France, Summer 2010: Week 18

Sunday 26 September - Saturday 2 October

We got up early on Sunday and left to take John and Hélène to Carcassonne airport at 7.30 pm.  We arrived at about 9 am, for their 10.20 am flight.  We came straight back on the autoroute.  We had a little nap in the afternoon.


Next day in the afternoon we did a nice walk - Caylus road, water tower and back through the vineyards and frog pond.  There was a grape picking machine working near the water tower:

Otherwise we did a lot of washing.

Tuesday was the day for cleaning the house and packing: we set Wednesday aside to go to the beach because the weather was forecast to be best on Wednesday.  We had contacted Sara to tell her when we were leaving and also told her and Geoff that we were planning to move to France.  She said the house on Place du Jeu de Ballon with the blue shutters was going to be on sale and that she could show us around it if we wished.  We called back and arranged to have a look around.  It's nice and stylish but "doesn't tick all our boxes".

As we were getting ready to go out on Wednesday Geoff called in to advise me how to get up the roof safely.  He said he walked up the right hand side, holding on to the wall and walking on the overlap of the tiles.  The view from there is apparently excellent.  Then we set out for Béziers, to take the Livebox back to Orange, transfer the internet connection to dial-up and turn off the phone line.  We got some fuel and then went to the beach.  It was not crowded (!), but was warm enough to sunbathe:

Then we went home and finished packing.

Thursday was the day we left Neffiès after four months!  We set out just before 10 am and had a very good trip all the way to Droué:

We stayed with Marie-Claude, who gave us English tea and apricot and almond cake when we arrived at about 6 pm.  Then we had a look around her large house and garden before going in her car to see her farm, where they have thousands of free-range chickens and some cows.  She gave us some eggs laid that day and we went to see the cows, including some calves born that day.  Then we went to Severine's farm and had a lovely French dinner party with Severine, her husband, the two children (Louis and Rachel), Marie-Claude and her husband Michel.

After breakfast with Marie-Claude and Michel next day, we set out for the Channel Tunnel via Chartres, Evreux and Rouen.  We had booked a 13:20 crossing before arranging to stay at Droué and arrived too late for that, at around 13:20, since Droué is not as far north as we would would normally stay.  We were put onto the 14:20 crossing.  The weather in France had been good and the journey relatively traffic-free.  But as soon as we arrived in England that changed.  It was raining and the traffic was heavy with a huge traffic jam at the Dartford tunnel.  It should have taken 2½ hours and took 4.  Everything was fine at Rothwell.

Saturday was the day for unpacking, tidying and generally coming to terms with being back in Rothwell.  Delia went to Northampton in the morning to have her hair cut and had coffee with Aunt afterwards.  Roger finished off his sermon for Sunday.  In the afternoon we walked up to church the long way and made sure that everything was ready.

France, Summer 2010: Week 17

Sunday 19 September - Saturday 25 September

On Sunday morning Janet, Delia and Roger went to church at Conas while Andrew prepared the evening's dinner. After lunch we headed to Mourèze and, at Delia's suggestion, found the viewpoint on the eastern side, which gave a much better view than the other side where we normally go.

We had an ice cream at the same café as we did with Christine at the end of August.

Then we went to Celles and mooched around there a bit, before coming home via the motorway for dinner.

We went on an outing towards the sea on Monday, setting out after coffee for lunch in Sète, but stopping off at L'Abbaye de Valmagne for a look at the living displays of different grape varieties.

Before lunch we drove to Mont St-Clair and looked at the view. Then we chose a restaurant, Le Pescadou, on the harbour by seeing which were the most full as well as by the menus. It was very good. Andrew, of course, had moules marinières.

After lunch we stopped off at Marseillan Plage and sat on the beach for about an hour. Roger went in the sea up to his waist and Janet to her ankles, but it was rather cold with a fairly overcast sky. Supper was a light meal, having had a proper lunch.

Next day we got up at 6:00 am for Roger to take Janet and Andrew to Nîmes airport for their 9:30 am flight. We left at 6:35 am and were there at about 8:00 am. Roger was back in Neffiès before 9:30 am. We have bought a Télépéage unit and it works very well, opening the barriers in a couple of seconds. It costs 1.50€ per month, only in months that it is used, plus of course the usual tolls. The rest of the day was just generally sorting out the house, doing washing etc and having a bit of a rest, because more visitors were due the next day.

On the Wednesday we had a fairly relaxed morning and left for Carcassonne airport at 12:40 pm, to pick up John and Hélène at 3:00 pm. We stopped for lunch by the Canal du Midi:
http://maps.google.co.uk/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=103178012537911715779.000490ff690c94188db69&ll=43.236856,2.41255&spn=0.006777,0.013937&t=h&z=17&iwloc=000491013117c9c669efe

We were a couple of minutes late at the airport because there was a bit of a bouchon around Carcassonne. We came back to L'Hérault via the motorways and shopped at Pézenas Intermarché and also went into the town to a chemist's shop for medicine for Hélène, then home. Then we did nothing much but have dinner.

On John and Hélène's first full day, Thursday, after getting up quite late, we took a picnic lunch to Vailhan and ate it by the lake. Then we took the scenic route to Mourèze via some very narrow roads. Going through Salasc, we saw Martine, so we stopped and said hello. She invited us in and gave us a drink and we had a nice half an hour chatting. Then we went on to Mourèze and the viewpoint that we went to with the Rays.

Then we came back to Neffiès for dinner.

The weather forecast for Friday was for rain, but it had stopped by the end of the morning. We had a little walk, along the Caylus road, then to the old water mill, where we scrumped some figs:

then scrumped some more from the other fig tree nearby, then home via the frog pond. In the evening we went out for dinner at Les Goutailles.

We set out for Sète late Saturday morning and went up to Mont St-Clair for the view. It was sunny but the wind was strong and cold. Then we went for lunch at the restaurant on the harbour next to Le Pescadou, where we went to with Andrew and Janet on Monday. It was called Va Bene and was OK, but not as good. Then we came home via Marseillan Plage and had a walk on the beach: it was too cold to do beachy things.

We had risotto for dinner.

France, Summer 2010: Week 16

Sunday 12 September - Saturday 18 September

Sunday was mainly a day to tidy up, clean the patio and the terrace and so on.  Delia painted the wooden terrace table and the middle floor shutters.  We again went for a walk before dinner, starting in the same way as the day before but going up the path round the back of the house in the country and up to the ridge, then down the nice wooded path to the mine shaft and into Neffiès that way.

Just for a change we went for a walk in the morning on Monday, up to the crossroads, along the Vailhan road and down the old Vailhan road, just about an hour's walking.  Delia invited Thérèse from next door to come and chat at 4 pm. We had hoped to go for another little walk in the evening but ran out of time, so we went to the cave cooperative for some wine and then drove to the fig tree just off the Fontès road for Delia to go scrumping.

On Tuesday we went to the prayer group at St Joseph's at 10.30 am, then to the Intermarché at Magalas to shop for the Rays' visit.  Then we came home and after lunch did housework and preparation.  Delia went to her French class at Roujan at 4 pm while Roger cleaned the house.  On Wednesday we went to Serignan Plage.  Apart from finishing our preparations for our visitors nothing much else happened.

We got up early on Thursday so we could leave for Nîmes at 7:30 am, to fetch Andrew and Janet.  We arrived a few minutes before 9:00 am and their plane landed as we were walking into the terminal (it was due at 9:00 am).  We came straight to Neffiès, had coffee and A and J had a nap.  After a late lunch we did the same walk as on Sunday (Chemin des Guessières, past the house in the vineyards with a swimming pool, up to the ridge, then down the nice wooded path to the mine shaft and into Neffiès).  We had lamb tagine for dinner.

The main entertainment on Friday was walking, up the old Vailhan road and rocky path, up to the ridge and the capitelle at the top, where we had lunch.

Then we carried on around the back of the ridge and back down via the crossroads.  Janet's boots were too small so she was having trouble at the end.

As with many first-time guests, we went to Pézenas market on Saturday morning.  Andrew was going to be cooking on Sunday evening so we also went to the Intermarché for what we couldn't get on the market.  In the afternoon we drove to Marseillan and our visitors went on the Noilly Prat tour.  There was a village event, mainly the next day, but on this day there was an open-air art exhibition, which appeared to be redecorated wrecked cars, loudish music (1960s English/American but not by the original artists) and a man on stilts, who was quite amusing.

In the evening we went out to dinner at Auberge du Presbytère at Vailhan.  This was very nice.

France, Summer 2010: Week 15

Sunday 5 September - Saturday 11 September

Still no baby on Sunday, so we went swimming at the pool at Salthill.  Then we had lunch at a café nearby.  Afterwards we went back to Barna and Lucy had an afternoon nap.  We did nothing much else except that we watched pictures of the Smith-Fyfes' trip to Neffiès after dinner.

Monday was the day that Emily was born

Granny Delia, Granny Roger and Lucy got up just after 9 am.  Mummy and daddy had gone to the hospital for 8 am.  Lucy and Granny Roger had "daddy white" for breakfast; Granny Delia had "mummy meusli" and "daddy white".  After breakfast we played "make believe".  We went on a train, on a bus and to a restaurant.  Later we all went "make believe" swimming.  Lucy dressed herself in a wetsuit (large blue t-shirt) and a red swimming cap (woolley animal hat).  She found a purple sock each for Granny Roger and Granny Delia to balance on their heads as swimming hats.  We dashed from big pool (lounge) to bubble pool (kitchen) and kicked and splashed for a very long time.

Mid-morning, the sun came through and we went for a walk to the harbour.  Lucy chose to add purple body warmer, purple sandals and sunglasses to what she was wearing.  She climbed into the pushchair in the kitchen and announced that she wanted to ride.  This she did until we reached the harbour.  It was warm and still (what brilliant un-Irish weather we enjoyed whilst waiting for Emily).  At the harbour there was a high wall to walk on

and puddles (from the violent thunderstorn that seemed to be right overhead at about 3 in the morning).  The puddles were good for making footprints on the dry stones.  It was good that Granny Delia had packed 2 crackers and a bottle of "purple"; sustenance was needed on the way to SupaValue.  We bought more "daddy green", some veg, blueberries, bread and pasta sauce and told the shop assistant who asked that Lucy wasn't the "big sister" yet but should be by the end of the day.

Before lunch, we all played at buying new shoes; we tried on lots of colours and sizes until we all had comfortable ones.  Lucy ate lots of brown bread and pâté, then blueberries and more crackers for lunch.

After more make-believe games we went for another walk in the sunshine.  The tricycle was rejected in favour of Rosie but, sadly, the children with the toy pushchair were not to be seen, although toys were scattered on the pavement.  Rosie needed re-wrapping in her blanket several times and breastfeeding once during our outing.

Back home Lucy had a sleep and Granny Delia got a message saying that due to French air traffic controllers being on strike from 6 to 8 September we couldn't have gone home on the 7th anyway.  When Lucy woke up we played shoe shops and trains some more and noughts and crosses, which had been a favourite on previous days.

Lucy did cooking whilst eating some bits of raw vegetable prepared for the usual pasta with chilli-veg sauce and lardons we cook when having dinner with Lucy whilst mummy and daddy are out.  Lucy's pudding was chocolate tart brought home from our meal out in Salthill on Sunday.

Lucy chose to have a shower rather than a bath.  She found the decorated baby blanket and took charge of the "man" - the little figure knitted by nanny for Paul about 35 years ago - who went to bed with her and who was the first thing she asked for/about on Tuesday morning.  He was under the bed.  Lucy was in bed and Grandpa Roger was just about to sing "The Marvellous Toy" as her bedtime song when daddy rang to say that Lucy had a baby sister called Emily. 

All in all, Lucy was a very good girl and we had a happy day being entrusted with her by ourselves for a whole day for the first time.

Tuesday was another different day.  Granny Delia and Grandpa Roger got up rather late and helped Lucy get up, get  dressed and have breakfast.  Then Paul arrived downstairs, having been in the house without Lucy realising it, so she was pleased to see him.  We took Lucy to crèche and Paul went back to the hospital.  We already knew that Emily had the all-clear to go home and Aileen was waiting to be checked.  We did some shopping and prepared lunch, which Paul came back for.  Then he went to collect Lucy from crèche, so they could go together to collect Aileen and Emily.  Then there was a happy homecoming, the mother and new baby arriving home something like 21 hours after the birth.

On Wednesday Lucy was not quite so keen to go to crèche, with all the excitement of the previous day, but we finally persuaded her and took her there.  Later Paul fetched her for her hospital appointment for her heart, which was the same as always, the murmur is still there but not enough to worry about.  Delia cooked the evening meal.

It was time for us to leave on Thursday, early, very early.  We set the clock for 5.00 am and left Barna at around 5.30, to drive to Dublin.  The drive was fairly uneventful: we did take one wrong turn once we got to Dublin, but soon found the route again.  The flight was supposed to be at 10.25 am but it was delayed by almost an hour, although we arrived at Rodez only about 20 minutes late, at 2.00 pm.  We stopped to shop on the way home and also for lunch, so got home at around 5.40 pm (actual driving time is 2 hours 10).  It was good to be back in Neffiès with warm sunshine and blue skies.

Despite all the washing and catching up on various things, next day we decided to recover from our trip to Ireland by going to the beach, to Serignan Plage.

On Saturday Delia went by herself to Pézenas in the morning, mostly to look for presents for various people.  The market and shops were all still at full activity, although the season was over.  In the evening before dinner we went for a walk: Chemin des Guessières, past the house in the vineyards with a swimming pool, past Source Minérale de St-Majan, through the "orchard" to the Roujan road, across that and through the vineyards:

Then home via Caux road and Chemin de Caux Vieux.  It took just 2 hours, from 5.00 pm to 7.00 pm, but we walked quite quickly.

France, Summer 2010: Week 14

Sunday 29 August - Saturday 4 September

Sunday was Christine's first real day in Neffiès, so after a late breakfast Delia and Christine went to the boulangerie and had a quick look at the village.  Then later we all had a bit more of a mooch around.  We had lunch in the courtyard and then went on an outing in the car.  First we went over the hills to Villeneuvette and had a quick look, then to Mourèze for a look at the stones.  Christine had a bit of a poorly knee so we couldn't do any difficult walking.  There was the usual open air art exhibition at the Cirque, but we only looked at the first few exhibits as they didn't impress and the terrain was a bit difficult.  We stopped at a café near where we park for an ice cream, one that's only there in the season, on the lake side of the road.

Then we went to Celles, next to Lac du Salagou, and had another little walk, then came back home via the motorway.

Monday was the day for going in the general direction of the sea with Christine.  We set out with a packed lunch for the Canal du Midi, parking near its Béziers direction junction with the Hérault.  We walked along the river, then had a look at the Bassin Rond d'Agde and walked a little way further up the canal before coming back to the junction to eat our packed lunch.

Then we went to Marseillan and went on the trip around Noilly Prat, this time in English as it happened.  We bought some Noilly Prat this time.  Then it was off to Sète just to go to see the view from Mont St-Clair.  On the way and on the way back we could see that there were some serious fires around, the smoke from one of which actually cast a strange brown shadow.  That one had also closed the A9 autoroute so it took an extra half hour to get home.  We had tomato salad, then salmon followed by raspberry tart for dinner.

We did think we might go to the beach on Tuesday, Christine's last full day, but decided against it.  So we stayed in during the morning and went for a walk after lunch.  We went along the Caylus road, round the hill to the water mill, then back up the Fontès road because it was a bit too hot for walking.  Then we went to Vailhan reservoir and sat by the water and read.  In the evening we went to Les Goutailles for dinner, outside at Place Jean Jaurès, the last time they would be using that space this year.

We went for a nice walk before breakfast with Christine on the Wednesday, along Chemin des Guessières, down the road that goes to Les Montels, then along the little Vailhan road back.  Then Delia and Christine had a late breakfast (Roger had had his earlier).  We took a packed lunch to the airport with us and left Christine there.  Delia and I then went and sat on the beach at Portiragnes to eat our lunch.  It wasn't all that hot but pleasant enough.  Then, because we were due to go to Ireland next day we tried to pack; Delia succeeded but Roger didn't!

Next day we got up early (clock set at 7 am) to finish packing and shut up the house so we could get to Rodez for the 14:05 flight to Dublin.  We left at around 9:45 and arrived at Rodez just before noon, so the route planning journey time of 2 hours 10 minutes was correct.  We parked in the long stay car park, which was slightly cheaper for more than 5 days, although the same as the short stay one for a shorter period.  Everything went smoothly and we arrived on time at Dublin.  The hire car arrangements were not quite so smooth.  Despite ordering a car to be returned with a full tank of fuel, what we got, despite arguing with them, was one to be returned with an empty tank, at a cost of nearly 60€.  The journey from Dublin to Barna was OK, but we were surprised to find no service areas at all on the motorways, just a very few lay-bys.  Plus the car was very noisy and difficult to get enough air as it was a warm day, but we knew in advance that this might be the case as we had chosen a cheap option.  It was good to see Paul, Aileen and Lucy again and to have a nice dinner.

We were on "grandparent duty", waiting for the new baby to arrive and then looking after Lucy when it did.  So we began our wait; Aileen had been for a check-up earlier in the day and it was agreed that if the baby had not arrived before Monday, they were to go to the hospital on Monday for the birth to be induced.  So we set about waiting and hoping that this would not be necessary.

Friday was a lovely sunny day, although with a little wind.  We took a packed lunch to a beach, the other side of Spiddal, called Tra Sailin.  We all, but especially Lucy, had a nice time on this lovely beach.

Then it was back for Lucy to have an afternoon nap.  For dinner we went out to O' Grady's on the harbour.  Very good, as before.  The wine that Paul chose (Chardonnay) just happened to be called Montarels and was from Alignan du Vent, our local cave cooperative!

On Saturday we went to Barna woods for a walk in the late morning and enjoyed watching various young people playing team sports, especially Camogie, a slightly toned down version of hurling played by girls.  It was another nice day and we had lunch in the garden.  Lucy, Paul and Aileen all had an afternoon nap and we had risotto for dinner in the garden.

Afterwards we watched pictures of the Smith-Fyfes' trip to Northern Ireland and Scotland.

France, Summer 2010: Week 13

Sunday 22 August - Saturday 29 August

Delia went to the the church here in Neffiès on Sunday morning.  We did nothing much for the rest of the day.  It was very hot.

On Monday again we didn't do very much, except that I ordered a new camera, because the lens movement on the old one no longer worked properly.  I'd tried all the suggestions I could find on the internet with no luck.  What I ordered (at around 4:40 pm) was a Sony DSC-W350 (14.1 MP, 4x zoom, Carl Zeiss lens etc).  I couldn't find a compact digital camera with a viewfinder and just hope that the screens are brighter now than in 2007 when I bought the last one.

On Tuesday we had an appointment at our bank in Pézenas to see the man who looks after our account, to ask his advice about whether we can transfer our existing house loan to another house.  The simple answer is yes, although the notaire will need to be involved.  We also asked various other questions, but he basically put our minds at ease about our project.  We went into an estate agent, the one that Jody used to work from.  We met a nice young British woman called Emma Weaver who gave us some sensible advice.  We then went shopping at Carrefour in Pézenas, for a change and because it's a bit bigger than the Intermarché.  Not a huge success.

Before dinner we decided to go for a brisk walk, down Chemin de Caux Vieux, left along the Caux road a bit, left at the big house, first left, along to the old water mill and up the pretty path.  We noticed some people at the water mill who turned out to be Diane, Nick and Nick's mother Pat.  So we had a chat and invited Nick and Pat to dinner next evening (Diane had to stay at home and baby sit) to talk over old Rothwell, because they both used to live there.

So, having arranged for dinner guests the previous evening, we had to do some more shopping in Pézenas on Wednesday.  We waited for La Poste before going and to our surprise the camera arrived: what an excellent delivery service, less than 43 hours after ordering on line.  We went first to the Bricomarché and bought a French mains extension lead, so we could have brighter lights on the terrace for our dinner guests.  It's now quite dark at 9 pm.  Then we shoppped at the Intermarché as usual.

The camera seems excellent, with extra clever things like smile detection and panoramic mode, plus even more automatic sensing for things like backlight and macro.  The video mode might well be worth a try, but a bigger memory stick would be needed.  The 1 GB one from my old camera is only good for 14 minutes, or about 150 photos.  They do up to 32 GB now.

Dinner on the terrace worked very well, with two standard lamps providing just the right light.  We had Rick Stein's salad, followed by carbonnade Nîmoise, followed by little home made fruit tarts.

On Thursday we went to Serignan Plage, picking some more blue flowers (they are now at their peak) and getting fruit from the stall on the way back as usual.  It was almost too windy on the beach: the Windfinder forecast had said between 8 and 11 knots wind speed (10 knots is 18.5 km/hour).

It was forecast to be cloudy in the morning on Friday, so we went for a walk after a late breakfast: Caylus road, up past the pylon, round to the right, goats' trail, through the trees on the ridge and back home (6.7 Km, 1¾ hours).  We set out too late really because the cloud cover had gone for the last ¾ hour or so and it was very hot for walking.

Sister Christine came on Saturday, flying from Bristol to Béziers.  We spent a lot of the day cleaning the house and getting ourselves ready for her and for our other visitors in September.  Christine's flight left late and arrived early, so we were home only a few minutes after 8 pm, when the flight was due in.  "Late" and "Early" are relative terms with Ryanair because they allow longer for the flight than necessary.  The weather had turned a bit cooler, only about 27°C at 8 pm, so we had dinner in the kitchen: melon, lamb tagine & fruit tarts.

France, Summer 2010: Week 12

Sunday 15 August - Saturday 21 August

On Sunday we went to church at Conas and enjoyed the sermon by Mark.  Mark and his partner Nick were staying in Neffiès, it turned out, for a week, so we gave them our number and suggested they give us a call and come round for a drink or dinner or whatever.

Then we had been invited to Sheila and David's for a barbecue lunch.  There were 25 of us, lots of room in their lovely garden next to the pool.  There were several people there that we knew (Diane and Nick included), plus some British people living in Neffiès that we hadn't met before.  Later some went for a swim.  We got home around 7 pm.  This is the life.

All we can remember about Monday is that we went for a short walk in the early evening, but otherwise stayed at home.

On Tuesday also we did not do much during the day.  In the evening we had dinner early and went to a concert by Cambridge Chorale at Roujan church.  They were in Roujan at La Maison Verte for a week and were really, really good.  The programme was:

    * Extraits de Lamentationes Ieremiae Prophetae - Alonso Lobo (1555-1617)
    * As torrents in summer - Edward Elgar (1887-1934)
    * The Blue Bird - C V Stanford (1852-1924)
    * All Creatures Now - John Bennet (1599-1614)
    * Messe - Frank Martin
    * Psalm 121, requiem aeternam, I heard a voice from heaven du Requiem - Herbert Howells (1892-1983)
    * Chattanooga Choo-Choo - Harry Warren (1883-1983), arr Dave Maychel
    * The Nearness of You - Hoagy Carmichael (1899-1981), arr Mark Gillard
    * Country Gardens - Percy Grainger (1882-1961), arr David Tall

The Frank Martin piece must have been particularly hard to sing but they performed it so well that they sounded like one instrument instead of many voices.  There were lots of people there that we knew.  We went to the reception afterwards and talked to Angela and also somebody from church called Bobbie and a French lady.  Most of the Neffiès people had gone home for a late dinner, we assume.  Delia is now on the e-mailing list for La Maison Verte, which is an arts centre but specialising in music, as the (British) people who run it are themselves musicians.

We had planned for Wednesday to be a beach day (postponed from Tuesday because we heard about the concert), but Mark phoned in the morning to suggest a meeting.  He and Nick came around at 4.30 pm for "afternoon tea" in the courtyard.  We had a very enjoyable time; they are on the same wavelength as us.

Delia went to French in the morning on Thursday.  The meteo had said that it would be cloudy, so we went on a three to four hour walk.  Unfortunately the meteo was wrong and the sun shone most of the time, so we sweated and glowed rather a lot.  The walk included some new bits that were very nice, on the Roujan side of the main Roujan/Vailhan road.

On Friday we went on a Balade Vigneronne, with the Cave Coopérative.  This started at 9 am with a two-hour walk through vineyards and up the hills west of Neffiès.  It was a bit too hot for this really.  There was not time to come down via the mineshaft so we returned by a shorter route, to dégustation in the cave.  Then there was a short tour of the winemaking bits, followed by an excellent lunch at Les Goutailles, with three wines, one for each course.  It cost €13 each.  Then we came home to bed to sleep it off.

We finally got to go to the beach on Saturday, to Serignan Plage.  On the way, when we were driving parallel to the A75 just before we had intended to get onto it at Pézenas, we noticed that the traffic was stationary.  So we kept on the N9 to Valros, where there was another little bouchon for the traffic lights in the village, just like when we used to stay there.  We turned left at Valros and went across country (Montblanc, Saint-Thibéry, Vias, Portiragnes), avoiding all main roads except for a bit of the D612.

When we left to come home Delia picked some of the blue flowers that grow in profusion near the beach (we've been waiting for them to come out) for a dry flower display.  I took some photos of her doing this; the camera made a funny clicking noise when turning on and didn't seem at all happy.  More of this in a day or two.  We bought fruit from the stall near the beach and also went shopping at Pézenas Intermarché.  The unfinished bit of the A75 had been opened, one lane and our direction only with a 50 kph limit.  There was still a bouchon in the other direction all the way from the unfinished bit west of Valros almost to Pézenas.  We had simple dinner, only two courses, starting with pizza.