October in the Languedoc

Since we returned from Spain, we have slowly been slipping into winter. While it isn't cold yet, the temperature often reaches 20 degrees during the day. This was the view from a friend's house on October 16th





However, mostly we have had grey skies and the occasional drop of rain.

On Monday, Pat had a checkup fin Beziers, following the removal of a salivary gland in 2010. Afterwards, we went down to the beach for a long walk along the beach. It was warm enough, but dull. Very few people were on the wide beach and there was no debris from the sea coming far in (the med doesn't have much in the way of tides).

On Wednesday, John had an appointment at the dentist. It was a lovely day and so we returned to the same beach. The beach was much narrower and there was a thick carpet of shells that had not been there previously.





This time, we saw many more people on the beach and, it being half term for French children and 27 degrees, there was a lot of fun to be had in the sea









It is the season for ceping (mushroom picking). Most people have their own secret place where they pick the ceps, and they don't disclose the location

The good news is that the market has delicious ceps available, albeit at a price.

On my way up from the supermarket, I spotted this example growing by the side of the road. On investigation, I discovered that it is edible - it had gone by the next time I passed.






Soon it will be time for our own harvest on the terrace. The olives on our tree are softening up and soon I will pick and cure them.




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Pat and John on tour

A short visit to Spain

We are celebrating John's birthday with another visit to L'Escala on the Costa Brava. This is our first visit in 2013 because when we tried to come in February, they had closed for the winter. We asked whether they would close this coming winter, 'Never again', they said, so our usual Valentine trip is safe!

On our way, we stopped at Torroella de Fluvia, a small village en route where we hoped to get lunch.





Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed (it was Monday), so we continued to L'Escala.





We walked into L'Escala where our usual tapas bar was closed (Monday), so we went into the bar next door where the tapas was good, but didn't do our favourite Spanish omlette. It was then time to return to the hotel for a siesta.





Here is the usual view from our window.



Before dinner in the hotel, we walked away from the town, towards St Marti, past the Greek and Roman ruins of Empuries. This whole area was once a Roman port and some of the harbour walls are still standing.




Our dinner in the hotel was very good although the service was slow - everyone arrived at the same time and so the staff were overloaded.

Afterwards, we walked along the path by the rocks checking that nothing had fallen down since our last visit.





Then, we went to bed, falling asleep to the sound of the waves immediately outside our bedroom.

The next day was beautifully sunny and so we set out to explore new (to us) areas. We can see Rosas from the hotel and on the map, it looked as though there was a nature reserve en route. We began at the beach at Castello d'Empuries. There is a long stretch of sand and a leisure port at each end of the beach.









The nature reserve stretches the length of the beach and someway inland.



These are snails gathered on a twig, not a new variety of flower.


The ground cover is mostly low grasses.



The Pyrenees were visible, but not particularly clear.



After a walk, we moved on to the town of Castello D'Empuries to find some lunch. Castello d'Empuries was the capital of the county of Empuries between 1079 and 1385 when Empuries became part of Aragon.

This is the old wash house from the 19th century. The columns are older and may have been part of the cloisters of a convent.





The church of Saint Maria de Castelló




The Grand House from the 14th or 15th century was a residence of Catalan nobility.





This building, which was built around 1336, served two roles, the curia (or court) and prison.





The door of the convent de Sant Domènece and county palace, built in the second half of the 14th century.





This is simply an interesting window.



In the evening we ate in a very small village, close to the hotel, St Marti d'Empuries which was the capital of Empuries before Castella d'Empuries, that is, before 1079. St Marti is on the coast and was being sacked by pirates on a regular basis, hence the transfer of the capital.

There is a choice of restaurants in the small town square and we chose one that we had not eaten at before. Pat had a whole monkfish and John a sea bream. Both were delicious.

We are now back in Thézan with the next scheduled trip being in November to look after Ernie for a few days.


Pat and John on tour

London, Cambridge, Preston, Chester and Anglesey

We are now back at home after an exhausting three weeks in the UK. The main purpose of the visit was to care for Ernie while Helen attended rehearsals of a theatre production for which she had done the set design and costumes. We also wanted to catch up with a few friends and relations in the area.

We started in London for a flying visit to take care of Ernie while Helen did some urgent work and then for the next few days, we worked hard on our Cambridge house to prepare it for new tenants and also attended the funeral of an ex colleague of Pat.

For the first weekend of our stay, we took the train from Cambridge to Preston to stay with Olive and Peter. It had been 3 years since we were last there and so we had plenty to catch up on, grandchildren being high on the agenda.

Peter and John just had to try out one of the "Thomas the tank engine"£ toys that Olive and Peter's grandson, Benjamin, plays with.




We went for a walk around a nature reserve close to their home in Longton, Preston







and the off to the Ribble Valley steam railway.

There is an exhibition of engines as well as several 'in steam'. The staff of the railway, are all enthusiastic and welcoming.

The working engines that day were 'Sir Berkeley', an 1890 steam engine which was visiting that weekend.







and 'John Howe' from 1908 which worked at Howes's Plaster Works on a private siding on the Settle and Carlisle line.






Here we all are




All too soon, it was time to move on to Chester and into our apartment, ready for the arrival of Helen and Ernie. The apartment was very well positioned - we could easily walk into the centre and Chester was more beautiful that I had remembered - it's more than 40 years since I was there.

Helen's rehersals were in Ellesmere Port, about 15 minutes drive away from Chester, although the first performance was in Kendal.

Our daily routine included a coffee, croissant and baby chino at Cafe Nero on the main, pedestrianised street. Ernie soon became recognised in the cafe - the milk foam and chocolate from the baby chino was usually, alas, over his face!


He ran around the cafe and stared out of the window looking at passers by many of whom waved to him.

There was a canal close to the apartment so not only did we had the opportunity to feed the ducks, swans, seagull and pigeons




We could also gaze at the house boats; there were both working and leisure boats moored nearby.




We didn't immediately find the playground, but while we were looking in a park, we found lots of hungry squirrels who were far too brave and would have climbed into the push chair with Ernie, given the chance.



Of course, we just had to go to the zoo, where we saw the usual array of animals

Elephants




Flamingos

Penguins which one can watch underwater








Giraffes



An Onagar, which is, apparently, the fastest horse in the world.


There were chimps, lions and many more. There was a mono rail across the zoo





which Ernie enjoyed with his Grandad




A walk on the walls of Chester was a must but quite an effort with a push chair because of all the steps.

























As was a walk on the Rows (external walkway on the first floor) although it's tricky walking on a sloping surface when you have only been walking for a week!





We encountered some trainee Roman soldiers on our travels, these were in the Main Street.





With their centurion



These were in the Roman Gardens.




We hadn't seen the Roman Gardens before; the mosaics are modern












Wall maintenance team



Some photos of the centre of Chester
















Ernie has a nighttime routine of watching 'In the Night Garden' on television before he goes to bed. He was happy to watch it on Grandad's lap on the iPad.



At the weekend, Nick came to Chester to see Helen and Ernie and we rented a car and drove across to Anglesey, the see Pat's cousin, June, her son and daughter-in-law, Mike and Lisa.





and, of course, Thomas the dog who is almost as mad as he was as a pup when we last saw him.





When 'Twelve miles from nowhere' had opened in Kendal, we took the train back to Cambridge and Ernie and Helen left by car for London.

We spent the next 36 hours getting ready for our new tenants and our friend Terry worked incredibly hard to paint the garage floor, garage door, bathroom and kitchen in the time available.

We are now back in France and enjoying a relaxing time.

Our next trip is a couple of days in Spain to celebrate John's birthday.




Pat and John on tour