taraabit

Tuesday 30 th August 2022

From August 9th to August 25th we played host to family members, firstly our youngest daughter Steph and her husband Will joined us, after a few days they travelled to Paris for two nights to celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

When they returned from Paris our eldest daughter Emma, her husband Andy and our twin grandsons Ben and James joined us. This signalled it was time for us to have a holiday and do touristy things.

A visit to the local swimming lake, Lac de Gurcon was enjoyed by most of the family, Layla wasn’t allowed on the beach so I returned home and enjoyed a quiet break.

Of course if you’re a tourist you have to visit St Emelion.We go most years and never tire of it.

Of course we did eat at home most evenings.

We visited a different style car boot, more aimed at car fanatics with spares for sale as well as a range of old and modern cars.There were some normal stalls and we bought a wooden train set and track for the boys.

It’s always helpful when family members muck in with the chores.

Our friends Peter and Alison arrived at their bungalow on August 20 th and they kindly invited our family to enjoy their swimming pool.

Sadly our swimming pool isn’t quite up to the same standard.

Before the family members departed we managed a visit to Aubeterre and Ste Foy La Grande, a few days later we returned there with Alison and Peter for a good vide grenier.

A quiet house means back to chores and tasks.☹️

Wed 24 th August 2022

Just after lunch today a fire engine went roaring down our lane with sirens screaming out. A short while afterwards Michelle went outside and there across the fields from us was a huge plume of smoke.

Searching on the news it turned out the fire was less than a kilometre from us in a straight line and 40 hectares of forest was blazing, it was a suspect arson as the fire broke out in four places at once. Local residents were evacuated from their homes.

We discussed evacuation plans if it got closer to us but thankfully what wind there was was blowing towards the fire and away from us.

Scores of firemen were drafted in from around the region and for at least four hours 4 planes loaded with water returned again and again assisted by a helicopter which dropped water on the fire.

Obviously the roads all around the area are blocked off but as it is on our main route to our shopping area, petrol station etc I’m sure tomorrow we will see the devastation. Thankfully there are no reports of any casualties but I hate to think what devastation was caused to the wildlife.

This morning we drove to town and this stretch of burnt forest was the only one we could get close to, there were still 6 fire vehicles in attendance. I took this photo from in front of our neighbours son’s house, it was only 15m across the road from them. Thankfully overnight we had a storm and for a few hours heavy rain, which hopefully helped damp down the area.

Sunday 14th August 2022

The heat has been punishing for days, hitting 39 degrees most days and yesterday 40 degrees, hiding from the sun during the day was bad enough but the house acts like a giant storage heater and the temperature inside wasn’t dropping below 30 degrees overnight.

Thankfully last night at 11 pm it began to rain gently,then at 3.30 am it began to hammer down accompanied by thunder and lightning which rumbled on until noon. Thankfully it has reduced the temperature to a bearable 21 degrees.

One side effect of the heat seems to be an increase in insects biting, you could play dot to dot with the spots on my legs and I don’t normally suffer a great deal. Michelle came up with her own solution for when she is gardening.

We managed two short trips out once a very short walk from the car to our local river L’Isle, where Layla enjoyed a swim.

On another occasion Michelle and I visited our local swimming lake, Lac de Gurcon, to check its suitability to take our grandsons when they visit us next week. Dogs not allowed on the beach so we took Layla for a swim a little further away .

Friday night we managed a visit to the marche nocturne at Villefranche de Lonchat, always good fun and buzzing with activity.There are food stalls to buy your evening meal and wine and beer for sale, most French families take their table cloth, own cutlery and plates and make an evening of it. The local commune provide the seating and tables and the evening entertainment.

Tomorrow our eldest daughter Emma, her husband Andy and our twin grandsons arrive, life will never be the same again, so tonight we are enjoying the peace😂

Sunday August 7 th 2022.

Due to the Coronavirus pandemic and a very important wedding we haven’t visited our house here for the last three Augusts , I think we had slightly forgotten the effect the weather can have.

According to our neighbour there hasn’t been any rain for weeks, everything is bone dry and leaves are beginning to drop from the trees already.

We have quickly dropped into the French routine of getting up early, 7 am’ ish whilst still cool ( 20 degrees at 8.30am) and arriving at supermarket/ vide greniers as soon as they open. It’s possible to be outside until approx noon by which time the temperature has risen to 35 degrees, we shut all the shutters and leave the windows open but it still reaches 28 degrees in the house. We are pottering at getting the house and garden ready for visitors using the cooler morning and evening times.

The weather this year has had a disastrous effect on our fruit trees, when they were in blossom there was a heavy frost, a month later gale force winds, then a hail storm with huge hailstones and now a drought, needless to say there isn’t one piece of fruit on our apple trees, plum trees or peach trees. However the vine which can push roots down to a great depth is doing well and we have plenty of grapes.

This morning we managed to visit two vide greniers, one in La Fleix and one in Montpon, both were about half the size of the same ones we visited four years ago, not sure why. We did however manage to spend some money on a variety of items.

We bought two carpets for our small lounge for 12 euros, a collection of toys for our grandsons impending visit for 5 euros, a chair that apparently you use to sit babies in whilst bathing them or giving them a shower for 4 euros, a small vase for a euro, a picture for 2 euros, a kilo of courgettes to feed our daughter and son in law who arrive on Tuesday, and last but not least I splashed out 20 euros treating Michelle to her own electric strimmer ( I know I’m too kind) it’s made by Wolf so a good make.

It’s now 8 pm still 32 degrees so I think it’s time to water a few plants with a cold beer in my hand.

Sunday 17th July 2022

We’re staying on a working farm that is also a Britstop ( which as members means we can stay free) and even though it doesn’t advertise the fact, it has a five van site. The fridge hasn’t been operating too well on gas and as you need the beer to be cold, we opted for a pitch with electricity for £12.50 a night.

The farm is open to the public with a petting zoo, small shops operate out of the farm buildings, there’s a farm shop, butchers and fishmongers amongst others. A pleasant place for families to visit.

There are good walks out from the site and you can walk to the local town Congleton. After the evening meal we walked the few hundred metres to the village where there is a fascinating church and a very hospitable pub where we enjoyed a cooling drink.

Saturday 16th July 2022

We spent this morning in Otley which is a small market town dating back to the Saxon era.Henry 3rd granted it a market charter in 1222 and industries such as linen and cloth weaving were developed later. Stone quarried nearby was used to build the Houses of Parliament.

Markets are held in Otley three times a week in the market place which is also home to The Black Bull pub where parliamentary soldiers gathered before the Battle of Marston Moor, they are said to have drunk the town dry🍺

The town was also the birthplace of Thomas Chippendale the famous cabinet maker.

As in Ilkley there are lots of small shops and cafes which on a hot day like today were busy with trade, we enjoyed our visit and it wasn’t far to walk back to the site.

There are open views on two sides of the site and we are surrounded by pleasant countryside. Leeds airport isn’t far away and quite regularly passenger jets appear over the ridge you can see in the photo.

Friday 15th July 2022

We started the day with a short drive to Ilkley, recently voted in The Times as one of the best places to live in England.

It is obviously a thriving town with lots of individual shops, bistros and cafes and of course the famous Betty’s. Our grand spending was a pair of sandals for Michelle and a book from the charity shop for me.

It was a short hop from there to tonight’s stopover on the outskirts of Otley on the grounds of The Old Otliensians amateur rugby club.

The Yorkshire branch of the Camping and Caravanning Club have hired this site for several weeks as a temporary holiday site, any member of the C and C Club can stay, it costs £10 a night. Tonight there are approx 50 caravans/ camper vans on site. The site is next to a large Garden Centre so we went for a walk around there this afternoon, Michelle found another challenge.

Across the main road from the site is the River Wharfe and a nature reserve.

The site as it’s name would suggest was once the site of the town Gallows and an information board informs that quite a few met their death here. Now it is a cool shady nature reserve, there are quite a few cherry trees and I managed to pick a handful for Michelle to nosh.There is a path from the reserve in both directions along the river and we took the path towards Otley to extend our walk.

Thursday 14th July 2020

We made an early start this morning and after a short journey we pulled into the visitors car park at Saltaire.

Titus Salt was one of a few rich industrialists that made some effort to provide good accommodation and schooling for the families that worked in his mill. In the midlands our equivalent would be the Cadbury family that built Bournville.

We commenced our visit with a walk around the village looking at a variety of buildings provided by Titus Salt.

After a wander around we headed back to Homer for a coffee and then leaving Layla in charge we headed back to the mill. The lower floor, plus two other floors has exhibitions of the work of David Hockney which we enjoyed viewing especially his work in Normandy where he currently lives.

From Saltaire we headed about 3 miles down the valley to Esholt where we are staying the night at Esholt Sports Club which has an attached camp site. It is a very active club, early evening saw cricket practice for many youngsters from the age of about 4 upwards and the evening ended in a twenty twenty match for the main team. The home team won convincingly, it was a very English thing to sit in the sunshine watching the match and nursing a drink. Earlier we had walked to the local village where we had a drink at the The Woolpack pub which apparently featured in Emmerdale.

Wednesday 13th July 2020

We have taken a small window of opportunity to take a five night break away most of which we intend to spend in a small area of Yorkshire.

Tonight we are staying in the centre of Skipton on one of the dedicated motorhome spaces provided by the council for the extremely good price of £5. The only facilities are public toilets but as we are self contained that doesn’t matter.

The car park borders the Liverpool Leeds Canal and there are narrow boats moored up here next to a very good bar where this evening in very pleasant sunshine we managed to force down a drink or two.

We had a pleasant afternoon walking around the town, much to Michelle’s astonishment that I had taken her somewhere where the shops were open😊 Then after our evening meal we went for another walk around and as previously mentioned ended up having a drink.

Tuesday 14th June 2022.

Well here we are here again, 23 days since we were here last. Todays journey was 149 miles of motorway driving across Belgium and France. There were a few spaces when we arrived and we chose to stay on grass this time, when we went to the pay machine it wasn’t working and a woman sat outside her motorhome shouted to us “ ist Kaput”I don’t think she was English.

We now understand the defensive layout of this town is the same as Bourtange we visited in Holland, star shaped with a double moat for extra defence. This town is also connected directly to the English Channel via a tidal estuary.

Well tonight is the last night of this journey, we have enjoyed it immensely and seen and visited some wonderful places. You know it’s time to go home when you are down to the emergency toilet roll😂

Until next time …… au revoir.