the time on hold listening to S-der’s ghastly music to discover that the account was blocked because of that standing order. They restored access to the account online but DIDN’T tell me the standing order had not been actioned. I found that out by checking the account again later the same day …. Another phone call …..

French red tape is irritating, but we knew that before we came. We’re trying to organise healthcare. The internet said we could go to the Mairie in Chalabre on a Monday afternoon and register the S1 forms which we now have from the DWP in England. A phone call to confirm this said no, we had to go to Limoux. Well, we go there about once a week anyway and the drive over there in beautiful weather and autumn colours was a pleasure, but at the office of CPAM (never mind) we were told that we would have to make an appointment to register the S1s. We’d also need the ‘usual’ sheaf of supporting documentation. So we made the appointment and we didn’t seem to mind too much because we then enjoyed a lunch in bright sunshine on the square surrounded, we guess, by Limoux’s office and shop workers taking their 1½ hour lunch break.

Next day, Friday 16^th, we closed the doors on Sunejo with all the decorating and unpacking still to do and set off towards the mountains. Just before we left, we phoned M. Antoine in Poitiers and were pleased to learn that he has the part for Harry’s repair and was ‘on the job’. (I sense an intervention in pink approaching ….)

Harry est en train d’être réparé ? Harry is being repaired ? When do we go and find him?

We don’t know – soon, we hope; tell us about the trip to Andorra if you like.

Ah, oui. Avec plaisir! C’était magnifique ! It was wonderful! First, there were those autumn colours all around,then we stopped so that M’sieur et M’dame could have their pique-nique – oui! Le 17 novembre ils pique-niquaient en pleine air! Not only in open air, but in full shade – the sun was shining on the other side of the valley ;

and they were sitting on a stone bench! OK, OK, they did put a rug on it, but still. …

Then on up to the snow (nearly);

a long climb with many ‘squiggles’ (bends, hairpins).

At the first town in Andorra we stopped and they went and booked into the hotel where they had a meal last time we came. They were able to keep an eye on me from their room:

But they soon came out and drove a bit further up the hill. The snow was not really close by, and it looked as if people had tried to make a ski run (a piste) with some artificial snow, or moved some from somewhere, but no-one was skiing and none of the chair lifts was in use.

Back down in the town they started SHOPPING! Stuff in bottles, mainly. Then they were lucky to get a parking place right outside the hotel, almost under their own window.

Dinner was ‘à volonté’ – as much as you want for just 10 euros ; buy an apéritif and get a small glass of bubbles free with dessert! Then a ‘digestif’ with coffee. This is why we didn’t want the 2 hour drive home after the meal. The night would have been good but for some late-arriving young men in the room above ours who appeared to be re-arranging the furniture at 3am!

Next morning, after a bright start,

the weather was not quite so good, but we drove on to the town of Andorra La Vella

and nearly bought a new computer. But fortunately the assistant told us that ‘Office’ on the computer was in Spanish! No sale – but we bought a camera instead.

And then I had to bring them all the way back up the mountain

and down the other side,

then along the valley of the Ariège, through Ax Les Thermes and Foix. At Pamiers we stopped to visit Isabelle – the partner of the man who played the guitar with M’sieur at Puivert. Unfortunately Assan was not there but it was nice to see Isabelle again and meet her little girls. Then we came home.

We did. Now we have new neighbours!

The cows have been grazing on the hillside till now and we just hear the bells that some of them wear as they come in in the evening, or go out in the morning, but on Monday they were let into the field opposite the house.

Also on Monday we heard that Harry is ready for collection …..

En route, alors?! What are we waiting for? ….

DANGER! MEN AT WORK.

Tony, the Boss, and his two Martins, or rather, Martyn and Martin, first came up here the day we got back; just as well, because if they hadn’t opened up for us and left the keys accessible, we’d not have been able to get in – our keys being in Harry, you know ….

The idea was to get the ‘messy stuff’ done before we were in residence. Well, in view of how much dust we’ve lived with since, thank goodness we weren’t here that day! The ‘messy stuff’ involved removing the wall round the bedroom to the right of the living room as you look in to the house from the garden and terraces ( the one under the tiled awning – more of that later!):

and also the fitted wardrobes in both bedrooms on that side of the house. This was to make a bigger, L-shaped lounge and room for an en-suite to the main guest room as well as a cloakroom for general use. That was done and that’s how we found it on our return from the UK on Wednesday 24th October after Sally’s super 2-day run south from Baldock.

Apart from the weekends and Friday 2nd November the MEN have been here everyday since.This is a view which will not be seen again:

looking through the former bedroom to the window of the guest room – to be known as ‘Patience’ because parents need it …. the other room will be ‘Pirates’ for young people; yes, there is a G & S theme there ….. What shall we call our room?

Tony places the ‘furniture’ in the cloakroom in the most practical way ….

Some digging was needed outside to find the outflow pipe from the bathroom, so as to link into it from the new ensuite and cloakroom. With a minimum of information to go on, an almost direct hit was achieved!:

Carol takes a break with the MEN.

November 1st: We’ve been trying to attract birds into the garden since before we left for England (and Wales), and were surprised on return to find that the nuts and fat block we had hung up had remained unvisited. But today there was a robin fluttering around the terrace, and a great tit tried out the feeder. Robins are winter visitors here, we learn, not all-year-rounders. Since the first of the month there’s been no feeding frenzy, but we have seen more tits, sparrows and the robin or robins. No photos yet.

You can see in the picture looking out across the terrace that the grass needed cutting. We thought at first the mower wouldn’t start (it’s called a ‘tracteur’ in French, though it doesn’t pull anything), but on careful reading of the manual left by the previous owners, I realised that I had to be sitting on it first! Turning the key standing beside it doesn’t work! So the grass got its first cut under new management:

Well, at least I flattened it!

Friday 2nd November: Responding to advice, we went to open a local bank account. (So far our French account has been with a branch of Crédit Agricole called Britline, English-speakingand specialising in accounts for Brits and they have been BRILLIANT, but they are based in Normandy, and Crédit Agricole Normandie is not the same bank as Crédit Agricole Languedoc!) We do know a bit about French red-tape, but we still have a lot to learn; opening the account took over an hour and we came away with FORTY-FOUR sheets of A4 in a folder (a ‘chemise’!) many of them initialled, or signed with the words ‘lu et approuvé’ (read and approved), which, of course, they weren’t!

Sunday 4th November: After an English-style Sunday dinner of roast pork etc. we went for a walk up the lane beyond the field behind the house. This photo shows the back door, kitchen window (no shutters) and the two back bedrooms – ‘ours’ and ‘Pirates’.

and this one, taken from within Sunejo’s fence, shows the bit of road from where the first one was taken:

Colours are autumnal, and the field has just had a second ploughing and fertilising. We wait to see whether next year’s crop will be maize or sunflowers. Snow has fallen on the Pyrenees and we have distant views of it on our shopping trips. Photos should follow, but so far we’ve not had a camera with us on suitable occasions!

Look carefully at the first photo of this entry …. there’s a vertical post in the centre of the tiled awning, apparently holding it up! This was not present when we visited the house. Tony’s assessment of the awning was that it was unsafe; it would need 4 hours’ work to secure it, or two hours to dismantle it. Moreover, now that the window it covers is part of the lounge, not a bedroom, it seriously restricted the view …. we’ve had it removed:

and in case anyone is wondering what we are going to do on hot days, we intend to get a large parasol and sun loungers, and place them as needed.

Another problem was the wiring …. the hunt for the feed to the cooker hood, which had failed, involved a lot of dismantling and grovelling, till it was traced to a light switch near the back door!:

However, today, Friday 9th November, we’ve been able to sit down beside our new fireplace,

have a drink from the bar without too much battling with dust and clutter:

and the living space is looking almost civilised:

The bathrooms aren’t quite finished, the ceiling lights still need fitting – you have to get new ones, you can’t just put lampshades on what’s there – you buy integrated units – and there’s decorating to do, and a carpet to choose and have laid in front of the fire, not to mention curtains to hang everywhere, but it’s possible that the worst of the disruption is over and the MEN will pay their last visit on Monday. We’ll see …

SALLY GOES SOLO (4); PLAN B – BALDOCK TO SONNAC IN TWO DAYS

I did it! I did it! Je l’ai fait, moi, toute seule, no Harry, just me –

Sally! Slow down! You’re jumping ahead – the last entry in the diary finished at the end of Rachel’s party.

Ah, oui, c’est vrai, excusez-moi. Sorry! Well, M’sieur was getting better, M’dame getting worse, but we left the Travel Lodge on Sunday morning and took the M6 after filling up at Tesco’s near Rachel’s. Although destination was Hilde’s in Baldock, we had to go via Potter’s Bar to pick up the THINGS that M’sieur & M’dame had left there (deliberately!) at the start of the month. That included the guitar bag they bought in London – very bulky, and nothing in it; c’est ridicule, ça!

But I need a new guitar bag!

That’s what you said about the trousers and the dressing gown.

And the sherry.

Ah, oui, le sherry, cheri. Ça pèse, tu sais – it’s heavy, is that.

Stop grumbling – you managed.

I did, didn’t I? Most of the journey south through England was in fine October sunshine, with lovely autumn colours:

but by the time we were ready to leave Potters Bar it was drizzly and generally ‘moche’, and at Baldock, it was just WET. And guess what? M’dame couldn’t find her phone! M’sieur was just going to call it to see if it would ring somewhere when a texty-thingy came through saying it was in Potters Bar! C’est incroyable! Would you believe it? More work for me, I suppose, to go back and get it. Well, not that evening!

No, not that evening, next evening, Monday. Sunday evening, Hilde had a nice supper ready for us and then we watched THAT television programme.

Monday 22^nd October: Hilde had planned a lunch party so that some old friends could get together while we were in the country. An excellent lunch was enjoyed, then – by popular demand – another viewing of the video. Time passed quickly, but when the party broke up at about 5.30, we made that final trip to Potters Bar to retrieve the phone left behind the day before.

You also did some shopping!

We still hadn’t bought the sherry.

Back at Hilde’s we looked at some pictures of Sunejo and the surroundings before turning in for our last night, for now, in England.

Tuesday 23^rd October The day began foggy and damp, but M’sieur managed to re-organise things so that there was at least a little slit of a view through my back window and at 8.40 we were away en route to Dover. Well, we didn’t get far before we came to traffic alternately standing or crawling. M’dame tried to organise a detour but we rejoined the A1M in the same queue 20 minutes later. But eventually it all began to move again, and the M25 was clear approaching the Dartford Crossing (Bridge). We had time for a brief stop at Maidstone and got to Dover – with very little fuel, as planned, at 12.30. Most of the way it had been wet or foggy, but as we got near the coast the sun broke through to show a calm, blue sea. Once again, we found sunshine in the south, but this time we didn’t have to travel 1,000kms to get to it!

While waiting at the harbour, M’sieur phoned M. Antoine, who has been looking after Harry, and we got the news we were hoping not to hear: the part for Harry’s repair has not even been delivered yet, and M. Antoine doesn’t know when he will get it! This means I have to take M’sieur et M’dame all the way home, not just to Poitiers. That’s over 1,000kms and they want me to do it in a day and a half, with them and all that STUFF! C’est un défi, ça – je ne suis que petite. It’s a big challenge for a little car like me.

We know and you did very well. The crossing remained smooth, but the sunshine didn’t come with us, and it became increasingly foggy so that for a short while we were unable to dock.. But we had quite a good meal and once off the ferry (near the front again!) we filled up and headed off towards Paris through pleasant autumnal sunshine and colours.

Mais Paris! C’était affreux, mais AFFREUX ! Awful, really awful.

English people who think the M25 can be bad don’t know ANYTHING about traffic jams! We were hoping to cover 250 – 300 kms from Calais, we only managed just over 200. And those crazy bikers! I don’t know how they stay alive – well, I guess some of them don’t ….

At half past eight we were near St. Michel Sur Orge and found this area with two resaurants and four or five hotels –

But – no room at the inn!

There’s no need to tell it like that – you’re not Mary and Joseph, are you?

No, but we went from hotel to hotel, only to be told with varying degrees of sympathy that they were ‘complet’ – full. Then at the last of the group – and by chance, the least expensive – the man at the desk said “I don’t know what to suggest ….. but look, there’s a man with a room booked who isn’t here yet. I go home at nine, if he’s not here at five to, I’ll give you the room.” It was ¼ to. We went for a little walk. Every time we saw a car pull in to that car park, or another person get out of a taxi and go in, we said “That’s him”, but when we went back in the man said “It’s all right, it’s yours” Then he added, a bit apologetically, “ It’s a twin bedded room”. I said “N’importe; c’est pour dormir” . He smiled as he typed out the door code and the name and password for the FREE wifi. Then he told us that at one of the restaurants round the corner we’d get a 15% discount on presentation of his receipt.

Courtepaille (sounds like ‘short straw’, but that’s unfortunate) is not a restaurant chain we’ve visited before, but almost certainly will again. I had an unusual ‘duo de poissons’ with halibut and salmon and Carol enjoyed a ‘very tender and tasty’ piece of chicken. With suitable drinks and desserts, and the discount, dinner, bed and breakfast came to little more than £80, and we think we fared very well in the circumstances. Unfortunately Carol’s sleep was disturbed by some ‘very loud’ snoring from the other bed in the room, which was regrettable seeing how much driving there was to do on Wednesday.

Sally, meanwhile, spent the night in a secure car park and probably had a quiet time of it!

Oui, but other people got up and away a lot sooner than you two! I thought you were never coming!

We were away at 9.15!

Yes, but everyone else was away by 8.30! Never mind, we were soon back on the motorway and heading for Orléans, where we crossed the Loire –

Always a significant landmark, but no photos this time; weather a bit grey and drizzly.

On to Limoges, then Brive on the free motorway. On to Toulouse, and again there was sunshine in the south. Not to mention the first sight of the Pyrenees, which makes us feel we are nearly home.

Home? Not quite sure what to expect; the builders have been in today removing the wall of one of the bedrooms, to make a bigger lounge. Good thing they were, really, because we’d left our house keys in Harry, thinking we would be coming home in him, and NOT thinking that we might need plan B! But Tony (Builder) had left the gate open for us and the keys under a plant pot, so that was no serious problem. At 7.15 we pulled in to Sunejo; 809 miles from Baldock, of which 477 done today. You were never intended to do all that, little car!

I know! But it’s all right. I did it, and we’re home.

We are. It’s total chaos, but we’re home. And next morning Sunejo treated us to a superb sunrise:

SUNLEVIĜO ĈE SUNEJO

SALLY GOES SOLO; (3) WASN’T THAT A PARTY!

M’sieur’s cough and cold didn’t begin to get better till the day we left Florence’s, so he was a bit anti-social during the time at Newcastle. But still, we went shopping in the morning and also really did manage to change the address on THAT bank account, and after lunch I took them all to Morpeth. This meant removing some of that STUFF from the back so that the seat could be used ….. this had consequences later – think about it.

M’sieur might not have been on top form but he couldn’t stop SHOPPING! He bought himself a watch, trousers and a dressing gown –

I needed all that!

But I am FULL UP – and you say there are things in Huddersfield, and I KNOW you left some bulky items in Potters Bar! How am I going to cope?

Hmmm ….

Friday 19^th October: This was the day to go to Golgar (Huddersfield) and meet the Grandchildren. We made good progress southwards and arrived at the Manse just after 12.30, as planned.

The little ones, Sean and Nina, seemed to take to us very quickly, which was nice, and we were soon at table sharing a light lunch. Then a decision had to be taken betweenThe Playground and The Muddy Puddle Walk. In the end The Muddy Puddle Walk won out and little people were togged up in full waterproofs. Bigger people were advised to put boots on,and keep clear when the splashing started. Good job Sally was carrying our boots!

As you would say, M’sieur: hmmm …..

The walk took us down from the Manse, under the railway, and over the canal. (The Huddersfield narrow branch of the Leeds and Liverpool).

Then beside the River Colne to this amazing example of industrial architecture, The Titanic:

Named before 1912, we’re told, it was obviously a mill, but now serves as flats and a spa. A short bit of road took us to another canal bridge, more mud, more puddles, and a chance to feed the ducks.

A lovely roast dinner was served before bedtime, then we went to look at the STUFF we’d left in Chris & Michelle’s cellar back in May.

Eh voilà! What did I tell you? C’est impossible – you can’t do it, can you?

Erm – no. We remember now that back in May, believing we were going to buy a house we’d already seen, and thinking the move would have been completed by the end of July at the latest, we thought we’d be making this trip with Harry,and would have had plenty of room to put all these cleaning materials, decorating stuff and food in Harry’s garage. Lack of time to travel slowly and not having had Harry’s repair done because we were living in him all summer mean that – yes – there just isn’t room for it all as well as what we’ve bought during the visit. We took one box of medicines etc. and left the rest for C. & M. to use, dispose of, or ‘till next time’.

There’s going to be a next time? When is this? Is Harry coming too?

We don’t know – wait and see!

Well, anyway, we had to say goodnight to the little ones and then to the big ones and so I took M’sieur et M’dame over the hill to the service area on the M62 where they had booked a room at the Travel Lodge.

BUT the room was uncomfortably hot to begin with, as was the wall mounted heater, although it seemed to be switched off. My first visit to reception was rather unproductive; although they came to the room, they just gave us a somewhat patronising lesson on how electric heaters work. “It needs time to cool down”. An hour and a half later, and starting to wheeze, I went back and asked “Do you think that heater should be cooling down a bit by now?” We changed rooms. The heater was cold, but gave heat when needed.

Saturday 20^th October : Florence had phoned Huddersfield during dinner last night to say she’d found various clothes in the guest room which weren’t hers!

Yes – look again at the first paragraph of this post. Didn’t I say there would be consequences of taking things OUT? So instead of relaxing till it was time to go to Rachel’s party, M’dame had to drive me back to Newcastle to get these things. Pauvre M’dame! She really wasn’t well, having caught the bug of M’sieur ….

M’sieur did offer to do the trip or to go as well, to be fair –

Who told you life was going to be fair?

What do you know? But Carol said it was her fault and I needed a rest. Rachel came for me at about 2.30 and so I got to Whitefield for the big bonfire party. Well! If the last post left me wondering how to introduce a photo or two, this one leaves me spoilt for choice! Obviously, an album will have to be assembled, but here are a few:

The garden is suitably celebratory! –

There’s a cake representing camping at Coniston:

Vik, Roger and Rosie – but where’s Scout?

Becky plays Mum for a moment:

Carol arrived –

Et MOI!

Carol and Sally arrived about 5pm,as did Chris, Michelle and the Grandchildren.

The cake gets a sparkle:

Children line up to receive a sparkler:

So Grandad / Dad-o gets down to some serious silliness: (Does Scout approve?)

Old and new friends and family mixed happily and a great time was had by all.

After hours of sterling service in the kitchen, Sean gets to relax with the bubbles (from Limoux):

And here’s the birthday girl:

Well done, thank you, and now let life begin!

SALLY GOES SOLO; (2)WALES TO WARKWORTH WOODS

Sunday 14^th October: The café near the Travel Lodge was closed as it was Sunday, so M’sieur et M’dame set off once again without breakfast! But they say it was worth it in the end because they found the café at the Inigo Jones Slate Centre was open and they had an excellent breakfast.

Then we had to call at Deganwy to collect some THINGS they’d left behind, like the flask and a coat – C’est leur age, voyons; it’s their age, you know!

Careful, Missy – I’m reading this.

Oooo – keep your teeth in! And by the way, isn’t it time someone looked at my tyres?

Hmmm ….You may be right. It’s all Harry’s fault – dragging you around like he does; it wears your tyres out.

Don’t blame Harry – he only does as he’s told.

Who told him to blow a piston, then?

Who backed him into the gatepost?

No-one – I was moving forwards at the time – get on with the blog, unless you want me to do it.

Ah, non – non ! Il est à moi – it is mine, the journal.

So we left the nice people to have their dinner, and moved on – but not far ! Road works in Colwyn Bay made the next bit really slow, but then we moved nicely all the way to Whitefield, where I parked at the house opposite so that I could eye up Rachel’s new Smartie job, and Sean made a nice roast dinner for M’sieur & M’dame – and Rachel and himself, of course.

The next couple of days (Monday Tuesday 15^th – 16^th October ) were spent doing bits of admin like changing the address on bank accounts (as if that was easy with S…..DER!) and SHOPPING! Also getting new front tyres for Sally – she did need them.

Merci – I told you so! Good job you didn’t go any further with them as they were. And what’s all this STUFF you keep loading me up with? Slow cooker, bathroom fittings, clothes … you expect me to carry that lot back to France for you?

Yes, actually – all less expensive here than there; and there’s at least two bottles of sherry still to come.

Two bottles …! well, don’t expect fuel economy, that’s all I have to say.

Wait till you see what we pick up in Huddersfield ….

What?

Nothing. Tuesday was Rachel’s birthday, of course, but she was working all day. However, we were able to take Her ad Sean out for a Chinese meal in the evening.

Unfortunately the whole week has been affected by my having first a hard cough and then a streaming cold. In case anything other than over-the-counter treatment was needed, and to be re-assured that it would be OK to visit the Grandchildren on Friday, I went to the NHS drop-in centre in Prestwich before travelling on Wednesday. No treatment other than what I’m hitting it with already.

Pauvre M’sieur! So then we set off over the hill towards Newcastle to visit Florence (Kirkby), whose address is in Warkworth Woods which explains the title of this post. We stopped on the way at the Metro Centre (Gateshead) and they bought MORE STUFF!

Not many photos this time, so here’s a picture of the railway in Conwy, as seen from the walls:

Next post: Wasn’t that a party!

SALLY GOES SOLO; (1) POITIERS TO PORTMADOC

Oui, c’est moi, toute seule. Just me ( and M’sieur) ; no big Harry butting in with his interruptions in German. It’s my blog now, so let’s make the most of it.

Friday 5^th October: we left Harry at M. Antoine’s who will look after him and make him look nice again, just like he did 2 years ago. Then we went brm-brm full steam ahead – MY speed, not Harry’s, through Tours and on towards Rouen.

We stopped at a nice rest place where M’sieur et M’dame had some lunch at a picnic table and we got to Rouen in good time – their friend was not actually at his house when we arrived so M’sieur had to phone him to say we were there.

But he wasn’t far away and we had a very nice evening with old friends Martine and Jeanot invited to dinner to talk over old times and set the present world to rights, then after a good night’s sleep –

After breakfast that nice Frenchman said he would lead us through Rouen to where we could join the fast road above the tunnel, because the approach to the tunnel was closed. C’était magnifique! It was like ‘Bullet’ – a car chase round the back streets of Rouen! M’sieur was like Steve McQueen and M’dame was hanging on for dear life with her eyes shut! But it worked – a quick ‘au revoir’ in front of a petrol station and we were away vroom, vroom, no problem, except the weather which was appalling! But as we got near Calais it got better and by the time we were getting on the ferry the sun was shining and the sea was as smooth as you could wish. We were very cheeky – lots of other cars were on before us, but when we got on this man waived us round the other side and all the way to the front of the ship, so that at Dover we were first off the ferry, through the port and away! Driving on the left! …. Bizarre!

We spent the first 5 nights at Chrys & Jan’s. As it happens, the DVD of our ‘Place in the Sun’ programme had arrived that morning so we had our first viewing of that.

During the days that followed Carol got a haircut, I got a broken crown fixed, we had some lovely meals, and visted the gardens at Forty Hall and Myddleton House with Kathy (Horton). Chrys & Jan left for Wales on Wednesday and we went to meet Philip & Christine in London. We had lunch in the park in Russell Square (Wot? No photos?) and then went to the British Musem where there was an outdoor exhibition of North American Landscapes, and we all took an interest in different stuff inside – or the shops opposite. After a nice early-evening meal at ‘Spaghetti House’ we went to see ‘Blood Brothers’. Stunning!

Ça alors! I had to sit outside Potters Bar railway station during all that …. Got a bit of a giggle when they came back, though – they couldn’t open the door to Chrys & Jan’s house! M’dame tried, then M’sieur tried, but neither of them could turn the key at all. It was not quite midnight, so they knocked up the people over the road who had another key which worked OK so they didn’t have to sleep on the drive – in ME!

Thursday 11^th October: They got up and left the house with NO BREAKFAST! But we only went as far as Sainsbury’s at London Colney where they checked my tyre pressures and things and then had a brunch. M’dame bought a dress to wear at the wedding disco, too ….

The weather was horrible on the way to Wales, and there was a long very slow section on the M6, north of the toll. But I buzzed along whenever I could and got them to Deganwy by 6 o’clock.

Time to go green! In other words, we were making use of Esperanto hospitality again. Hilary Chapman was the first person who spoke to me in Esperanto on the phone when I was learning it in about 1979. He was also responsible for my going to Loughborough to teach Esperanto on the Summer Programme, for they’d asked him first, but he couldn’t do it and recommended me. No Loughborough, no Carol – you’d think she’d have learnt Esperanto by now, wouldn’t you?! Anyway, when we needed somewhere to stay in North Wales, Hilary and Pat were an obvious first couple to turn to and we were delighted with our visit. On Thursday evening we took them out for a meal and on Friday we first visited Conwy’s Town Hall, where we were able to view the Council Chamber as Hilary is a Councillor:

Then we walked along the town’s walls, with some excellent views of the castle:

Llandudno’s Great Orme:

And the Vardre, overlooking Deganwy, where the original Castle stood:

There was also a view of what may be the smallest house in Britain: (though those acquainted with the Bridge House in Ambleside may dispute that!):

After a luch of Hilary’s home-made leek and potato soup, we were out again to go up to the gap between the two tops of the Vardre. Unfortunately, the weather changed and we had to find what shelter we could from a very heavy shower. Splendid rainbow, though! (Camera battery low and replacements not to hand!)

So I had a day’s rest and then on Saturday morning, 13^th October, it was off along the coast and up the valley beyond Llanberis to Nant Peris at the foot of Snowdon. It should have been a beautiful drive, but the weather was nasty and there was a long section of roadworks which made everyone late for the wedding – including the bride! On the way we picked Daniel up, impossible as that may have seemed in view of the amount of their STUFF I’ve been carrying around since we left Harry. (Hope he’s OK, over there on his own ….. Mais naturellement, il est content – of course he is happy; there are lots of other motorhomes there!)

The wedding of Nick (M’dame’s nephew) and Ceri was in a beautiful setting! Unfortunately it was raining when we arrived, but during the service –

Bilingual

What?

In two languages.

Sacré bleu! During the service, the rain stopped and there was a bit of sunshine, so everyone was taking photographs.

Bride and groom pause in the Churchyard, just for me!

A Chimney Sweep in attendance.

The Bride preparing to leave the Church.

Then there was another drive to Criccieth for the reception. Between the big photo call and the meal, we went on to Portmadoc where M’sieur and M’dame were booked in to the Travel Lodge. M’dame was going to change into that dress she had bought on Thursday, BUT the assistant had left the security tag attached so she couldn’t wear it!

We really shouldn’t have been able to leave the shop with it, but somehow we did. Back at Criccieth we were just a few moments late, but we enjoyed one of the best wedding ‘breakfasts’ we’ve ever had, and let’s say that the bride was one of the loveliest ever – apart from the one on November 19^th last year, of course.

Afternoon merged into evening which passed with plenty of wine and things and music which was only a bit too loud. Shortly before midnight Carol drove us back to Portmadoc and we had a quiet night’s sleep. Thanks to all concerned for a lovely day.

.MOVE IN – MOVE OUT – TRAVEL ON…

Well – THAT week soon went! Which week? The one after we moved out of Puivert and parked Harry at Sunejo.Living with only the furniture we had on the campsite:

lots of shopping, another visit to the lawyer (wills), the Mayor (you have to do that!) and the doctor (just routine), and then on Friday 28^th, clearing the space and waiting for the lorry.

12 noon, jobs done, Carol settles down to a puzzle:

While Stephen anxiously searches throughout the panorama for the now long overdue removal men.

As you might expect, a call to head office saying ‘do you know where your lorry is?’ had the effect of the lorry’s arriving while we were still on the phone!

Then – Chaos! We simply have TOO MUCH STUFF!

Then our first visitor arrived even before the removal men had gone! Any competition to be first here has been won by many weeks by Mark (Jaques) who arrived, as planned, by motorbike at about 7pm. Well, there was a bed ready for him!

The removal men stayed till dark and finished unloading the lorry in that time, but had to come back next morning to unpack the boxes marked fragile.

Our intention to eat out was ‘postponed’ by the lateness and general fatigue, so a satisfactory meal of salmon steaks and what goes with was produced from the freezer. Oh, – and that bottle of Blanquette got popped at last!

Saturday started OK, weather wise, and because we had to stay at home for the ‘men’, and the delivery of the washing machine, a new one, not on the lorry, Mark had to go out end explore on his own. An unlucky necessity because by afternoon it was POURING and he got SOAKED on the bike. We are sorry – we came for the sunshine! Another arrival that day was the previous owner, who came to show us a few intricacies of looking after the pool and other things. Kind of him, but we’re only a bit wiser – and the water’s still green! We did go out that evening to a restaurant in Puivert, which we had passed many times but not sampled till now. We enjoyed a pleasant meal which Mark kindly treated us to – many thanks!

Sunday’s weather was a little better, dry at least, and we took a day off to give Mark a bike-free day. We revisited the Galamus Gorge, and now out of season the convoy system – no stopping allowed – isn’t in operation, so we got some better photos.

Mark and Carol visited the Hermitage at the foot of the Gorge, while Sally and I stayed and admired the view.

Oui – c’était aussi magnifique que la dernière fois! Just as nice as last time! When Carol and the man got back we drove down to St. Paul and through the Defilé – done it many times now, but I love it. Back at Sonnac – home, I should call it – Harry and the man’s bike were waiting patiently, and, of course all that nonsense about putting me in the garage is quite forgotten – it is so full of BOXES, you can’t even see that tractor-thingy, let alone get it out!

There was a nice smell coming from inside the house! It seems M’sieur had prepared a lamb casserole before they went out and left it in the slow cooker.

M’sieur? – Makes a nice change from HE.

OK, M’sieur. Mark left next morning, riding his motorbike.

M’sieur & M’dame began to try to orgainse stuff in the house –

Then HE –

M’sieur.

HE took me over to a Ford Dealer in Lavelanet to see if there were any electronic updates needed before we travelled to Poitiers. The mechanic said it would be a waste of money as they could tell from the engine number that there was nothing to do …. Nice little drive, though.

Tuesday ( 2^nd October) was spent desperately emptying the bedroom at the front, near the living room. We plan to have some work done to create a second bathroom and an L-shaped kitchen-diner-lounge, and the builder might come while we’re away to remove the wall. There are also two built-in wardrobes which have to go, but the removal men had to fill one of them with fragiles as there was nowhere else and we had to re-locate that lot. We did it, then began packing. Ironically, it was a lovely day; and the day ‘our’ TV programme was shown in the UK.

We hooked up the two vehicles in the gateway before dark. There was something like a sunset, but the evening photos didn’t work very well, so I took some more at sunrise (8.15 am).

(Note the ‘Billing’ log on the barbecue wall!)

There was still a lot for THEM to do, so the idea of an early start didn’t work out – it rarely does. But once on the road THEY decided to use motorways most of the way, regardless of cost so travelling was very easy, appart from one section of CONTRAFLOW! Very unusual on French motorways.

We did a good 300 kms and stopped on a very good ‘aire’ not far from Limoges. On a section of car-park inaccessible to lorries, the night was quite quiet.

And there were croissants for breakfast!

With only about 200 kms still to go to Poitiers, we did that in good time and after a few re-packing jobs we trreated ourselves to a dip in that lovely warm pool at the ‘Futuriste’ (a caravan park we’ve used before).

In spite of the jobs already done, it still took a long time to organise everything to leave Harry at Antoine’s (the motorhome dealer who replaced his ‘cheek’ two years ago), and be ready to travel on in Sally only. But we got away about 10.45 and by 11.30 we were ready to move on, having explained what needed doing (mainly the repair at the back) to M. Antoine.

Goodbye, Big Van! You take care of you.

Goodbye, Little Car; you take care of THEM.

M’sieur et M’dame? But of course ! We’ll come back for you in three weeks – you’ll look better to follow then!

In Ordnung. Enjoy England. – And Wales.

We will. Tchüß!

Deutsch? Die kann kein Deutsch ……

HARRY HEADS SOUTH; with Sally behind and THEM inside…

(If you’re familiar with the style of this journal (blog), may as well skip this post.)

New readers start here! If you haven’t followed us from the start, then some of what follows might seem a bit odd, quirky, eccentric, even.

Speak for yourself!

He was doing.

See? You can’t even introduce a new section of a photo-journal without those two chipping in.

I thought it was ours!

MINE.

Big bully!

The blue one is Harry, the Motorhome:

and the pink one is Sally, the little red car.

They’re both French made, though he’s left hand drive, bought in Germany, while she, bought in England, is RHD. Both fancy themselves as linguists.

Ça alors!

So sagt DER.

And the black print is me, SKT, If ever Carol chips in, which is rare, we have to find another colour.

Untitled

DAY 1: 23^rd September.

(Don’t worry – you’re probably NOT going to get a daily bulletin!)

We lingered in Harry to listen to the ‘Sunday’ programme (Radio 4) on the computer, then emerged to find ‘Sunejo’ living up to its name. With the house facing south, the sun rises to the left of the French windows (which the French call ‘portes fenêtres’) and stays on the terrace all day, moving round the corner of the house just before sunset. Today clouded over during the afternoon, but never mind, we were busy.

Well, busy before and after a rather late lunch, that is; roast pork cooked in the OVEN – we’ve got a noven! And we found out how to work it, both for the meat and later as a grill for the toast to go with that ongoing, imported, almost-inviolable-since-Billing Sunday evening tradition – the Boyle Degg. (If you visit on a Sunday, that’s what you’ll get; you might get asked ‘Ow d’y want yer regg?’ but that’s just a formality.)

Anyway, here’s Harry settling in and admiring the view:

Schön, ja!

And for the moment Sally can choose between one of two carports:

Or the garage, if we move the ride-on mower:

Hmmm. Je ne sais pas, moi. I’ve never had a port or a garage! Je suis assez contente en plein air – I like the open air.

Good, ‘cos I don’t think the garage will stay uncluttered very long!

Our problem / dilemma is whether to wake up in the morning to this view:

And be tempted out to swim,

Or this one, and be called to climb the hill:

Of course, we could use the back bedroom and still swim first thing on hot days if we want.

We’d love to say we celebrated our arrival by jumping into the pool, but it hasn’t happened yet. The previous owners moved out a few weeks ago and since thunderstorms were expected – and happened – they took the precaution of turning off the pool’s circulation & filtration, which can be damaged in storms. Unfortunately this has turned the water green and we have to add something called Chlor Choc (that’s to do with ‘shock’, not chocolate!). This product is usually in the supermarkets, but the one we went to yesterday has taken it off the shelves for this year because the ‘season’ is over!

Here be dragons!

Carol found this chappie between the window and the shutters of one of the bedrooms when she opened up this morning. He was kind enough to stay put while she took his photo.

Yesterday was something else! We knew we had a lot of work to do to break camp after two months, but I never thought we’d still be at Puivert after 4pm! At one point Carol was sceptical as to whether it was all going to go in to the two vehicles:

But it did!

And, as me father would have said ‘we’ll leave nothing but a good impression’.

But what an impression!

Serious business, folding an awning.

One last bit of leftover bread to feed to the fish

And at 4.40 pm we drove off the site – having paid our bill, of course, and that made a hole in the bank balance!

We came ‘home’ unloaded the car then went and did a BIG shop in Mirepoix. Supper was unspecial and unphotographed, and the night was quiet till the barking of many dogs woke us up; we assume a group of hunting enthusiasts was gathering nearby. Probably no more than a weekly occurrence, if that. Return to the top ….

PUIVERT – THE LAST DAYS

Yes, the title IS an echo of a similar one at the end of May. I’ve just re-read that, and the next one; leaving the clip-board in Garth View’s kitchen turned out to be the least of our worries, and as for the catch on the fridge door – une bagatellle – it’s a twice a week occurrence. Just snap it off, put back on again and carry on.

But there are similarities with May’s departure; the sale of Garth View was completed on the 21^st. Today, 21^st September, we expect to sign the acte de vente and so become owners of our new home. So we’ve been homeless, or houseless (sorry, Harry!), for exactly 4 months.

Hausloß, ja, besser!

We came to Puivert saying it might be for two months. It’s been two months, two weeks and two days – we don’t plan to leave till tomorrow. Today is too busy.

Curiously, yesterday evening was the first time we’ve seen anything like a sunset. Someone told us we’d get sunsets in October. Maybe we’ll get another tonight.

There’s a gliding club just a couple of fields away, and we often see the towing plane taking off with the glider still attached. It’s taken a long time to get a photo, but here’s one. Minutes later the towplane comes back on its own and very soon repeats the process.

While we’ve been here the CADAC barbecue has been much in use, all its accessories having been tried out. Just in case last Sunday did turn out to be our last Sunday Lunch here, we made it a big one: a lamb shank each with the vegetables cooked all round, and plenty of red wine – some even found its way into the sauce – then took a photograph when it came to the dessert.

Today has been a mixture of relief, celebration and anti-climax. We met the agents and the vendor at the house to check on things before going to the notaire. Another long, detailed explanation of all the papers, each sheet to be initialled and / or signed. Then the handing over of the keys and WE HAVE A HOUSE! Caroline, the former owner, (wife of Stephane, curiously) couldn’t stay for the customary drink, having to get back to Perpignan for family reasons, so we had a glass with Natalie and Marie, the agents who have looked after us vey well, but they wouldn’t come back and share the bottle of Blanquette from Harry’s fridge as they had other commitments. So we went to the house again just to look around on our own and now we’re back for the last evening at Puivert. They’re not doing meals here tonight and Natalie told us that Mike and Vincent, where we might have gone to eat, have closed for a two week holiday. We’ve no ongoing contact with anyone on site, nor immediate neighbours, so the Blanquette will stay unopened.

But hey – no matter; we have a house! And next Friday it will be furnished!

MORE SNIPPETS

…. “And we’re eating outside again”. On good days (for weather) that includes staying out till well after dark:

But the weather has become much less predictable, with grey, sometimes showery, days mixed in among the fine ones, which are still very warm and a dip in the lake remains an almost daily activity.

…. “Lizards are common round here”; This is the best attempt so far to photograph one:

I’m sure there’ll be a better photo once we move to the house …..

FROM LAKELAND TO LANGUEDOC. (Could be a book title; ‘Lakeland to Languedoc; A Year To Move House’. Hmmm …. Hasn’t someone done something like that already?) Many years ago, when I first went camping in the Lake District with a little girl in a little tent, I was sat outside the tent one morning (couldn’t sit IN it!) planning the day, and I said to little girl “Could you bring me ‘The Southern Fells’, please?’ (Maybe not all readers will know that that is the title of one of A W Wainwright’s guide books). Instead of popping into the tent to get the book, little girl trotted off to the other side of the campsite. I thought ‘must have said something wrong!’ and got the book myself. Some minutes later, little girl comes back carrying (for her) quite a big stone. ‘I couldn’t bring you the whole of the Southern Fells, so I just brought you a bit of them – hope that’s all right.’ …. We kept that stone and put it in the car at the end of the holiday. It stayed with me through time at Billing, Plumpton and Garth View; now here it is at Puivert, between my flowering (sort of) shrub and my herb trough:

An irony is that ‘The Southern Fells’ is the book that has gone missing from the set of Wainrights. A replacement won’t be the same as all the amendments, notes and dates of the walks and climbs are irreplaceable.

There’s also a log (piece of wood, not a diary!) that served as a mug stand in the hearth at Billing – nearly got burned once when a guest offered to pop it on the fire – which also made it to Plumpton and Bolton. That’s here, too.

Company around us keeps changing, but most of the time we are the only occupants of our ‘square’. (the campsite is arranged in enclosures like this, mostly containing four or more very generously sized pitches):

When there are no immediate neighbours a good place to socialise is in the all-purpose, unisex, wash-up, laundry and toilet / shower block. Our current friends are from Germany, he German, she Austrian, and when not sitting in our awning on drizzly days:

…. We play light-hearted games of boules, ignoring most of the rules and speaking a Durcheinander

Quoi?

Un méli-mélo

Wie?

He means un mélange.

Oh – ein Durcheinander, ja !

… and speaking a mish-mash of English, French and German.

Hey, Harry – c’est quoi un ‘mish-mash’?

Das weiß ich nicht ….

Doh! Carol has never played boules (pétanque) before, but two of these winning bowls are hers!:

Life goes on …….

BAD DAYS, BIG MOUNTAINS AND BUTTERFLIES

Don’t panic! ‘Bad Days’ refers to the weather and computer problems, nothing worse …

The month end brought big changes. First, we had three nights of thunderstorms, and a fourth of heavy rain. Also one day of almost continuous rain. Whether it was that day or another we can’t remember, but around the month end we had all three meals in the van for the first time since crossing the Channel, we think. Temperature plummeted and we began to wear long trousers and cardigans! We even used a heater in the van one morning when the temperature was only about 18°. Well, you have to be comfortable ….

Pair of big softies!

Tais-toi, petite!

Die hat aber recht. She’s right, though.

OK! OK! Leave it …. The month end also brought the departure of our neighbour for the last three weeks or so – REMY! (And a journal of our stay here wouldn’t be complete without reference to him.) He burst into our lives one morning when a mate brought his caravan round from another pitch. Then he fetched his car and parked it on OUR pitch, and said (in French) ‘Is that OK?’ ‘Otherwise I’ll put it over there, but it’ll block your view of the lake’. I said ‘there’s room’ – we were having breakfast – and that was that. The car was there for 3 weeks. Rémy has been a long-term resident here since the eighties, spending the month of August on pitch 11. When we came (July 12^th) we were on pitch 13, but they changed the numbers and we became no. 10. So R. had to move to the next pitch. (Would he have been so keen to keep no. 11 if it hadn’t been lakeside? ….)

Anyway, at times he was very friendly, inviting us to share drinks, or coming to our table with a bottle in hand and insisting that we share it. We invited him to eat with a us a couple of times but he always refused. He has a naturally loud voice, which he continues to exercise even when phoning …. He also has made friends with other regulars over the years and calls to them from pitch to pitch regardless of who might be in between. But the greatest irritant was his RADIO, which he switched on in the morning and left on all day, whether he was on site or not …. We did speak to him about this, but he was unmoveable – he’d been a policeman for five years and was convinced the radio deterred intruders.

Much more could be said about this larger than life character, but Carol doesn’t think it’s appropriate, and is concerned that this journal isn’t as private as it’s supposed to be …. Anyway, he left in the early hours of a soggy Sunday morning, leaving a note on Sally’s windscreen that would bring tears to your eyes if it weren’t already damp enough with the drizzle ….

However … Summer is returning! It’s been forecast all along, and finally it’s breaking through. There seems to be a battle of the seasons going on; summer, desperate to return, is fighting off autumn, who, having arrived, is reluctant to let go!

So one day when it wasn’t raining, but not too hot, we drove up to Andorra –

Laissez-moi! Let me! Me do! C’était magnifique! Très difficile, mais magnifique! I took THEM up to Ax Les Thermes, where we’ve been before, very twisty-turny, voyons, then on to Andorra in the High Pyrenees.

It took THEM a long time to find a place to stop to picnic, so I was quite glad when they found this spot:

So were we!

And then after that I had another rest while THEY went shopping.

Whisky £10 for 1.5ltrs! – No tax.

And HE filled up my tank with petrol for 2 or 3 cents less than in France (per litre).

On the way back THEY got excited because THEY thought THEY saw a pair of eagles riding the thermals –

We did!

Well, you don’t have a photograph, so who knows?

Be reasonable!

Raisonnable? But of course…. We stopped at the highest point – where there were no ealgles – and SHE took photographs of the mountains with ski runs on them.

Then just before we came back into France we stopped again –

And found this excellent hotel-restaurant where they serve a help-yourself-as-much-as-you-want buffet dinner. Special offers included champagne (small glass) with dessert and a bottle of Pastis. (We don’t drink that – we might have given it to Rémy. but he’d gone before we got up next morning!). Total bill: £24 (3 courses, kir and wine). Think we might go back there! I nearly bought a computer, too.

Au restaurant?

No!! earlier, at the superstore. Yes, this ‘puter has been playing up big time, a bit like Harry on the M25 –

I heard that.

Well,… you did!

And I haven’t really been able to use it for about 5 days. I’m told my profile was corrupted –

It’s the new hair cut!

What? Who said that? Just call me Samson! That hasn’t even been mentioned yet. The computer was fixed this morning (Wed.) by Rachel’s friend, Peter.

Two other vsits to record: we ‘did’ Chalabre Castle on the last day of public opening. It’s more of a big house than a fortress

And it’s seen better days, but a dedicated team of enthusiasts put on displays and run workshops. After the rain of recent days the display of armed combat on horseback couldn’t take place – risk of slipping and injury to the horses – but a good show of hand-to-hand swordplay took place indoors.

After the castle we explored Chalabre’s little lake and tennis club.

Yes, one of us has had a haircut.

One of us hasn’t.

Then today we visited the nearby butterfly house. Not much to say, really: just put up a few piccies:

Others were very envious when Carol took this one! Whenever it posed it closed it’s wings and was just brown. Brilliant.

THAT is an invasion of privacy! ….. Shouldn’t be allowed….

That one’s a moth – just emerged. When I can get it to work I’ll put an album on SkyDrive of these. And by the way, those who were with us last year and and have been having sleepless nights ever since wondering what the butterflies on Oleron were – they were ‘Soucis’. Sleep well ….

This morning (Wed.) they took the canoes and pedaloes off the lake, and also the chains of floats that mark the safe swimming area. They’ve also taken away the lifeguard’s chair:

Carol actually encouraged me to do that!

The campsite has been bleak and almost deserted, but this afternoon as the temperature rose and the sun really did try to shine again, the beautiful people began to reappear ( and some of them really are!). More pitches are occupied tonight on the site than for some time, though mostly by one-nighters. We have our ‘square’ to ourselves! And we’re eating outdoors again.

BREAKFAST TIME!

BAD DAYS, BIG MOUNTAINS AND BUTTERFLIES

Don’t panic! ‘Bad Days’ refers to the weather and computer problems, nothing worse …

Pair of big softies!

Tais-toi, petite!

Die hat aber recht. She’s right, though.

So one day when it wasn’t raining, but not too hot, we drove up to Andorra –

It took THEM a long time to find a place to stop to picnic, so I was quite glad when they found this spot:

So were we!

And then after that I had another rest while THEY went shopping.

Whisky £10 for 1.5ltrs! – No tax.

And HE filled up my tank with petrol for 2 or 3 cents less than in France (per litre).

On the way back THEY got excited because THEY thought THEY saw a pair of eagles riding the thermals –

We did!

Well, you don’t have a photograph, so who knows?

Be reasonable!

Raisonnable? But of course…. We stopped at the highest point – where there were no ealgles – and SHE took photographs of the mountains with ski runs on them.

Then just before we came back into France we stopped again –

Au restaurant?

No!! earlier, at the superstore. Yes, this ‘puter has been playing up big time, a bit like Harry on the M25 –

I heard that.

Well,… you did!

And I haven’t really been able to use it for about 5 days. I’m told my profile was corrupted –

It’s the new hair cut!

What? Who said that? Just call me Samson! That hasn’t even been mentioned yet. The computer was fixed this morning (Wed.) by Rachel’s friend, Peter.

Two other vsits to record: we ‘did’ Chalabre Castle on the last day of public opening. It’s more of a big house than a fortress

After the castle we explored Chalabre’s little lake and tennis club.

Yes, one of us has had a haircut.

One of us hasn’t.

Then today we visited the nearby butterfly house. Not much to say, really: just put up a few piccies:

Others were very envious when Carol took this one! Whenever it posed it closed it’s wings and was just brown. Brilliant.

THAT is an invasion of privacy! ….. Shouldn’t be allowed….

This morning (Wed.) they took the canoes and pedaloes off the lake, and also the chains of floats that mark the safe swimming area. They’ve also taken away the lifeguard’s chair:

Carol actually encouraged me to do that!

BREAKFAST TIME!

PUIVERT SNIPPETS

Eleven steps – two lizards. Lizards are common round here. We’ll probably see them basking in the sun halfway up the walls at home. The other day I spotted two as I went up the steps. Well, two on the way up an one on the way down, so there may have been three, but I think the one on the way down was one of the ones from the way up, which makes two…. If you see what I mean. The keen-eyed have also spotted glow-worms under the steps, and under the hedge near Harry.

I haven’t seen them!

Well, you wouldn’t …. Did you know, a glow-worm is really a beetle, and only females glow – to attract passing males in flight? Then once they’ve mated they turn off their light, lay their eggs and die.

C’est triste, ça!

Yes, but isn’t Wikipaedia wonderful !

We’ve been up to the castle. We cheated and went as far as we could by car (I’ve got a leg that wont work properly all the time – Rachel & Sean might remember a bit of a problem last time we walked in the Lake District – I’ve even had a session with an osteopath, which has helped a bit, I think.)

It was very hard and bumpy –

What, my leg?

Mais, non! (Imbécile) The drive up to the castle. Good view, though.

Yes, and we learnt about Troubadours and how the lake used to be much bigger, and the legend of the White Lady ….

Several days a week I go into the village by bike to get the bread:

Carol comes too, now, sometimes. One day we’ll go for a longer ride. Quand il fera moins chaud ! (When it’s less hot !) One day a bit back the notice board showed the air temperature to be 29˚ and the water (of the lake) 26. But that was when the lifeguard came on duty at 12.30. Both get warmer through the afternoon.

A young couple camped on one of the pitches in our square a bit back, and he got a guitar out. I went over and suggested we should see what we could do together. We had a really cool session! Then another one with drinks after dark. They live not very far away, and one day this week they came for a day by the lake, but called to say ‘bonjour’ and brought a friend with a little girl with them. That was really nice! They were here again this weekend and we shared some more music and a meal.

Google this: Fontestorbes and go to which ever site(s) take your fancy. We’d read about this intermittent spring, but when we were there, we didn’t realise that’s where we were, because we were on our way to somewhere else! On the way back we had other priorities, so we didn’t stay to see the sudden surge in the flow. It’s one to go back to. Certainly a remarkable phenomenon.

My little Esperanto flag flutters bravely by Harry’s bike-rack.

It’s instigated a number of conversations about Esperanto, but (so far) none in Esperanto.

Ĝis la!

SALLY GETS TO THE MED, CAROL GETS A TRAIN RIDE, AND HARRY FETCHES A BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

One day last week – and we’ve no idea which day! – we went birthday-present shopping in the little red car –

C’est moi! Oui, on est allé – sorry – we went to Rivesaltes near Perpignan –

It’s where the airport is, in fact.

Don’t interrupt!

You do!

Mmm … quelquefois, peut-être. We went to this big bicycle shop which HE’d found out about on the internet, where they sell electrically assisted bikes. (The one THEY bought for Carol at the motorhome exhibition in Manchester turned out to be rubbish and the company has gone out of business, so no money back.) After a while they chose one and reserved it, but I couldn’t bring it back to Puivert so that had to wait. Then we went down to Le Barcarès and I had a good view of the sea while THEY went and swam in it and lay on the sand.

Funny swimming – it was salty, and there were even little waves! Don’t get those at Puivert!

Then after a little drive we parked again and THEY had a meal at a very nice –

But busy!

– little restaurant or ‘Crêperie’ beside the harbour. It was so late by the time THEY finished that there was no way I could get back ‘home’ before 10 o’clock when they shut the big gate at the campsite. THEY may call me ‘little’ but I can’t get through the pedestrian gate, so I had to stay outside for the night. It was OK; no-one bothered me and HE came for me quite early in the morning.

Sorry, no photos of that day – I think we left cameras behind! Plenty to come, though.

Monday, 13^th August. (CLT 70). The chosen treat for the day was to ride the Red Train, doing the part of the line to include viaducts and tunnels.

The first part of the ride took us through the forest from Axat to the first level crossing on the road we’ve driven so often down the valley of the Boulzane to St. Paul de Fenouillet.

We’ve picnicked in that lay-by.

Then we followed that road, cris-crossing it by bridges and crossings as far as St. Paul. The train made photo-stops on the viaducts and one in particular gave us a splendid view of the ‘Cathar’ castle of Puylaurens.

The ride was commented, effectively and well amplified, so we learnt, among other things, that ‘Fenouilledes’ means ‘Hay Country’ and although the area is now mainly devoted to to producing the ‘Agly’ wines, there are still hayfields among the vineyards.

Back at Axat, we drove on up the valley of the Aude through the Gorge de St. Georges, which we hadn’t done before.

Then back to Quillan where we were going to have dinner at Café de la Fleuve, but there was a deafening pop group playing in the square and the restaurant was very busy, so we went round to the ‘Galerie’ instead. This is where we had the first evening meal with the ‘Place in the Sun’ team.

However, we braved the noise to go and have coffee at Mike’s after the meal. Again, Little Car had to stay outside the gate overnight, but she didn’t mind, in the interest of Carol having a happy birthday – did you?

Non.

Thought so.

My turn! I hadn’t moved for a month, but on Tuesday I got to go out! All the way down to Perpignan, mostly on familiar roads and following the railway line. We parked outside a motorhome dealer’s which was closed for lunch, so THEY had lunch while waiting. When the place re-opened, it was a bit disappointing because we were hoping to get an estimate for the repair to my rear light cluster, but they didn’t do bodywork. Perhaps we’ll go back to that nice M. Antoine in Poitiers. Still, THEY got me a new shower head to replace the one that got damaged by ice two years ago! (We’ve had a couple of not-quite-right replacements in the meantime.)

Then we went to the bike shop in Rivesaltes and after a bit of a wait Carol’s new bike was placed on my bike rack and we set off back.

Next morning THEY went into the village together by bike to get the bread.

IACTA EST ALEA

IACTA EST ALEA …..

As the bard said –

No, he didn’t!

Who did, then?

Julius Caesar.

Who asked you, anyway? And when did you wake up – I thought you were hibernating.

Gar nicht! Ich habe schon alles gehört.

Oh, dear ….

Macht nichts …

De quoi s’agit-il ? What are you all on about ? What is this ALEA and who IACTA-d it?

It means ‘the die is cast’ –

And Julius Caesar said it when he crossed the Rubicon.

Did what?

Never mind! It just means we’ve taken an irreversible step – you were there, little one! – Parked outside, anyway.

Ah, Ça alors! Tell everyone !

I was doing till you two started …. Never mind! Friday 3^rd August was a big day –

Not for me! I never moved.

For all of us! We went to the lawyer’s office and signed the compromis de vente – that’s a bit like exchanging contracts in the UK, but an entirely different procedure. Everyone is there – buyer, seller, agent, lawyer (or in this case lawyer’s clerc, his brother) and the lawyer goes through the contract page by page, which is then initialled or signed page by page and some declarations copied out by hand before signing. Very thorough, very time consuming, especially if some paragraphs have to be repeated in English so that foreign purchasers (us) can fully understand what they are signing.

Afterwards we went down to Quillan – there was a bit more business that we needed the agent’s help with, to do with the French bank account, – and then we went to that restaurant on the square where the patron had introduced us to Nathalie, the agent who did find the ‘right’ house in the end. He was delighted with the news and gave us each a free glass of Blanquette (bubbles!) as an appéritif. As I said before, it’s good buying houses round here!

Less good is trying to get a driving licence! Carol’s UK licence expires next week (x0th birthday, you know!) and we can’t renew it in the UK because we don’t have an address, we’re not UK residents. But we can’t have a French one till we can prove that we’ve been resident in France for six months! So far, we’ve not found a way round this.

Meanwhile, we’ve had another terrific thunderstorm – an all night jobbie, hammering on Harry’s roof –

Tell me about it!

But otherwise days merge into each other with shopping trips, picnics, and swims in the lake. Going through Chalabre and on past the house, the next village – the first in Ariège – is a delightful little spot called Camon, with a lovely village shop, a bar-café and this magnificent former railway viaduct across the Hers with a lovely picnic spot beneath. The only drawback is that bathing is not allowed because of the unpredictability of release of water from the lake (Montbel), which produces a little electricity , causing sudden changes in depth and flow.

Today we have been very pleased to receive a visit from Gwyneth and Barrie from Sournia, whose house we visited a bit back. (See post dated July 223rd.) We prepared a seafood platter and salad for lunch, which Carol followed with pancakes for dessert, then Barrie drove us all out past the house and on to Camon, before we all jumped in the lake on return.

Carol and I then had supper at the café at the gate …..which was quite busy tonight, not as on the photo.

Just to clarify for those unfamiliar with French procedures: having signed the compromis, we have seven days (from last Friday) to withdraw from the sale, should we wish to, whereas the vendors may not withdraw. We’ve no intention of withdrawing – as we say at the top, joking aside, iacta est alea.

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HARRY’S DIARY 2013

THE STORY SO FAR.

NOVEMBER …… DECEMBER ….

GET HARRY!

NO MEN, A TRIP INTO THE MOUNTAINS – AND COWS!

DANGER! MEN AT WORK.

SALLY GOES SOLO (4); PLAN B – BALDOCK TO SONNAC IN TWO DAYS

SALLY GOES SOLO; (3) WASN’T THAT A PARTY!

SALLY GOES SOLO; (2)WALES TO WARKWORTH WOODS

Sunday 14^th October: The café near the Travel Lodge was closed as it was Sunday, so M’sieur et M’dame set off once again without breakfast! But they say it was worth it in the end because they found the café at the Inigo Jones Slate Centre was open and they had an excellent breakfast.

SALLY GOES SOLO; (1) POITIERS TO PORTMADOC

.MOVE IN – MOVE OUT – TRAVEL ON…

HARRY HEADS SOUTH; with Sally behind and THEM inside…

Untitled

PUIVERT – THE LAST DAYS

MORE SNIPPETS

BAD DAYS, BIG MOUNTAINS AND BUTTERFLIES

BAD DAYS, BIG MOUNTAINS AND BUTTERFLIES

PUIVERT SNIPPETS

SALLY GETS TO THE MED, CAROL GETS A TRAIN RIDE, AND HARRY FETCHES A BIRTHDAY PRESENT.

IACTA EST ALEA

Sunday 14th October: The café near the Travel Lodge was closed as it was Sunday, so M’sieur et M’dame set off once again without breakfast! But they say it was worth it in the end because they found the café at the Inigo Jones Slate Centre was open and they had an excellent breakfast.

Sunday 14^th October: The café near the Travel Lodge was closed as it was Sunday, so M’sieur et M’dame set off once again without breakfast! But they say it was worth it in the end because they found the café at the Inigo Jones Slate Centre was open and they had an excellent breakfast.