THE ‘MISSING’ MONTHS AND A FLYING VISIT TO UK

Readers with an eye for detail might have noticed (but probably didn’t!) that there were almost two months unaccounted for between Harry’s return from England in March and the Dordogne holiday in May. Here are a few pictures and comments on the missing weeks.

April included a mini heatwave and brought our ancient pear tree into full bloom – we’d missed this last year as we were ‘over there’ in April.

We opened up the pool and were pleased with its general condition. With the water around 22° we got in and scrubbed the tidemark at the water line:

Then we had the year’s first barbecue:

Of course, April 8th saw the start of my 70th year. Carol made me a cake:

There was the traditional ‘Omelette de Pâques’ in the village on Easter Monday. Does Carolyn know what’s going on behind her back?

After the heatwave there were a couple of weeks of fairly persistent drizzle – quite Cumbrian! But April 25th included a fine double rainbow – impossible to get it all in one photo.

Carol decided to use this time to decorate our bedroom. The room was cleared of all except the largest pieces of furniture, and for about two weeks we slept in ‘Patience’, the first guest room.

We like the end result:

But it was nearly time for Judi’s arrival to house-sit. This lot had be removed from ‘Pirates’ so that Carol (Jnr) could use it, arriving while we were away.

Pam and Trevor have now bought a house in Arriège, about 40 minutes away, but at this time had not yet moved in. They were living in a ‘gîte’ nearby. We’d heard of an Esperanto group meeting near Pamiers and, though it wasn’t ideal timing, Trevor and I went and were glad to have done so. Pam kindly helped Carol with the bed-making here. That done, they went for a walk above the village:

After the Dordogne holiday, and just before our next escapade, Nick had a significant birthday:

He and Carolyn invited most of the village to ‘apéro’ on the square in front of ‘Maison Bleue’, and kindly – or rashly – invited me to entertain!

The next day,May 29th, we flew out of Carcassonne heading for Stansted. I really should have taken a picture of the cattle pen which passes for a ‘departure lounge’ at Carcassonne airport, and circulated it widely to illustrate the difference between the myth of Ryanair travel as portrayed by the current TV advert and the reality. It really is a dreadful experience!

At Stansted, more discomfort; we missed the chance to use the loos on the plane before the descent began, so by the time we we in the terminal this was first priority. Once up the steps – STEPS! – and into the corridor, the nearest loos were the ‘wrong’ way – against the flow (of people). Got there – the ladies was queueing, and the gents: closed! Disabled, only choice! Once in, pitch black, no light, no switch! In the end, Carol emerged from the Ladies and stood guard with the door open enough to provide a minimum of light ….

So now we were way behind everyone else, the disgorged contents of two planes. We followed signs. Down two escalators. Into an empty hall with no exit but several automatic doors, which wouldn’t open – and the escalators coming DOWN, but none going UP. There was no signage. We had NO IDEA that this was a shuttle station. I banged on several of the doors with my stick. Carol picked up the emergency phone, then lights began to flash above some of the doors, which then soon opened to give access to the shuttle.

Things did get a bit better. At the main terminal a very nice young lady listened sympathetically to tales of closed and unlit loos and claustrophobic basements with no signs, then once through passport control we set about trying to find our car hire firm. Having said ‘never again’ to Hertz after last year’s experience (you can check back if you really want to!) we’d chosen ‘Firefly’. No evidence of Firefly’s desk …. We phoned them. They’re part of Hertz!! But this worked in our favour, in the end. We asked if they could bring up our previous history and we registered ‘disappointment’ at having had no reply to our feedback; they gave us £24 worth of 2nd driver insurance for free.

We collected our Vauxhall Corsa and headed for Potters Bar where we had a nice meal with Chrys and Jan.

We had gone to England to be at the dedication service for Chris & Michelle’s children. We were saddened to have heard of the death of Martin Horton, an old friend of Carol’s, husband of Cathy. But happily, in one sense, the funeral had been planned for that Saturday, 31st May, so we were able to postpone our drive to Huddersfield in order to attend. Not only that, but Martin’s sister, Mary, wheelchair user, lives not far from Chrys and Jan, so we were able to take her as well.

During the drive north in the evening, the second driver insurance was particularly important since I was hit by the second migraine of the day (or a recurrence of the first) and couldn’t see straight!

We got lucky in Huddersfield as we needed advice to find our hotel, having no satnav or plan. We stopped beside a very helpful taxi driver who said ‘follow me’ and then stopped again a bit later to point out the road we needed.

We were also well served at the Cambridge Hotel the next morning where the receptionist not only copied two sections of town plan for us showing how to get to the (changed) venue for the service, but brought them to our room. Chris’s instructions by text hadn’t arrived at that time.

It’s difficult for us to comment on the service, especially after the sharply contrasting funeral the day before. Contrasting not only because of the nature of the event. The funeral had been High Anglican, with robed clergy, traditional church music, communion, and a Bishop to pronounce the commendation. The dedication was ‘Evengelical / Pentecostal’, casual dress, guitars and drums. Let’s say both events were found to be appropriate and meaningful to those most closely involved.

Respecting the ongoing advice not to show identifiable photos of S & N (a pity since this was ‘their’ day!) here are some of other folk:

She’s a show-stealer; can’t think where she gets it from!

After lunch at the church, a reduced party moved to 730 Manchester Road …..

CHRIS! I think Dan and Fiona gave ‘Funny Faces’ as a present to the children!

Er, yes, well …..

….it was on the chair; I just picked it up. But who took the photo? Either S or N, I can’t remember, but didn’t he/she do well?

At last Daddy (Chris) stopped playing and let his son have a go:

Rachel, Sean and Sannon left before the rest of us shared a take-away meal. Then after bedtime we got the cards out and the remaining foursome (Dan, Fiona and Luke had also left) enjoyed a rubber of bridge.

The drive south on Monday 2nd June was uneventful and we are grateful to Chrys and Jan for another evening’s hospitality and bed for the night. The Stansted experience on Tuesday morning wasn’t too bad:

– though it still doesn’t match the propaganda!

Back at home, on a hot day, we were glad of the pool to jump into!

Since then, the weather has got hotter and hotter; there’s always the threat of thunderstorms, but they haven’t materialised yet. (Do thunderstorms do that?) We’re eating our own-grown lettuce leaves, and lots of strawberries. Tomatoes are just visible. Last Thursday I took part in, and Carol attended, my first ‘Chorale’ concert. (No photos). A new style of performance for me – I’m not used to singing unaccompanied with lots of ‘doo-be-do-wah’s instead!

I think it’s time for a dip ….

FOOTNOTE:

Tuesday 3rd June, 4.30 pm:

Hallo, Lady Lucy! Wo warst du, denn? Where have you been?

A Carcassonne. A l’aéroport. THEY left me there.

THEY? I thought we weren’t to say that any more.

Don’t care! Je suis cuite.

What?

Cooked – fried – what you say? Frazzled.

But it’s not been hot till today.

Tu parles! J’en ai marre! I have had enough of HIM. And HE bashed me up in Carcassonne last week. HE backed me into a fence post. Look!

Those few scratches! That’s nothing. He practically pulled my tail light cluster right off back in Cumbria. I was stuck up with duck tape for months. He doesn’t mean to do it; he’s just a bit too hasty at times …..

Oops! Well, you’ll never get nowhere if you’re too hasty ….. I don’t suppose either of THEM would have come up with that.

SUNEJO DIARY JANUARY 2014

We saw the New Year in at the village ‘Réveillon’, a shared meal attended by 20+ local folk.

Starting soon after 6.30pm with ‘apéro’ – drinks and nibbles – a 5-course meal was accompanied by unlimited red, white or rosé wine, not to mention a locally distilled plum liqueur at some stage.

I didn’t mention the plum liqueur in the first account of the evening on Facebook, because I hardly noticed it, in that I was singing at the time, which I was invited to do both before the meal and between courses!

At midnight there was a lot of ’embracing’ (kiss-kissing) and exchanging of ‘Meilleurs Voeux’ (best wishes) which more people said than ‘Bonne Année’, and continued to say for a couple of weeks to people they hadn’t met yet this year. I made the mistake of saying ‘Meileurs Voeux’ about two weeks later to someone who’d been at the réveillon and got an exaggerated Gallic shrug with the words ‘Mais on s’est déjà vu!’ (We’ve met already!) She might as well have lifted her eyes heavenward and said ‘Ils sont fous, les Anglais!’

The weather was quite good at the start of the month and on the 2nd we were able to eat lunch on the terrace:

I’d made a New Year’s resolution to cut back on the alcohol a bit, so the photo above shows long glasses with water or cordial. The intention is to drink wine only once a day, unless visiting or entertaining, and to limit stronger drinks – sherry, whisky, liqueurs and so on – to once a week. So far we’ve stuck to it!

As a result of the singing at the réveillon, I was encouraged to join the local ‘chorale’ which rehearses on Friday afternoons in Chalabre. It consists mainly of senior citizens (who sometimes go and entertain the old folk at the retirement home!) and an 85 year old neighbour, Guy, insists on driving me to rehearsals! That’s an exciting ride!

I was due to have the injection into my hip on the 14th, so we decided to have a day out in Harry on the 12th. We thought we’d head for Carcassonne and find the lake known as ‘Carcassonne Plage’. Unfortunately, a big bank of rain bearing cloud was lying to the east, whereas to the south and west were blue skies and sunshine. But we went ahead anyway and picnicked in Harry in the drizzle which then held off long enough for us to walk down to the water and a little way along the shore.

This was a cold, grey, drizzly Sunday, but there were still plenty of people there, some of them feeding the ducks – so we could tell this will be a very popular spot on a hot summer’s day, both for locals and tourists

The walk was very pleasant, but unfortunately the car park is some height above the lake and getting back to Harry wasn’t too comfortable, but we hoped all that would be resolved soon ….

We hoped it would be resolved! …… This would surprise any enthusiast for the French health system who came across it, and they’d have difficulty explaining it; we left home in good time, travelled the hour to Castelnaudary, arrived in good time, did the paper work at reception, and waited …… for an hour and a half …. the doctor didn’t turn up! At 1pm a couple of other consultants noticed we were still there (during lunch time!!) and asked questions on our behalf. A secretary telephoned the doctor’s surgery (in a different building) but only got an anwserphone; like I said it was lunch time, what else would you get? Since ‘my’ doctor had no-one else to see at the hospital that day, they said they ‘didn’t know what to say’, but the implication was ‘don’t hang around’. We didn’t hand around. Confession time: we had lunch at McDonald’s! Didn’t even need the wi-fi! But at least we didn’t drink! We had to make another appointment, of course, and also of course, that couldn’t be done at the hospital; no, no, no; that could only be done by phoning the surgery.

One week later and we tried again; the snow-topped Pyrenees were superbly displayed as we set off mid-morning:

However, that was the last we saw of the sun for over a week, more of that later …. This time the doctor was there and the procedure went ahead with nothing at all said about last week! As for the procedure itself, I don’t think anyone wants to read about it (if they do, they can ask!). Carol drove home and we were back by 2pm. The hip was stiff and sore, but that wore off with rest and painkillers.

Then the rains came! When you see the weather maps on UK TV, you sometimes get a wide view which include northern Spain, the Pyrenees and part of the Med. On those maps you may notice that we are often affected by the southern end of the same fronts as hit the UK; so it’s been WET for nearly a fortnight now, and although the sun is shining today another week of rain is due to start tomorrow. The River which gives the village its name (Sonnac Sur L’HERS) isn’t usually visible from ‘Sunejo’, but by January 25 it was clearly visible:

Not only that, but the field between us and the river was seriously waterlogged. In November I put up a photo of the river in spate under the bridge, but find the bridge on this one:

Yes, the bridge is under the water this time and the water in the foreground is the track leading o the bridge. It’s only a short walk, but this was just 4 days after the injection and the hip didn’t like it! Maybe it was too soon. Still, later the same day we went shopping and just beyond Camon we found the road had been blocked by an ‘éboulement’, a mudslide. In fact, the workers had just finished clearing the road and were moving the barriers; they said it was OK to go through, but we met some friends in the supermarket who had had to follow a considerable diversion on narrow, windy, hilly roads! This is what that site looked like a few days later (and still does):

On January 29th, which was a fine day between wet nights, Carol discovered that although the water had gone down a lot, an accumulation of fallen trees was now blocking the bridge so that it was still unusable by wheeled vehicles:

To photograph this we went down BY BIKE! (Thinking it might be better for the hip.)

After that, since it was a fine and warm day, and although we might have sunk into the marsh if we’d sat on the grass, we had lunch out on the terrace. So in spite of the excess of rain, that’s three outdoor lunches in January!

So we’re in to February. February 2nd is Candlemas / Le Chandeleur, not much celebrated in England, but an excuse for a pancake fest in France. So we invited our neighbour, Marthe, who was one of the first local people to speak to us and invite us to knock on her door if we needed anything, to join us on Sunday evening and served a seafood pancake followed by a sweet one. This was the first time Marthe has actually come in, in spite of numerous invitations to share a drink or a brew. She’s 80 + and passes the gate regularly when out for her ‘constitutional’. Once again, no photo of pancake tossing! At about 11pm we offered to go along the road with Marthe to her place (it’s about 200 metres, but there”s no street lighting outside the village). She protested a bit but accepted in the end so long as we would go in for a ‘nightcap’. That turned out to be half a tumbler of whisky (for me); we told her to stop, but she just said ‘might as well empty the bottle’! Didn’t notice the hip on the way back!

Actually, I”m seeing the hip doctor again tomorrow (if he can be bothered!), and I think I can say it’s getting better. We’ve been out for a walk by Lake Montbel this afternoon, and there are no uncomfortable after-effects – yet! Here are some pictures to finish with:

SUNEJO CHRISTMAS

There’ll never be another Christmas like it! Because although Christmas does come once a year, Baby’s first Christmas comes once and once only, and we’ve been very privileged to have been part of it. Thanks to Sean, Rachel, Megan and Becky for travelling all this way to be with us – we think it wasn’t easy!

What follows is a few (?!) of the photos taken by anyone with a camera, accompanied by, I hope, the briefest of comments – if I can stop myself ‘going on’! (and on …)

First meal together, and a new game is invented; Grandad and Shannon play ‘Boum! Boum!’ Everybody gets the giggles!

The game involves taking the wrapper from the baguette, making a ‘truncheon’ of it and batting the side of the high chair with it saying “Boum! Boum!”. And if once or twice Baby’s head or cheek, got in the way, well, ….

We played it many times, in fact a wrapper had to be preserved for the purpose, and it always got a smile and frequently a laugh.

The SKT tradition of the Christmas Eve pancake-fest at tea time was respected and seemed to be well received. No-one photoed it, though. I suppose they were too busy eating and I was too busy tossing ……

In France le Père Noël looks for slippers under the Christmas tree; we compromised with a couple of slipper-socks, but they worked!

Contrary to every forecast we had seen, Christmas day was sunny and warm. Some spent much of the morning on the terrace, where we also enjoyed the pre-lunch blanquette / apéro.As for Christmas lunch, I’ve never been better pleased with my efforts at turkey roasting. Using a French recipe which I’ve had for years but never used before, with chestnut stuffing (French) one end and sage and onion (English) the other, slow roasted on the rack over a good quantity of stock and well basted with butter, it came out looking good, and was moist and easy to carve:

Carol’s Christmas pudding got flambé-d, of course:

Presents were exchanged after lunch, and as anyone with experience would expect, Shannon’s interest was greater in crinkly wrappings than in the content of parcels. What we didn’t anticipate was that an empty green cracker would become a favourite for the rest of the week! Ignoring a whole chain of teething rings, she kept licking it! Well, no harm in an early start in eating your greens …

Christmas Day tea was fairly traditional (English) with cake and candlelight. Rachel took some lovely pictures:

Megan and Becky, Sean’s older daughters, are both very good at entertaining Baby when needed:

Boxing Day brought the expected rain, but we ventured forth to see Carcassonne:

OK, bin there, done that. Did anyone buy a T-shirt?

We’d been watching the weather situation very carefully in order to try to choose the best day to visit Andorra. We did well. Fresh snow had fallen up there while it was raining here and in Carcassonne, but Friday was superbly blue and sunny. Rachel chose to stay at ‘home’ with baby, which was disappointing but probably sensible.

The rest of us piled into the big, black hired car – yes, GPT & Family, the same one you had! – and climbed up to the big snow:

The ski slopes were very busy

and after lunch – and the first bit of shopping – we found a lay-by where some silly play was possible:

Then, drive on for a cable car ride:

and at the top, where in summer there’s a golf course and mountain biking, skiing and snow boarding were in progress, although it was late in the day now:

In the last of the daylight, another shop-stop:

Mean while, back at the ranch, Rachel took Shannon in the buggy down to the river:Compare and contrast the next photo with the first one in the last posting – taken from the same spot!

Saturday was wet n orrible, but no matter; we had boyle deggs for breakfast – from our hens (sorry! Nick and Carolyn’s hens) – croque-monsieur for lunch and parmentier de dinde (left-over turkey made into a cottage pie – turkey farmers pie? Matthews’Pie? – bootiful!) for dinner. We even introduced the family to Cluedo – to help the Coyles unwind ….. No photo.

And so to Carcassonne airport on Sunday (in two cars), where we had lunch in the restaurant, and thanks to a friendly waiter who is good at this, we have an excellent photo of (nearly) all of us:

He did take another with Baby in, but it’s not such a good photo, and anyway, Shannon’s asleep; so here’s a Festive Farewell from a wide-awake Christmas Baby:

and Bye-Bye from Baby in a big hat:

And an Au Revoir from Shannon:

And its “Boum! Boum!” from her:

And it’s “Boum! Boum!” from me – Boum! Boum!

YEAR 2 BEGINS AT SUNEJO; we get a new car, our first visitor returns and new ones arrive.

So we’ve seen the year round!

For those who might be interested, and haven’t found them already, I’ve put an album of representative pictures on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006348009110 – don’t know whether that works; someone can try it and tell us. (OK! I tried and it does.)

The second year began as did the first – with a visit from (Cousin) Mark, by motorbike:

He had better weather than last year and we were free to entertain (no removal men!) so we fitted in a trip to Andorra where a mountain biking event was taking place below the cable car;

and one to Puivert Castle:

Though a heavy shower opened up just before Mark and Carol got back to the car where I was waiting for them – warm and dry!

Ah, car; yes. We set about finding a replacement for Sally as soon as we got back from England. We found this Citroën C3 in ‘Lucifer Red’, and she’s a former driving school car, which appealed in a quirky sort of way:

I said that with that colour description, it was as well the number plate was 777, not 666! We toyed with calling her ‘Cerise’, but on the way home Carol suggested ‘Lucy’ and so she is. She’s not as excitable as Sally, who used to squawk if you set off with your belt not fastened, even for a short manoeuvre on a car-park. Lucy just jingles politely; and she’s very good at drawing attention to open doors, or key left in the ignition – she even tells us how many kms we can go before we have to fill up.

We have less good news of Harry; the place we called at in Pamiers haven’t got us a new skylight yet and we’re worried about wet weather approaching. We also didn’t dare use him for excursions with the next visitors, which was a bit disappointing.

The day after Mark left we welcomed Trevor and Pam – we stayed with Trevor for three weeks last year while Harry was having that major repair, then in January we went to their wedding. Even without Harry, we enjoyed the ‘usual’ excursions, with trips to Mirepoix on Market Day:

The Church in the Rock at Vals:

A look at the castles of Montségur and Roquefixade:

Carcassonne, on a drizzly day, when Harry would have been really useful (for eating in):

A picnic by the Aude:

followed by a ride on the Train Rouge:

and a drive up – and down Galamus Gorge:

followed by an eve-of-birthday dinner for Pam at Mike’s (Café du Fleuve in Quillan) – Pam & Trevor’s invitation, thank you!

More eating and another willing waiter (to take the photo) next day during Pam’s birthday trip to Andorra; this is at our now ‘usual’ eat-as-much-as-you-like buffet restaurant:

We were a bit disappointed that the cable cars weren’t running – possibly due to insufficient custom between seasons – but since T & P were visiting by car they made the most of the shopping opportunities, contributing adequately to the Principality’s economy. As for photography, cows and horses beside, or even on, the road seemed to be the main ‘focus’ of attention:

During stay-at-home days, Pam & Trevor enjoyed the pool, and were the first of our visitors to do so. Trevor even had a pre-breakfast dip a couple of times, which I haven’t done yet! No photos of any of that, but there’s a nice stay-at-home one to close with: (Peace, Pedants! John Humphreys says prepositions at the end of sentences don’t matter; who am I to argue?!)

A CANAL TRIP, AND THE SUN SHINES ON THE LATEST VISITORS.

The Canal Du Midi is a remarkable piece of engineering, now used exclusively by leisure craft. It links the Atlantic to the Med and much information and many pictures can be found by googling Canal Du Midi.

I had an appointment at a Clinic in Colombiers the week after Philip and family were here and we decided to take a short cruise on the canal afterwards from the nearby marina (above), the weather being ideal on this occasion (our third visit).

Our cruise took us through the Malpas Tunnel, with its fascinating, but natural, honeycomb pattern which has grown along the walls:

And, as usual, the natives were friendly, if a little camera shy:

C’est à moi, maintenant! My turn now! It was Monday 10 June when we went to Carcassonne to meet the next guests, Florence and Hilde. The weather was not wonderful that day, but after that there was sunshine for almost ten days until the day they left. And very hot, too.

Sorry, Family!

One day, they did the excursion on the Red Train, and on the way they had the pique-nique at the usual lay-by beside the Aude:

Then the ladies did the train ride while M’sieur and I went by road. Here we are – Little Red Car and Big Red Engine:

The first part of the train ride was along the part of the line we haven’t done before – from Axat through the tunnels and over the bridges of the Aude Gorge to the gravel factory at St. Martin, then back to Axat. Somehow I got taken along for free for this bit!

I wondered why you were away so long, leaving me alone with the wild beasts!

Tu exagères encore! You weren’t “alone” and they were hardly wild. But it’s true there was a circus occupying most of the car park at Axat station and there were some lions in a cage quite close to Sally.

Eh bien, voilà! That is what I said. Anyway, here is the train on the viaduc at Lapradelle, where they stop for people to take photos of the Château, and for the guide to say a lot about it.

And if you look carefully at the next picture – or enlarge it, you will see that the little figure on the bridge is M’sieur taking pictures of the train:

I also took one of the castle (Puylaurens):

It was so hot that day, that we did not go on to Galamus as planned after regrouping at Caudiès, but came straight home. However, we did do Galamus and Bugarach another day. Here’s yet another picture of Galamus:

And on the way back we stopped for them to have tea / iced tea or shandy on the square at Rennes Les Bains:

I did get to join in! The day they went to Carcassonne:

The weather was a bit dull to begin with, though it brightened up for the main visit, so they took me in order to have lunch indoors:

Das können vier Leute in Sally nicht! Four folk just can’t eat like that in a little car!

Big show-off! At least I’m allowed up Galamus –

Stop it! You’re both very useful in different ways. I dropped the Ladies off close to the Citadel and a very nice young man in uniform let me drive through the bus lane to get more easily to the motorhome park, where I left Harry (with lots of company!) and walked back to rejoin the party to do the little train ride, as recommended by the previous visitors:

All ready to roll!

So away we go:

Yes, a good one to do, especially for the less agile or in poor weather. But on a hot day, this was very welcome afterwards:

And back at Sunejo, we used the built-in barbecue to prepare supper and provide atmosphere – and a little extra warmth – afterwards:

Wednesday 19th June, another Harry-based lunch on the way to the airport, well, over the road from the airport in fact, then we entrusted the visitors to the staff and to RyanAir (they had booked wheelchair assistance).

We’ll close this entry with a photo of our star guest:

Miss Florence Kirkby (92) MBE

SUNEJO’S FIRST FULL HOUSE

Regular readers will remember that we had our first visitor (Mark) the day the furniture arrived, then another single (Daniel) at Christmas. Rachel and Sean came in February, and now we’ve had a ‘full house’ with the visit of Philip, Christine, Carol & Judi. However, there’s still the room above the garage, Harry wasn’t used as a spare room, and no tents were put up in the garden, so there’s still plenty of space!

The first step in receiving four visitors arriving with luggage at an airport is to hire a car big enough! Harry and Sally can seat only four people each including the driver, so the alternative is to go in convoy. Here in France most of the big supermarket chains do car and van hire so we chose our regular Super U in Mirepoix and booked a 7-seater Qashqai which we picked up on Saturday evening May 18th, ready to head for Toulouse on Sunday morning.

Toulouse welcomed our visitors with a torrential thunderstorm before they even got into the car – fortunately we were all under cover. But Toulouse is two counties away and as we came through Arriège skies cleared and snow-capped Pyrenees were in sight.

The improving weather meant that by the time we reached Camon, the little village just over the county boundary from here, there was sunshine. This was fortunate, both for us and for the village, where this was their biggest day of the year. Camon’s ‘Fête Des Roses’ is an annual event which draws visitors from miles around. You can find information and pictures by entering ‘Fête Des Roses, Camon’ in your search engine, and I’m spoilt for choice as to which of our photos to show here. We were very lucky to park that big car right opposite the little snack van, ‘La Camonette’ where we had lunch. (It’s a French pun, which is very unusual; a Camionette is a van.)

Furniture is organised, drinks are in hand, now all we need is FOOD! (The big black car is centre left, behind Philip’s hat – how do you tag a car?)

Roses grow round almost every door in Camon and most were in full bloom, obligingly:

Local crafts and produce were on sale beside every street and up and down every alley, as were plants, herbs, and lots of rose bushes.

We bought olives and garlic and ginger, as well as a couple of patio plants.

Eventually tearing ourselves away from ‘one of the prettiest villages in France’ we drove the remaining five minutes over the county boundary to Sunejo, which, for that day at least, was living up to its name.

Once settled, people decided that a walk down to the river might be a good idea. Last time we took photos down there, there was a big log jam against the bridge; that has now been cleared:

Back at home, a leg of lamb had been in the slow cooker since 8am and, although this was no ‘perfect’ summer’s evening, dinner was served on the terrace. An unusually good sunset followed.

A priority on Monday morning was to go to Mirepoix and add Philip, Carol and Judi to the paperwork at Super U so that they could drive the car if needed. This didn’t add to the cost but the shop needed to see and photocopy their licences – cards and counterparts. That done, we went into the town to see the special Whit Monday market. (Some readers will remember when England had Whit Monday!) The market was a special ‘Brocante et Foire aux Plantes’ – Second hand goods and plant fair, so some of the same garden stalls were there as at Camon the day before. Again, spoilt for choice as to photos:

One of the cafés under the arcades is entirely vegetarian so that provided a suitable light lunch for everyone, then we went to look at the Eglise Rupestre, or Church in the Rock, at Vals:

A very unusual spot which we’ve been meaning to look at since we first saw the signs to it and Mark told us about it. You go in through a crack in the rock:

Then make your way up three levels:

Stopping to admire the Frescos on level two, or even taking time to study them:

Before emerging onto a balcony, with panoramic views towards the (snow-capped) Pyrenees.

Passing back through Mirepoix on the way home, the Nieces decided to investigate the ‘Voie Verte’, the long distance footpath, formerly the railway line which links Mirepoix, Camon, Sonnac and Chalabre, then on to Lavelanet.

They reported on a pleasant walk:

with excellent scenery, including views of the mountains:

But at Camon it was time to call in and say they had contact with the road and should perhaps be picked up or be late for dinner.

Dinner which, for the meat-eaters, was that now well-known specialité de la maison –

–Du Camping-Car!

Er, sorry, OK, Harry, secialité du camping-car, Lapin au Van.

Increasingly uncertain weather did allow Tuesday morning’s breakfast to be taken outside, but that was the last of al fresco eating till the final morning. Most of the rest of the week was spent dodging showers during trips or weather-watching from inside the ‘french’ windows!

Nevertheless, the under 40s did manage to get in one or two more walks and a bike ride without getting TOO wet

(I’m sure there’s an over-40 in that photo!)

And these occasions gave the over-65s the chance to play several rubbers of quite evenly-matched bridge.

On Wednesday, and in spite of the weather, which did at least dry up for the afternoon / evening, the visitors chose to ride ‘Le Train Rouge’ from Axat to St. Paul. We did this on Carol’s birthday last year, so we have shown photos of it before, but this time we ‘stalked’ the train in the big black car, which gave us the chance to take pictures OF the train, not FROM it:

From St. Paul we drove up the Galamus Gorge, which we have done several times before, and shown you pictures of it. Actually, this time we drove UP it, down it, and back up again! Many, many photos were taken, though it’s difficult to capture new views, but here are a couple from that day:

That evening we were treated – many thanks – to dinner at the Café du Fleuve in Quillan (Mike & Vincent’s), where we were very well received, of course, and the Irish Coffees which the Thompson Brothers indulged in at the end were served with particular flair:

On Friday I had an appointment in Carcassonne, so – again, in spite of the weather – everyone decided to DO Carcassonne that day. April showers in May is the best way to describe it, and no sooner had I dropped them off at the gates of the Citadel, than the heavens opened and they scurried into the first café they found and had, in fact, quite a nice lunch. Then they chose to ride in the little tourist road train, rather than visit the Castle as Carol and I had done, and they say it ‘validates the blow’.

They also visited the Cathedral:

And after I picked them up again we drove to Castelnaudary to look at the big harbour on the Canal du Midi. The Brothers played safe and sampled the wine at the ‘Cave du Bassin’ but the Ladies walked around. Maybe they just failed to keep an eye on the weather, or perhaps it was the excitement of spotting a coypu in the water:

but they got caught in another terrific downpour, and they were off-road so ‘rescue’ was difficult!

After dinner that evening there was a musical (sort of) interlude:

[Philip made a video of one the songs from this session; a bilingual, semi-toothless version of ‘Down By The Riverside / Apud La Riverbord’. Those who can’t resist it, or who are just curious, might find it here: http://youtu.be/NnH7dY2wQCo ]

On Saturday there was a horse display in Quillan and some wanted to go and see it.

So I got to do my bit for the week! Only four people wanted to go down the squiggles, so I took them, instead of Big Black Bertie, or comment il s’appelle.

You did! Did you see any horses?

Erm, non, but M’dame and the others did.

Outdoor eating was still not an option, but we tried to put on a last evening special, including steak-frites with sauce aux champignons.

(And a cloth on the table!)

And so came Sunday morning; with the party having nothing to do but pack and have an early lunch, the weather finally turned sunny again, so as on day one, lunch was served on the terrace, as it should be at this time of year – or any time of year, really.

Two happy diners – and an uninvited guest??

Whose pet dragon is that?

Lunch over, we were on the road to get to Toulouse – no thunderstorms – with comfortable time to check in, and plenty of opportunity on the way to take pictures of those snow-capped Pyrenees:

With a last one after take-off:

Footnote: We (the remaining residents) had to get up early on Monday (27th) to return the big black car to Mirepoix at start of business. That done, we went into the town for café-croissants and to see the regular market. (There’s always a market on Monday, but last week’s was different for Pentecost) It was just as busy as a week ago, but with more foodstuff, crafts and clothes.

In the café, we found ourselves sitting next to some people from Exeter who were part of a choir (unaccompanied, close-harmony) who were giving a concert that evening in the Cathedral. They were just going out to sing a few numbers around the market as publicity, so we followed them:

They were so good that we went back to Mirepoix in the evening and heard the concert, which we enjoyed. Not only that, but we’d never set foot inside Mirepoix cathedral before, which is well worth a look. Sometimes it’s good to get up early!

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