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.