I really must be losing it!! When I looked for photographs
to include with last week’s blog, I couldn’t make out why there seemed to be so
few. A couple of days later I discovered the reason – I had forgotten to down
load them from my camera! So this week I have included one or two pictures that
should have accompanied last week’s episode. They show some of the amazing
glass art that we saw at Chateau Lavardens.
This week has been quite an active one. We started off by
going to Auch on Monday where the family spent many hours shopping for clothes
and shoes. They were in seventh heaven and came out of the shops laden with
bags and parcels. I was getting quite concerned about how it was all going to
fit back into the suitcases they came with, but found out that an extra
fold-away bag had come along too just for this purpose. In the afternoon it was
time for some culture and history so we all went to the Cathedral and the old
part of town. We dropped the family off at the bottom of the Grand Staircase
which leads up to the Cathedral and by the time we had found parking and walked
over to the top of the staircase, they were just about there. Auch Cathedral is
a place we always visit with friends so we have been there a number of times,
but every time we visit, we find something new and interesting to see. This
time it was a frieze of gargoyles which we hadn’t noticed previously.
Tuesday was a relatively quiet day spent doing chores in the
morning and then out in the afternoon to the little chapel of Notre dame du Cyclistes.
We have been there before and it isn’t sensational viewing but is quite a
novelty and of interest to anyone involved with cycling. I know I have
mentioned in previous blogs the hundreds of cycling jerseys that line the
walls, many of them from previous winners of the Tour de France.
Wednesday dawned clear and sunny which pleased everyone, not
least of all, Andre who was about to enjoy the last part of his birthday
present from Leigh. This was a five-lap run in a single seater racing car at
the Nogaro Racing Circuit. It had taken a huge amount of planning and
organisation and Andre was thrilled to bits at the idea. It was probably far
too short for him to really enjoy himself, but I think he got a good idea of
what Formula Renault is like. Perhaps a little tamer than his own racing car,
but good all the same. The instructor, who drove ahead of him in a racing Renault Clio, was very complimentary
and said that he was going as fast as possible to stay ahead but that Andre was
managing to keep up with him perfectly.
The following day was market day at Eauze – an event all had
been looking forward to. The weather was good so the market was well supported
and the many stalls spread along the main street as well as up and down the
side roads. Having seen it all before Neels and I went off to join Nicky for a
cup of coffee at one of the coffee shops and waited for everyone to join us.
They seem to have enjoyed the experience and spent much time looking, admiring,
tasting and buying. Eventually we decided to stay in town for lunch and go home
soon afterwards, which the ‘cooks’ thought was a brilliant idea. And soon after
we got home there was a lot of snoring going on from all over the house!
On Friday the family left early for Pont d’Espagne, a point
in the Pyrenees where a bridge over a gorge is allegedly on the border between
France and Spain. Their drive took them through Lourdes which has suffered
terribly in the recent heavy rains and floods, and also Cauterets which was
even more badly affected. We had not realised before they left that their route
would be so disrupted, or would not have suggested they go. As a result of the
bad road conditions, and subsequent lack of tourists, the cableway at the
destination was not working so they even lost out on that too, but being ever
resourceful, they walked up to the upper cable station and then on further to
the bridge over the gorge and the lake beyond that.. I think the girls were
worn out by the end of the day, but everyone enjoyed the outing. Meanwhile,
back at ‘home’, we packed up our clothes for a week away and enough food for several armies, in preparation for our
week in another rented house in the Aude department, which is part of the
Languedoc-Roussillon area of France. Or in simpler terms, in the Southern part
of France, not far from Perpignan, in a small town called Paziols.
We managed to get away more or less at the time we had
planned to do so, in two cars loaded to the gills, with all our goods.
Unbeknown to us, the schools had closed the day before so half of France was on
the road with us and traffic was really heavy. A long but uneventful drive
during which we were struck, again, with the standard of driving and road
courtesy. How we wish a few more locals from home could experience this! We
arrived at our destination in time for a late lunch after which we walked down
the hill to the village to take a look around. The house is built near the top
of a small hill in the town, with only a church above it. The houses are built
in higgledy-piggledy style very close to each other and there are few roads but
many pathways. This area of France is known for its high winds which apparently
blow for 279 days of the 365, and has numerous windfarms dotted around on the
hills which supplement the country’s nuclear power stations. Today was no
exception and the wind was howling around the corners and slamming the doors of
the house.
It is also the area famous for the religious wars between
the Catholics and the Cathars and there are some wonderful ruined castles dotted
about on the hilltops. On Sunday we visited the Chateau Aguilar, one of these
castles and found that quite a lot of restoration work has been done and that
the site is very tourist-friendly. Fortunately the wind had died down a little
as the castle is perched on top of a hill with steep rocky sides and one would
not want to miss one’s footing there.
This area is quite harsh in comparison to the Gers, and reminds us a
little of the Karroo with its dry rocky terrain and low-growing, scrubby
vegetation. I would not be at all surprised to see snakes from time to time, or
the odd scorpion.
After late lunch there was more snoring from all corners of
the house for a while and then the family donned swimming costumes and went
down to the river to try out the local ‘swimming hole’. The water is very
clear, probably very cold and has numerous tiny fish in it, although the
man-made ‘beach’ on the banks seems to have been another casualty of the recent
heavy rains in the area. All this fresh air is making our seemingly huge stock
of food disappear quite rapidly and it is as well that we have a small supermarket
in the village. It is so convenient, in fact, that the two grandchildren were
persuaded to walk down there to buy some more fruit cordial. A great achievement
for two young South Africans in a foreign country.
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