Holiday 2010

Sunday 25 July

Not much sleep due to a late finish to packing and the worry of the grueling journey ahead - thus making the journey even more grueling.

The alarms were set for 5:45am. We leapt out of bed. The holidays had started! Well almost, we still had to finish packing the car which was made more awkward by the presence on the back of the bikes... luckily everything eventually fitted in the boot and we drove away from Sittingbourne Avenue at 7:54am - a mere ten minutes later than plan which I thought had been quite generous. The satnav had other thoughts though and our arrival time was about twenty minutes before sailing time. In my sleep bleared state this translated to “weʼre going to miss the ferry!”. In the end we got to Dover at the right time and boarded the SeaFrance ferry with no drama whatsoever.

The crossing was uneventful and we rolled onto French soil at about 11:30. The holidays had started! Well almost, we still had the length of France to navigate. Iʼm sure people have done this sort of thing before, but to me in my befuddled condition, it seemed an impossible undertaking...

Highlights of the journey... well the big road ran out in Paris and we had to navigate our way around some windy backroads to re-find the A15. At one set of traffic lights we had our windscreen cleaned by a very nice lady. She seemed to be expecting payment and became quite angry when I refused, tapping on the window and eventually putting a cross on us, which was probably a curse. The further we got along the Autoroute the stranger things appeared. Blue signs with hazard lights on in the central reservations became people peering over the barrier, orange sandbags weighing down signs became lobsters...

At 7pm we decided it would be best to do a stopover just outside Bourges, thinking we had done the bulk of the driving... Hang on a minute... how come thereʼs still five hours still to go?

The man at the B&B Hotel recommended we go to a trading estate restaurant which he pointed to across the wasteland. Weʼd get 15% off. Hmm thatʼs nice we thought and drove over. We sat down in the outside drinks area (“I can see our house from here!” Lucy pointed out), then were moved to the dining area where for some reason all the tables were set for two, the waitress moved the tables around, equipped us with tools and menus, brought aperitifs... at which point feeling uncomfortable we decided to go. It was a bit embarrassing but I was beyond caring at that point. We drove up the road thinking weʼd go into town... and there was a sign with the welcoming golden arches... sanctuary! We realised this was our destiny... A quick Maccy D and we were ok... Then back to the hotel and an episode of Doc Martin before bed...

Lucy: The journey from home to the ferry place was a bit boring as there was not much to do. We travelled on ferry as you know and ended up in France! We travelled through cities in Paris and then stopped and ate some lunch. We decided that it would be better if we stayed the night at a hotel so we went searching. We found a lovely hotel which was very quiet even if it was next to the motorway. We ate at MacDonalds (which was a special treat as we are told not to go there because all the food is unhealthy) We did this though because we went to a restaurant, and thought it wasnʼt that good as we couldnʼt read the menu!

Monday 26 July

Awake bright and early, shower and breakfast (lovely semolina!) and we were on the road just after 9am. Still at least five hours ahead of us so we stick to the Autoroute (passing some lovely volcanoes) until St Flour, and then set off on some smaller roads through the Cantal area (with a stop at Pee Alley high above the flooded Gorge de Truyere)

The rest of the journey is quite tiring and largely spent watching the figures on the satnav crawl downwards. Two miles from Lunac she tells us to turn off and you have reached your destination... we hadnʼt, but I figured that we could find it by just wandering around the lanes. Not a great idea after a 600 mile journey to just vaguely meander around rural France thinking that your destination will suddenly emerge. Reason prevailed and we turned round, retraced our steps and eventually found our way to Lunac. We hit the centre of the village to find hordes of people gathered in the main square. Apparently there was something going on at the church, possibly the funeral of some local worthy, or possibly some Saints Day. Whatever, nobody seemed particularly please to see us there...

After a little while we found our way to Mary Anneʼs house which turned out to be a large sprawling affair as it is two buildings made into one... It hadnʼt been opened up since April so there was quite a lot of cobwebs and dust (and mothballs) and Emma particularly was quite put off by the smell of an unlived-in house. She became quite cross and negative until we wafted round with some body spray to mask the worst of it upstairs... Janie managed to make everything quite homely in the end and I think they were quite touched by how presentable their room had become...

We opened a bottle of wine and all watched another Doc Martin before bedtime which made it quite late. And the absence of curtains or blinds in our bedroom could prove to be a problem in the morning.

Emma: The day of our arrival Monday was tiresome but rewarding when we had to leave the hotel to begin the rest of our journey to Lunac it took a good 7 hours at the least (give or take a few hours) There was a cool breeze in the air and we enjoyed the car ride without being stuffy and hot in the seats of our car. We stopped several times to admire the breath-taking scenery of the French countryside . Finally at 16:30 we arrived at the town Lunac which seemed to be mysteriously quiet which we soon knew to be because of a funeral nearly the whole town was attending to. After going round in circles we found Mary Annes holiday house. It was beautiful with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms. Had a little dusting to do as many spider webs had occupied the windows. After this Mum Lucy and I went to the boulangerie (bakery) to get some essentials for dinner. It was harder than we thought as the baker said it so fast we couldnʼt understand how many euroʼs we should give her. But in the end we spent 18 euros on bread, croissants and quiches. After a well needed meal of pasta parcels we ended the day with a Doc Martin before going to bed.

Tuesday 27 July

The plan for the day was to get out early and explore, or to rest and recover from the journey, or to go to the supermarket... it wasnʼt particularly to spend the morning having a blazing row with the kids. But in the end we settled for that and got it out of the way with much shouting and wailing.

At lunchtime in the heat of the day we finally got away and found our way down to the river above the weir near Bor et Bar. It was just a recce and a picnic, but of course lʼamour dʼeau struck and Emma and Janie ended up in the river whilst Lucy and I looked on. Afterwards a sign in French seemed to indicate that this was frowned upon (the swimming rather than the looking on thereof)... Later it transpired that it was only frowned upon in the event of the transparency of the water being less than 1 metre - or at least thatʼs how it seems - because water you canʼt see through apparently increases la risque de noyade and we wouldnʼt want that...

After drying off we had a little meander up to Najac and found an outdoor leisure place by the side of the river where we are hoping to be able to do a spot of kayaking on Friday morning. A little more meandering found us eventually in the centre of Najac which is incredibly lovely and medieval and has a really helpful tourist information place and organic epicerie (two separate entities...)

On the way back to Lunac we paused at the general shop in the neighbouring village, notable both for its range of goods on sale and its tiny balding owner (a lady) who shuffles around the shop suspiciously monitoring your every move. At one point the toothless crone asked me if she could help me find something and I tried to explain that we were looking for something for the kids and that they were a little particulière meaning they were picky. Later I discovered that I had described my children as peculiar. Many a true word spoken in French...

Wednesday 28 July

Woke up quite late having had a cinematic dream on the subject of homelessness. It had been a convincingly textured production and I felt really sorry for the main protagonist who was adrift in the world, bereft and dependent on the comfort of strangers. At one point he (I?) even had to use a toilet cubicle without proper doors - surely the ultimate degradation. The part where he (I?) crossed the bridge against the flow of pedestrian traffic although clichéd was also very moving. Feeling rather gloomy this morning.

We hung around the house all morning, then Janie made up a picnic and we went off towards Villefranche to explore. Eventually we found ourselves under a tree in a field just downstream of the Villefranche purification plant where we lunched and relaxed before heading to the Intermarché for vital supplies.

Thursday 29 July

Still having trouble getting started in the morning as if we are still on London time. Would prefer to be getting up at 7am but that would involve getting to bed earlier, and weʼd miss the evening. What to do?

Cloudy start to the day, brightening mid-morning. Today weʼre planning to head east via a Bricomarche and see what we see...

Janie: Fed up today, slept badly after last two days. Seem to have got into the usual early holiday thing when Nick feels fed up and takes exception to my wanting to swim although not seeming to want to replace it with anything. Therefore spent two sedentary days, hours in the car driving around mainly it seems so as to avoid my stopping at weirs to have a quick swim. This is always on the hottest day, without exception. And that was a shame because yesterday we saw a beautiful spot on the D997 at around 4.30, which could have be fun to explore and made the day for all of us, but no, we had to stick to the plan: whatʼs the problem with being spontaneous!! Also passed a really nice looking tennis court which Emma wanted to stop at. She has been really keen to play tennis. We are like old tourists on the bus in Belcastel. If we donʼt buck up our ideas and make holidays more interesting for Emma and Lucy, theyʼll be wanting to holiday with friends or my mother, not be wanting to come with us anymore! They are getting bored, particularly Lucy.

...and that from a man who spends his life on the computer ... we have to tolerate that 24/7

We found an interesting spot for a picnic at about 2.00, having taken a right turn off the winding road that look us over the hills and into this relatively lush and very attractive valley.

Belcastel was a stunning village by the river in a deep valley. while we were there the sun came out for us and we sat next to the river enjoying a lolly.

Nick: Aside: the lolly by the river was hard battled for as there was the usual reluctance to spend any money - quibbling at length over whether we could justify an outlay of 2 euros (£1.75) over 1.5 euros (£1.30), or whether we should wait until we get home! Aaaarggghh!!!

After Belcastel we drove back via Baraqville (?) to locate the lake that we had set out to find today. It was quite cloudy and windy, and not that inviting, but on a sunny day Iʼm sure it will probably be quite pleasant (if busy, as it is very close to the town.) Afterwards, on the way back we again espied signs for the phantom local swimming pool but still no sign of this mythical beast.

We arrived home just in time to have a barbecue. (Unfortunately we still didnʼt have any decent cutlery to eat it with despite trying two or three places - we should have got the ones in Villefranche and had done with it - hang the expense.) Luckily we hadnʼt stopped off every time we saw a puddle or we would have missed the simple pleasure of eating charred sausages and sticky marshmallow in the open air.

Friday 30 July

Lovely day today. The early part was a little misty so we did the usual morning things. Janie prepared some sandwiches and at about 1pm we headed off to Bor et Bar for some river time. Rather than park up by the bridge as planned we decided on the spur of the moment to head off into the campsite and rock climbing place.

We drove about 1km along a track and then parked by the side of the river and proceeded on foot to find some lovely unspoilt river with large slabs for resting on, deep water for swimming in, trees providing shade. Perfect really. After weʼd had our picnic we all went in. Yes, even I was inspired to wriggle into my trunks and take a very prolonged plunge. Emma particularly seemed to enjoy the river, going in again and again. But Lucy provided almost as much of a surprise as me by going in more than once and even enjoying it despite the constant threat of fish...

The path alongside the river is quite level so we are hoping to be able to take our bikes down there next time and do some two-wheeled exploring. Ah the outdoor life!

The sun goes down early in the gorge so we headed off to Laguepie to see what was there in the way of swimming facilities - it turned out to be a municipal beach type affair in the middle of town which looked fully populated. There was a track heading east along the river we followed. After half a mile or so we met a very nice woman on her family holiday who told us that it was impossible to proceed! which we suspected. But she did say that it was worth the drive round the other way to find this little medieval village by the river which is supposedly quite beautiful and where there is also swimming to be had.

Afterwards we drove up to Najac where the outdoor silent cinema was again taking place. Except it wasnʼt there in the square as I had been anticipating which took the gloss off the whole thing a little as we would have had to walk all down the hill and possibly up the other side to the castle. And then dinner would have been delayed and we wouldnʼt have had Doc Martin... so we just got some calcium pills and headed for home.

Saturday 31 July

Another lovely day (though Emma might have disagreed at one or two points) saw us back at what we have come to call our island... the rocky outcrop sticking out into the River near Le Mas de Viaur..

We took the bikes this time and after Janie and the girls had a bit of a swim and we had lunched we set off a bicyclette along the path towards Lagarde Viaur where we were told there was a cafe and a bridge. Emma wasnʼt very happy about this as the track in places was narrow and in other places muddy. In certain other places it was both narrow and muddy. And rocky. At a couple of places she stopped, dropped her bike and sat on it, whining. And we all had to plead with her to get going again. This was the “worst day of the holidays”. Unfortunately for Emma I disagreed - I thought it was character building and marvelous fun!

Eventually we reached Lagarde where we found a field by the side of the river full of people partaking of the watery delights, and Emma bucked up a bit although she still wasnʼt entirely happy as she stubbed her toe on a rock and had a blister on her hand from the cycling... but at least she was far enough out in the middle of the river that we couldnʼt hear her go on about it...

After Iʼd had a little swim I thought it would be a good idea to spare the others and go back to Le Mas for the car. I had a splendid ride on my own along the bank of the river, hurtling through puddles and dodging boulders and taking seventeen minutes to complete the journey back to the car park.

I drove back an incredibly long way round through the valleys and over the hills without having a map to consult (though looking afterwards I had chosen the quickest route even if it took longer than cycling). We put the bikes on the car and repaired to the creperie by the bridge, sitting outside under the coloured lights. The girls had galletes with ham, egg and cheese but werenʼt too keen on the ble noir pancakes. Janie had a gallete with goatʼs cheese and a lump of cured ham, and I had one with white wine sauce and ham and something else. This was all followed by pudding for a very reasonable price. There was a jazz duo playing classics and everything was really friendly. Apart from les gueppes it was quite perfect, and even the large English party a couple of tables along couldnʼt spoil it. We shall return!

We wended our way back through some tiny lanes (including twice having to drive practically through the middle of a game of petanques where we got directions), over the bridge at La Vicasse and up through Bar (I think that was a strategic mistake but never mind - at least we didnʼt follow my instincts and head due south) and eventually arrived back at Lunac just after sunset. We watched QI before bedtime.

Sunday 1 August

The day started out ok but closed in later, unfortunately this was before Janie and the girls could head off for a swim and leave me to have a read and a recharge. As a result we all stayed at Lunac all day.

As it transpired, I woke up in the middle of the night with a headache and tinitis and got up for a couple of hours. So I did manage to get my peace and quiet in the end.

Monday 2 August

To the Grotte de Foissac via E Leclerc in Villefranche. We arrived at the caves at around 4-ish and couldnʼt get on a tour until 6.30. While we waited we visited the museum area and saw some goats etc. We had a snack and a pee to pass the time, then discovered the game of “throw the ball at a tree” where you have to throw a ball at a tree. Emma and Janie won a very hard fought game by 5 hits of the tree to 4.

The caves were quite beautiful and became infinitely more interesting once Janie had explained to the guide that we couldnʼt understand a word. The story of the discovery of the caves is fascinating. A “smoking hole” caught the attention of local farmer who pointed some speleologists to it... over time they opened up kilometres of the cave system, finding as they went artifacts, tools and human and animal skeletons from 5,000 years ago. Strategic roof falls had protected these remains, providing a snapshot of paleolithic times, with fresh footprints and fingerprints in the clay making a direct link with these people of so long ago.

On the way back (rather late) we drove through lanes and espied a hawk just sitting on the grass by the side of the road. We had a late meal and a QI before bedtime.

Tuesday 3 August

For some reasons getting the bikes on the car has become a bit of a trial. Today I took about an hour to perform the simple task of arranging four bikes on the (admittedly wobbly) bars. I had lots of helpful advice though, including the ever popular “have you tried putting them on the other way?”

Late afternoon we took advantage of a sunny spell and went across the bridge to the weir at the original swimming place. For the first time this holiday I remembered to take some beer with me so the girls swam and I watched and enjoyed relaxing. There was loads of nature on display including some rather dramatic electric blue dragonflies as well as lizards on the rocks.

On Saturday Iʼd managed to lose the locking pin for the bike rack (hence the wobbliness mentioned above). The last time Iʼd had it was at the car park at the campsite swimming place when Iʼd gone back for the car, so more in hope than in realistic expectation we drove down to the car park to see if it was still there. And there indeed it still was, nestled against the foot of a tree having been put there by a kindly French person. Oh I do love the French!

We stopped off at La Fouillade where Janie took twenty minutes to buy an avocado. This gave me an excellent opportunity to have a wander around the Place de la Mairie, take a couple of photos and then sit in the car getting mildly irritated. I wish I was the kind of person who could have just strolled over to the cafe and ordered a pastis, but no...

In the evening we had a barbecue using the kebabs and sausages from yesterdayʼs Leclerc trip. Rather nice they were and extra vigilance meant hardly any were lost to charring.

Wednesday 4 August

Another cloudy day so we set off for a cycle ride. The plan was to go down to Lagarde and have a ride along the river, then return to the Creperie for our evening meal... instead we played mini golf at La Source. There were a couple of interesting holes although the major defining quality of most of them was the degree of dilapidation of the concrete, rather than the design. The chap in charge was very keen on using his English and we spent a couple of hours pottering around, with a picnic at the fifteenth hole to boot.

After golf we went to La Cave at Sanvensa for a challenging conversation with presumably the wife of the man who knows about wine - he seemed to be operating her by remote control over the phone (but not very successfully), then back to La Fouillade for what I donʼt know. Maybe the tennis... no, I remember now, it was to get some cash from the Le Trou au Mur, and did a trawl of the local government buildings for a local cycling map, enabling me to exercise to the full my faltering schoolboy french - la dame a la biblioteque a dit que peut-etre vous avez la carte de VTT...

Then went to Najac for the evening market and to visit Tourist Information for the VTT map which nobody in La Fouillade could supply. Ate Paella in the market square and Janie and the girls spent about two hours fingering trinkets and doodads while I took the opportunity to get mildly cross again.

Thursday 5 August

Penultimate day. Luckily itʼs a sunny one. We resolve to make the most of it so get out of the house a little bit earlier than usual and head down to the river. I grab half an hour of peace in the car and do a couple of Killer Sudokus while Janie and the girls went down to swim. I stay sensibly dry throughout the day and try to leave marks for those that will follow...

Later we call in at La Fouillade for supplies and have a shimmy around the area of the campsite where there are tennis courts and a lake. The tennis courts look a bit pro, having ads around them and all nicely laid out and clean so I suspect that us shambling onto them with our holiday clothes on and randomly belting balls around the place would be not a good thing. Also I balked at looking at the lake. It was just a bit late in the day and irrelevant.

Friday 6 August

We got up early to steal a march on the day but Mary Anne arrived earlier than expected and that put a bit of spanner in the works as we hadnʼt finished organising her birthday card or buying the wine. Eventually she heads off to Rodez to pick up her son and we get everything sorted and weʼre away by about midday.

The satnav took us through some lovely leafy lanes on the first part of the journey - I think she may be having a bit of a crisis as it certainly wasnʼt the most direct route. We got to Figeac eventually and decided it would be a good place for a comfort break and a spot of lunch. Figeac is a lovely town on the river and we spent a happy half an hour there getting our heads and bodies squared for the rest of the journey.

Which we did in one long uninterrupted burst apart from another comfort break on the Autoroute, arriving at Moutier Malcard at about 6:00pm.

Nicky and Robin were the same as ever, for better or worse! Still really a bit uncomfortable to be around but with all good intentions. Their house on the other hand is really comfortable and they made us really welcome. We had a superb barbecue in the evening and Emma and Lucy were impressively lovely, chatting away into the late evening. Emma seemed to be really quite entertained by the Nicky/Robin dynamic, and I kept catching glimpses of her amazed face at some of the interactions, as well as the dramatic fly and wasp swattng that was going on.

Shooting stars...

Saturday 7 August

Woke up in Nicky and Robinʼs huge guest bed after a wonderful sleep, interrupted only slightly by the lowing of local bovines at 6:00am. Another beautiful day in the Hautes Viennes!

After breakfast we set off to the market at Le Chatre which the womenfolk fell upon with great excitement but which Robin and I, and presumably a lot of other local men, wandered around unbelieving with glazed faces trying and failing to exercise patience while more trinkets and doodads got fingered. Toscaʼs, the pizzeria in the square where Robin had earlier tried to reserve a table, was closed when we arrived and open when we were leaving. Inexplicably they wouldnʼt let us eat there saying they were fully booked, although there were tables free. Strange goings on. Is it because we is English?

So we picked up bread and chicken and some candy and headed off to the Trois Lacs where after a brief picnic we all had a swim

Another meal al fresco and more shooting stars in the evening. And bats and a combine harvester.

Sunday 8 August

Back to Blighty!