Category: Uncategorized

August 19th 2017

Today we visited Riberac a pretty little town well favoured by the English many of whom live around the area. Normally we go to Vide Greniers which are similar to car boot sales but today we went to a Brocante which is more akin to an Antiques Fair with prices to match. No money left my pocket and Michelle found the cheapest item going for 50 centimes.

Following that we went to Etang La Jemaye, the French are very good at turning dams, lakes etc into leisure facilities many are owned by the local commune. This we have visited before but the last time was 8 years ago for our eldest daughters 21st birthday, she is 29 today!

There is no charge for entry or parking, the beaches are immaculate, with life guard in attendance, there are cafes and a restaurant, a shop and information centre. There are loads of picnic tables which being lunchtime were fully occupied by the locals who picnic in style with table clothes wine etc.

If you wish you can get well away from the tourist part and walk to areas for fishing and wildlife observing, we saw lots of beautiful butterflies.

August 15th 2017

We went to bed last night accompanied by a thunder and lightning storm which abated in the early hours, then at 8 am we had a really heavy shower of rain for 30 mins.

Today is a national holiday here in France, unlike the UK these holidays are not on a Monday but whichever day it falls on, which is hard luck if it’s a Sunday! However because it’s a Tuesday  today meant people and businesses have taken “the long weekend” finishing last Friday and restarting tomorrow. Unfortunately for those who were looking forward to a day out in this region it has been a poor day weather wise, thunder has been rumbling all day and there have been frequent short showers, definitely not BBQ weather. Considering it was scorching yesterday with temperatures over 30 degrees it would have been better to have had a fixed Monday holiday.

Not that 50:50 saw much of the sunshine yesterday she was emulsioning the walls in the barn lounge, of course being white paint she came out paler than when she went in. I was busy outdoors, not planned to take advantage of the sunshine of course, but involved in a repair job. When Michelle opened the kitchen shutters upon our return from our trip away a chunk of masonry around the hinge fell off, it’s a repair job that has been on my list for a while so now I had no opportunity but to get on with it.

Beside our very enjoyable trip away we have been pottering away at numerous small jobs, there’s never time to be bored when you own an old French house, after I replumbed the hot water we redecorated and I’ve taken the opportunity to box in some of the pipes.

We have managed to fit in another visit to a vide greniers and on Sunday visited one in St Laurent des Homme a small village not too far away.

 

At this vide grenier we both purchased a few items, I managed to find another copper garden pump to convert into a lamp, Michelle bought a brass scuttle and from another stall an unusual pot, the seller spoke a little English and was keen to tell us all about himself. He supported Man United, knew the names of English cities, thought we were very good at sport, especially the Tour de France and how he had been a cycling sprinter in his youth winning prize money, a very friendly and pleasant man.

I wrote in the last roundup newsletter that I’d fixed a tow bar to the grass cutter on the rear of the tractor to tow the trailer, here it is in action.

The fun part of this is that the weight of the trailer pushes down on the grass cutter which acts as a lever and lifts the front wheels off the floor, I never thought I’d do a wheelie on a tractor😊

Saturday 12th August 2017

Woke this morning to a grey misty outlook, we decided to take the swiftest way home and headed for the autoroute, most of the roads we travel on aren’t too busy but what a culture shock as we drove down the slip road onto the autoroute, it was rammed with cars most doing 80 mph.

Homer tootled along at 60mph and took the crawler lane where necessary on the long haul up the hills, thankfully as we have our automated payment bleeper on the screen we are quickly through the barriers at the tolls.

We stopped off at Lidl in Mussidan to stock up with essentials,I forgot my wine! , and then filled up with diesel at Super U, we are averaging 24 mpg which I suppose isn’t too bad for a 2.5 litre engine pulling 3.5 tonne. 

And so endeth  our first trip away using aires, altogether including day time stops we used 5 aires, all very different, but what is outstanding in our minds is that we had three nights away where we only payed the sum of 15 euros in total. What a great way to travel.

Back here we have been busy, Michelle has caught up on the washing and I’ve mowed the grass again, looking forward to our next trip away in 8 days time.

August 11th 2017

Well what a night! When I selected to stay at the ski station I thought we could go for a ramble along the ski trails, no chance it began to rain when we parked up and shower after shower came down until approx 9 pm when it began to hammer down which it continued to do most of the night accompanied by strong winds. We were as snug as a bug inside Homer but noticed very quickly that the temperature dropped rapidly and for the last hour of the evening we put the central heating on.

When we got up this morning it was 8 degrees and we were surrounded by clouds accompanied by a heavy drizzle. Still as I found out when I looked on my altimeter app we were at 3,960 ft.

Driving down the mountain in restricted visibility was fun to say the least but gradually the clouds cleared and it began to dry up, apart from a quick stop to take on water, and then later for lunch, we made a run for it West, travelling 140 miles in the hope the weather would improve. It did to a degree the sun came out but there were still heavy showers, the heaviest of which saved itself for our arrival at tonight’s destination Colonges La Rouge.

This is a tourist beauty spot, a village which is very attractive and unspoilt if you accept there are a lot of shops and restaurants selling high quality goods to the tourists, we visited here with family last year and enjoyed it enough to want to return, my senior purchasing partner succumbed to a few items, a new leather purse and some jewellery, I bought a cross body bag to carry my phone camera etc when I’m without pockets.

These are some views of Collonges La Rouge.

Tonight’s Aire is a few hundred metres from the village centre and holds 40 motorhomes, it’s pretty full and has cost us 8 euros for the night.

August 10th 2017

Well today has been a different driving experience, we have spent most of today’s 110 miles on small roads, one we took as a short cut through a mountain range was certainly a challenge full of twists and turns, ups and downs and a few bends where we nearly drove back up our own exhaust pipe before we were round the bend. Michelle tells me the scenery was beautiful but I wouldn’t know as there weren’t many occasions when the road was straight for more than 100 metres. That road finished at 1050 metres above sea level and we then drove for 7 km downhill and lost a lot of that height, didn’t use much fuel but put a strain on the brakes.

Our first stop of the day was Figeac, we pulled into an Aire approx 100m from the city centre and used its facilities to fill up with water, dump our rubbish and empty the toilet, we then walked into town and it poured with rain, wet legs and feet. We had a good wander around and did some food shopping in Casino. It’s a lovely place and I would visit again.

When we looked at the map for somewhere to move onto I saw the name Laguiole in the Monts D’Aubrac in the Lot region, this town is famous for its very expensive stylish knives and other cutlery, when I retired in 2010 and whilst we were in the Pyrenees I treated myself to one as a retirement present, it included of course a built in corkscrew. So with that in mind a visit to its birth place seemed appropriate.

When we arrived and began to walk around, guess what it poured with rain! What’s going on here, is it a cunning plan to drive me into shops? But fear not a Laguiole knife shop, you would need a small mortgage to buy some of them, one I liked was 250 euros, sets of 6 were 650 euros!

Instead we opted for another of the regions specialities its cheese, we lashed out 3.5 euros on a small portion which will go very nicely with our evening meal.

Tonight’s resting spot is about 10 km out of Laguiole and is at a ski station in the mountains, obviously at this time of year only used for walking but it’s large car park hosts parking for motorhomes and it is FREE at this time of year, a bonus after all that money spent on cheese.

July 9th 2017

When travelling in England we regularly stay in a Premier Inn at approx 70 euros per night, so it’s a wonderful change this evening to say that we staying our first/ premier aire here in France at St Cirq Lapopie all for the sum of 7 euros for the night.

France is very motorhome friendly and many towns and villages provide stopping places for motorhomes and of course in return many motorhomers spend money in local supermarkets, shops restaurants etc. Some are cost free to stay the night, others a few euros, the facilities provided vary from the extreme basic to a full range, but of course most of us are pretty self sufficient only needing access to fresh water and toilet/ waste water disposal every few days.

We travelled 114 miles today stopping off part way at Villefranche du Perigord in a free parking aire, where we brewed up a coffee and then walked into town to take some photos and buy a couple of small fruit tartelettes for tea.

The last few miles to St Cirq were quite tight, a narrow road where the cliffs hung over the road and there were several tunnels, a quick turn right over the bridge which crosses the river Lot and we were at the aire which has parking for 50 motorhomes.

 After a quick lunch we walked up the steep hill into St Cirq Lapopie which is a picturesque village catering for many tourists, we visited every shop and only spent 5 euros! 

We were just on the way back and Michelle decided to queue for an ice cream for us, as soon as they were in our hands it began to rain, by the time we got back we were a little damp, it has been a day of rain showers.

We had a leisurely evening meal followed by a walk along the river and back home for a night cap.

August 6th 2017

We have been here at our French base for 8 days now and it’s been a good balance between work and leisure.

On the work front we have been busy as always mowing the field and weeding the gardens and pruning back trees and bushes that grow extremely rapidly during the summer months. The senior housekeeper has been busy with hoover, mop and bucket preparing the house for guests  and I have also made an adaption to the tractor that will enable us to tow the trailer around the field.

I don’t think you could buy a towbar in Sainsburys in the UK.

 Hopefully we will find this very useful and remove the need to use the car on the uneven field surface.
Another task has been to fit the new door and door frame we transported with us from England.

Not a simple job there’s no such thing as a right angle in this house and one job always leads to another, need to re plaster an area of wall, never mind its in and we are weather proof and it’s shuts properly! The 50:50, well the senior decorator puts 50% of the paint on the receiving item and 50% on her self we always buy twice as much.

I have redirected the hot water supply to the guests bathroom so it now works off the electric immersion heater and not the instantaneous gas heater, this should please our youngest daughter who whilst showering last year found the water went cold when the gas bottle ran dry! Over the next two days we intend to do some small renovation work, tiling, boxing in pipes and installing some new shelves, we will then give it a fresh coat of paint for which I’m well prepared with two tins of emulsion ready for the senior decorator.

On the leisure front we enjoyed the company of Peter and Alison who also have a property in the area enjoying a visit to Aubeterre with a pleasant lunch in the square, this was followed by a return to their property for a dip in the pool and an evening meal.

We also enjoyed visits to two local markets and two vide greniers where I managed to spend 1 euro 50 centimes and senior purchaser spent 41 euros!

That’s all for now folks.

August 4th 2017

Where we are based in rural France there is limited organised entertainment. We aren’t connected to the world by TV and wifi works but quite slowly.

At  various times of the day and especially in the evenings we sit in one of three or four seating areas and contemplate the horizon.This easterly view is especially valued in the morning as the sun rises over the trees in the distance and is a favourite breakfast spot, it also reflects the evening sun at sunset.

 
This is the westerly view looking out across the neighbours land for approximately 1.5 km and is where we often see the deer running around. It’s from this direction we get most of our weather travelling in from the Atlantic via Bordeaux.

This view is to the bottom of our property and is the field we are slowly filling with fruit trees.

It is a regular occurrence for us to sit quietly and stare off into the distance, watching the variety of birds, insects on the flowers, the deer etc. Watching the way the wind moves the trees and grasses and letting the mind wander and float free,

Then as the day darkens the crickets begin their warm night sound and slowly one by one the stars appear until  there is a myriad of them to gaze at, the milky way is always very prominent and we can watch with the naked eye the satellites passing over head.

Who needs a TV?

And what about the North view you may ask, well it’s just as good but unfortunately we don’t have a seating area that overlooks it.

July 29th 2017

One of the joys we experience in having a house here in the French countryside is the wildlife, especially watching the deer, chevreuil in French.

Yesterday when we arrived there were two running around in the adjacent field and they were there again later in the evening as we watched the sun go down, however what is more enjoyable is that we appear to have our own resident deer in our field. It doesn’t appear to comply to the norm of being out and about early morning and late evening, it’s been in the field on and off all day and it is quite approachable, we have been within 30 ft and it hasn’t run off. That is a worry with the Autumn hunting season approaching so we don’t want it to become too accustomed to humans.

The deer are Roe deer, they are quite small growing to 70cm tall and 130cm in length, they eat grasses, berries and leaves, unfortunately during the winter they also eat the bark off the trees, killing some in the process.

This morning we experienced a rather loud thunderstorm with heavy rain for about an hour but as usual the sun came out and the day became rather hot. We went to pay the house insurance but the agency doesn’t open on Saturdays or Monday mornings and closes for two hours for lunch every day, you can’t pay or access your account by internet and it doesn’t accept credit/ debit cards, laid back France.

 I spent the afternoon on the tractor mowing about an acre of field, unfortunately only the first cut it will need doing again at a lower level in a day or two. It’s just beginning to cool down a little at 8 pm so it’s time for a drink.

July 28th 2017

Last night the ferry arrived as scheduled and the unloading went reasonably smoothly even the French passport officer was smiling and happy and we departed from the dock at 10 pm French time.

Thankfully we know the route off by heart and we were soon making good progress, I had enjoyed a siesta earlier and wasn’t tired and had given thought to doing a great deal of the driving overnight. However it quickly became dark and it became apparent that Homer’s lights didn’t shine any further than 10 m in front of us. At first it was no problem as I latched onto vehicles heading in our direction but after approx an hour when everyone had turned off the dual carriageway/ motorway it became obvious we were going to make very little progress at a greatly reduced speed. We took the decision to pull off into a services area where there were a load of lorries parked up for the night, it wasn’t a 24 hour services so it was very quiet, a quick drink  later we sorted out the bed and bunked down for the night. Our first night in Homer in France in what I believe is the Calvados department.

We rose at 6am to a beautiful sunrise and after a quick coffee got on our way, traffic wasn’t heavy and on the whole we travelled between 55 to 65 mph dependant on the hills and speed restrictions. After 3 hours we stopped at the services and filled up with fuel and had a 30 minute break before pushing on to our destination arriving at 1.45 pm, I dashed into the French bank, shut for lunch, and deposited, in an automated system, a load of euros to pay the bills on the French house for the next three months. We pulled up at our house at 2pm.

After a quick drink I fired up the motor mower and cut the grass in front of the house so we didn’t have to wade around in long grass. Later I had the tractor on the go making a start on the other two and a half acres of grass.

We emptied Homer of our luggage and restored his dignity. no more wooden doors, pots of paint etc then chilled for the evening.