An Englishman in Anglet (4)

A few more photos from our stay with Nicole & Daniel. Back to normal next time!

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We visited a beautiful village called Arcangues with amazing views over the low hills to the Pyrenees in the distance - once again it was deliciously warm (17°C). The grave is of Luis Mariano, a famous Basque tenor who died in 1970 but whose grave is still always full of flowers. I was treated to several impressions of his musical style!

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In the afternoon we were driven down the coast to Hendaye, the last town in France, Spain just over the estuary. Our hosts wanted to show us the Château d'Abbadie but we could only see its neoGothic exterior from a distance as it was closed. Instead we did a wonderful clifftop walk with amazing views of seabirds atop 'les Deux Jumeaux' (why 2 Twins, I wondered!!)
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Next morning N&D went off to work - didn't hear a thing! - and we departed for Vendée leaving the glorious sun around Bordeaux. Here's to our next visit, if they'll have us. Merci, Nicole & Daniel!

An Englishman in Anglet (3)

After the walk back down from lunch we drove up to Ibardine, a village that exists purely for shopping. The French/Spanish frontier runs down the main street: on one side you have places to eat and drink, on the other side there are Cash-and-Carry type shops full of bargains (my Pastis was 2/3 the normal price). We resisted buying the bottled baby eels but did buy some more oven crockery to replace the ones we bought years ago. The third photo shows the amazing view from the main street.

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We then drove down and looked around the beautiful St Jean-de-Luz, my first visit here. There are information boards on the sea wall showing how much of the original town now lies under the sea. Thankfully the sea defences built in the 17th Century have worked! We sat outside to have a very welcome 'demi' of beer before heading off back home.

An Englishman in Anglet (2)

The weather improved massively on Saturday, reaching 18 degrees in the afternoon - mid-January! We had a fantastic morning, our hosts chauffering us on a treasure hunt that their son Jerôme had done for friends of his. The towns and scenery in the footlands of the Pyrenees are breathtaking - the second photo was taken in a shop window in Espelette: look carefully at how you SHOULD cook your chicken.

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I'd love to take more time to visit without the pressure of getting to the final destination in time to eat! But, what a place - perched up in the low hills (steep enough for me though) with fabulous views over St Jean-de-Luz and the Atlantic Ocean. The tiny restaurant does wonderful omelette and chips with good wine and the obligatory Pastis. Apparently we ate just over the Spanish border but as everyone was speaking Basque, we wouldn't have known!
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It's hard to know which photos to put on. I'll do another post later today...

An Englishman in Anglet (1)

Sorry for a week without posts: as you can see we had a long weekend in Anglet which is a close neighbour of Biarritz. Our hosts were Nicole & Daniel (stauch bloggists, n'est-ce pas?!) and it was great to see them after a couple of years. Nicole and Tine were in Toulouse together when they were students (and the world was black and white).

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As you can see from the first photo our room was prepared as a shrine to Queen Elizabeth, a much-appreciated gesture. I must admit we slept well there - perhaps our royal overlooker ensured a good night's sleep!

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After a lovely late lunch - our fault, the motorway was chock-a-block with HGVs on their way to Spain - Daniel drove us down to the lighthouse at Biarritz and we walked along the front admiring the surfers on the main beach, eventually taking time out on a bench to watch their expertise. Sorry the photo is a little dark (it was quite late by now), but look at the height of the wave!

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N&D like a beer - yeah!! - and we sampled 'un demi' overlooking the main beach before sauntering back to the car and back home for yet more delicious grub!

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Part Two tomorrow - I promise!

The sun shines EVERY day in La Tranche.....

...but not today! We've had torrential rain and very high winds all day - quite impressive from our lovely snug home, catching up on DVDs etc. At least we know our house is weather-proof!

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On Sunday we were invited to Jean-Pierre & Catherine's for lunch, and as usual we had a great time, with Julie, Romain and partners there too. JP said I should do a post about the sun making an appearance each day in La Tranche. Yesterday was a prime example. We got up to the darkest skies possible and before long the heavens opened with thunder, lightning and hailstones to follow. By the afternoon it was a beautiful day and photos 2 and 3 show.

Today was a different story and I can categorically say that the sun does NOT shine every day (but it does very often!!)

Look carefully at the photos: photo 1 was taken on 11th December 2007. Just over a month later look at the devastation under the Poste de Secours. The seas have been really threatening again. Listening to a local man yesterday he said the sands would be back, but there's a lot to replace. Will keep you posted...

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ps I wanted to upload a video of the demolition men at work but it wouldn't upload (wrong format, I presume) - apologies

Demolition men (3)

Just more photos to show latest developments. I know it's not very interesting for everybody, but TOUGH (tant pis)!

Demolition men (2)

These photos were taken on Wednesday showing how quickly the demolition of the jetty (l'embarcadère) is happening. Tine was loving her day with the young cousins at Dompierre (hi, Cécile, thanks for your comment!) leaving poor old me to record the events in La Tranche (and make supper).

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As you can see it takes more than demolishing a pier to stop the surfers! There has been a high coefficient and heavy swell - perfect! The downside is that the sand is disappearing from our beaches. I trust it will return with gentler weather...

Demolition men

We emerged from our lovely warm home into the murky atmosphere that is La Tranche today, not cold but grey and miserable. After a couple of jobs in town (and catching up with Catherine back from a few days in the Alps) we hot-footed to the jetty to see what was new....

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And the photos tell the tale: yes the demolition of l'embarcadère has begun, and it looks as though it won't take very long! As you can see the waves were quite strong and we only saw the bulldozer/tractor transferring débris from the jetty into a truck. BUT we managed to salvage a piece for posterity, a prized possession for years to come. Watch out eBay!!

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Tine is off to Dompierre tomorrow to look after Cécile's children - junior school children have Wednesdays off in France - so it will be up to me to fend for myself in this foreign land. I'm planning on going down to see the demolition men at work at low tide in the morning. Sadly a sunny day is not forecast!

Gill comes to France!

Thursday was Nadine's birthday so we drove up to Port Navalo in the Morbihan area of Brittany as our good OLD friend Gill has sold up in England and is now searching for a property in Morbihan. Sadly the weather was not very kind to us and above you have a rainy view from the appartment that Gill and her Mum are renting for a couple of months.

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The second photo is an inside shot of the appartment showing Nadine cutting her birthday cake. When we arrived some of the appartment felt cold but with Tine's magic touch it felt super-snug next day! Even in the wet, misty weather we couldn't fail to be impressed with the area and we can't wait to go and visit again!

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We didn't do much sight-seeing with Nadine as the weather was so disappointing. On Sunday we took her to La Rochelle airport via the Aquarium which I can wholeheartedly recommend. All the tanks are superbly displayed and you seem to get really near to their occupants!

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Nadine arrived back home very late in the night - hope she managed her training day today! Typically the weather cheered up today and this afternoon we cycled up the coast a little way and sat in the warm sunshine. I've probably posted photos like Number 3 before but I love the dunes with the sea in the background, and the contrasting colours (in January!)

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On our way back we spied this tractor in the distance so went to investigate. Yes, they are finally getting ready for the demolition of the jetty, and here's the proof! If you look carefully you can see a surfer waiting for a wave to the left of the jetty: the waves were pretty big today.

Bonne année

Happy New Year! Here's hoping that 2008 brings health and happiness to all our friends and family (and that some of you come and visit us, but not all at once!)

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New Year's Eve was the foggiest yet, a real pea-souper, as my Mum used to say! I had to post the first photo just to show that a pheasant flew into the garden and seemed to enjoy pecking away under the apple tree for quite some time. Also note the thrush pecking at the ball of fat in the cherry tree.

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We celebrated the New Year at Jean-Pierre & Catherine's along with Jean & Monique, Colette and Marraine. We had a superb evening over-indulging (for a change). Tine supplied us all with party hats, streamers, blowers and pea-shooters - the best game was aiming for a range of copper pans above the kitchen counter! We eventually walked home in the even thicker fog and took to bed at about 2.30 am.

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Thankfully next morning was clear blue - we were dreading the fiasco of Phil's departure - and Nadine arrived bang on time at La Rochelle airport. After quickly saying 'hi' to the sea by the jetty we arrived home to find Père Noël had visited AGAIN leaving a Christmas stocking for Nadine and more presents for us all! Tine did us a lovely Christmas Dinner and we had an early night.

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This morning it's cold and overcast. The girls are going to venture to Super U then I think we will wander along the beach for Nadine to see what the heavy seas have been up to!