Bingley Christmas

We had a fantastic time back in the UK for Christmas, catching up with lots of friends and family - shame the time went so quickly! It would be unfair to name names, but a big thankyou to everyone we saw, reminding us that it is our friends and family that we miss the most.

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The cottage we rented was ideal and it was great to have Nadine & Philippe with us for the week, but especially Christmas morning after Father Christmas had made his deliveries in the night! Despite being in an unfamiliar kitchen Tine did us proud with a wonderful traditional turkey meal. As usual we were far too full for the pudding!

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We didn't manage lots of pub visits but I had to photograph my favourite beer (Landlord) down at the Brown Cow on our last evening.

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Happy New Year to all readers. We're off to celebrate with Gill in Brittany.

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ps Hope you liked the Christmas Day post which magically appeared! The wonders of the internet, heh?

Happy Christmas from La Tranche

A Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to my faithful readers. Thanks for all the comments in 2008 - keep them coming in 2009, and how's about visiting us to check I'm telling the truth!

Touring around

Making the most of a fine afternoon, we made good use of Monique's detailed map (merci pour le cadeau encore une fois) once again. So where did it take us?

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Firstly to Moricq. We've driven through there many times and I must admit I'd never seen this magnificent tower, not at all far from the road. It served as a look-out during the 100 Years War (we won't say who against, but I haven't had any trouble!) and is a stunning building. We took the 2nd photo for Phil who appreciates the baser things of life!

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On to an 'old rock', Le Menhir de la Pierre Couchée, near St Benoist, then a nature reserve at Saint Denis-du Payré, which really shows you how it must have been when all the marshes were water-logged - that's a stork's nest in the distance.

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Finally we visited the church at Curzon. Monique had told us about the crypt there, and sure enough there were the wooden doors in the floor. Once opened up the steps led to a beautiful underground room with carvings and pillars - truly remarkable!

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Some excellent photos on http://homepage.mac.com/joel.jalladeau/vendee/page9/page9.html

Wild seas

'Tis the season of very high tides and wild seas once again. The weather has been so bad that we've been cooped up indoors on many occasions, but sometimes there's a lull and we quickly head out before the next downpour.

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The first photo was taken on La Terrière beach. The sea was so strong that we both got wet feet trying to avoid the incoming tide! It looks so beautiful that's it's hard to imagine the heavy rain before and afterwards.

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The other photos were taken by the new jetty over a couple of days. The cloudscape almost makes you want to paint (oops, no talent being the reason why not)! It's really hard to capture the exact moment when a wave crashes over the rocks, so apologies for my feeble efforts. The whole carpark near the jetty was awash with sea water, it draining into the Plan d'Eau. I love the way there's a crowd watching on a day like this when there's practically no-one around normally.

Le Piquet

We've had so much rain recently that we jumped at Monique's invitation to return to Le Piquet (Chaillé-sous-les-Ormeaux) which we first discovered last November. Phil was so impressed with our photos that we returned with him just before Christmas last year.

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This time the river was pretty full and the whole atmosphere was different but equally beautiful. We got slightly muddy and a dog adopted us on our return route! A lovely time was had by all.

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Next day friends Isabelle & Guy phoned us asking if we'd like to walk along the River Lay between La Faute and L'Aiguillon. Didn't get any photos that day but it was great to spend a bit more time with our 'new' friends. We'd been for aperitifs at their house a few days earlier and met another English couple who don't live so far away. It would be great to get to know some more people.

Generations

Just a few photos to share with you from one branch of Tine's family. Firstly we see a very alert Tonton André on our recent visit to Le Lavandou. Here he's ready for his Pastis before heartily tucking into his evening meal!

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Next we have love-bird cousins JP & C by the chapel in the hills behind Bormes-les-Mimosas. Can you guess the temperature from their attire?!

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In the photographers in La Tranche at the moment you can't fail to see the giant photograph of Laeticia & Camille at 18 days old, JP & C's first grandchild and André's first great grandchild.

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Finally on our way back from Le Lavandou we stopped at Philippe & Laeticia's to renew acquaintances with Camille, and to have a lovely impromptu meal.

Trip to Le Lavandou (2)

Ok - I'm way behind as usual, but here's a second batch of photos from our stay in Le Lavandou.

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On the Monday Tine & I went for a walk along the coast to the east, towards the beach at St Clair. The first photo shows the tourist office in the town, a very grand building set off by palm trees and blue sky.

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Once past the marina you walk along the corniche which has to be my favourite part of this area, the waves breaking on the dark rocks, watched by cormorants on the island outcrops. Fabulous!

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As you can see the horizons were pretty good here too, photos 3 and 4 taken from St Clair. Tine is very proud of her photograph with the blue boat in the foreground!

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By the time we got back to the marina the night was falling, but we had just enough time to capture the skyline before returning to André's.

Trip to Le Lavandou (1)

We recently accompanied Jean-Pierre & Catherine to visit Tonton André in Le Lavandou, just over 1,000 km drive from La Tranche! The weather was atrocious practically all the way there but at least we saw SOME sunshine during the next couple of days.

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I couldn't resist sharing the first four photos with you to show the amazing weather we had on Sunday morning. Photos 1 and 3 were taken 42 minutes before photos 2 and 4. What I can't show you is the thunder and lightning!

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By the afternoon we felt safe enough to venture up the steep hill behind Bormes-les-Mimosas to the little chapel that Minouche loved so much. Catherine and Tine are enjoying a short break in Photo 5, whilst Photos 6 & 7 show views of Le Lavandou in the distance, and the roof tops of Bormes.

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More next time!

Making the most of a lovely afternoon

Following our exploits in the 'cherry-picker' we continued our walk onto the beach. The light and colours were amazing as I'm sure you'll agree from the photographs above.

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We've had fairly wild seas again recently, to accompany the wind and rain, and the sand is once again being eaten away on the main beach. Hopefully it will be replenished by more gentle tides. The heavier tides are more exciting though!

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We watched the sun sink lower and lower in the sky with an ever-changing horizon, then back to the roaring log fire and Sky TV!!