La Chaume

On our way back from Bretignolles we drove through the Fôret d'Olonne and arrived at La Chaume which is on the 'other' side of the channel which leads to the the marinas and port facilities of Les Sables.

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In the first photo you can see the ferry boat that crosses the channel throughout the day for a very small cost. We once saw school children on their way home taking the ferry, which I found amusing! By the way this is the channel where the participants of the Vendée Globe arrive home after their single-handed round-world trip. Sadly we haven't been able to see any arrive.

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I should think La Chaume itself used to be the fishermen's quarters of Les Sables as there are many narrow, windy passages rather like Cornwall. We came across this huge mural and happily share these photos with you!

Picnic on the beach

Last Saturday, making the most of the sunshine, we headed northwards up the coast to Bretignolles-sur-Mer which lies between Les Sables and St Gilles. Although the town itself is inland there are stunning views over the Atlantic from the corniche. It was particularly impressive that day as there were big breakers and lots of surfers making the most of the excellent conditions.

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We had packed some sandwiches and a bottle of red (well it WAS weekend) and enjoyed a lovely picnic watching the waves get nearer and nearer, eventually having to relocate twice! Tine enjoyed her book whilst I explored amongst the rocks.

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The final photo shows a modern sculpture in wood depicting a surfer with surf-board, just above the beach at La Sauzaie. Will definitely take future visitors here.

Getting ready for the new season

The roundabout on the town centre car park has been a feature of La Tranche summers for as long as we've been coming here (28 years this summer). There's a funny tradition that I don't think we have in the UK: a Mickey Mouse soft toy is dangled from the roof as the roundabout circles. The child who grabs it gets a free ride next time! Anyway, all this is to say that a mini-version of the roundabout has appeared for the school half-term holidays. Not sure if there is a Mickey or not though...

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We heard a whistle as we were cycling past La Paillote the other day, and discovered Jean 'Up on the roof' (sing along now: 'When this old world starts getting me down...'). Matt will be happy that he was clearing debris from the recent gales. We've been VERY happy to collect some of the many pine cones that have fallen in the campsite. Great for the fire.

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Next, more big rocks have been deposited on the main beach near the end of the cycle lane (where the pavement collapsed last year). As this is one of the pathways onto the beach I'm not sure exactly what they are going to do, but the sea is claiming back its sand again.

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Please ignore the last two photos if you've had enough of the new car park. Photo 4 shows the zig-zag pathway across to La Paillote, and photo 5 shows one of the the parking bays near to the restaurant.

Come on Spring!

Just had a look back at the blog twelve months ago and was very surprised to see all the Spring growth on 11th February, eating outside at lunchtime on 5th February and a barbecue on 14th! Well let me report that this year we haven't eaten outside yet and the gardens and hedgerows are not as far on. I know it IS only February and we were possibly spoiled last year, but still.....

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I mentioned that we'd had very high tides again and here we have evidence of surfers on the main beach (look carefully and you will spot them!) and the water coming over the sea wall by the jetty.

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Photo 3 has got to be one of my favourites since arriving here, near the entrance to 'our' beach. The last two photos show more clearly the drop to the beach from that entrance, mentioned in my last post. There's a huge lot of sand gone.

Creatures and high tides

Last winter we saw some strange white candy-floss like balls in pine trees nearby and later found out that these were nests of processionary caterpillars, a real pest as once they process they devour practically all vegetation! Usually landowners destroy the nests before it is too late but neighbours of the campsite obviously didn't do so as we saw a couple of 'trails' last week (not much vegetation in sight though).

The heavy seas have washed up quite a few dead crabs recently (apparently the cold temperatures also have an effect on them). Here there's a 'former' spider crab, quite a size next to Tine's dainty foot.

The big tides have also been eating away at the dunes again. We noticed this stockade filled with gravel on La Plage des Génerelles. I wonder how effective it will be if under attack from the waves... Nearer to home 'our beach' has been attacked somewhat with a big step down from the pathway through the dunes, the last two photos taken on 14th January and 7th February. It looks like the council will have to sort out more protection before long.

Developments in the car park

Last October I reported how we must have paid our rates as the council has been very busy on the car park opposite La Paillote.

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To bring you up-to-date here are further photographs. The first two were taken at the beginning and end of December. At this stage it was hard to imagine what was going on by the restaurant.

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The next three photos were taken on 5th February, showing one of the three new walkways across the carpark, how wide the pavement is on the restaurant side, and the new separate cycle and foot paths on the lagoon side of the car park.

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By 11th February maritime pines have been planted to accompany the thousands of grasses already beginning to take root. A few more trees and a new tarmac surface with markings should finish the job off!

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These and more photos on http://picasaweb.google.com/PapamanPicasa/CarparkChanges

A late Christmas

Sorry for the delay in part two of our visit to Figeac. We've had tremendous gales here, complete with several power cuts and loss of internet.

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Right, back to business. Photo number one shows our young nephew with two friends asking for left-over baguette. Now, how many donkeys can you see in this photo?!

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We celebrated Christmas about five weeks late, with exchange of gifts and a lovely meal cooked by Sylvie. The next four photos were taken that evening, Loulou home for the weekend from his convalescent hospital, doing very well after his hip operation.

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Sylvie was very proud to show off her new dining table and chairs in their black and white living room. (Hope you notice the Christmas Crackers, a tradition that doesn't exist in France.)

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Finally Loulou's latest Fender guitar (this photo's for Phil) and Francine's coffee service (this one's for Silv!)

Figeac-en-Quercy

We walked down to the market from Francine's new house, once again appreciating just how beautiful Figeac is. Each time we visit more buildings have been 'done up', but always lovingly in the local style.

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There were quite a few people in town (it was market day after all) including a few ex-patriot Brits living in the area - wonder how the €/£ is affecting them....

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The third photo shows how most town centre streets are labelled in dual language, French and Occitan. The photo of me was taken by the house where Tine had her piano lessons when she was young.

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Changes are still afoot, as can be seen in the final photo. This is Place Champollion (the Figeac-born hieroglyphics code-breaker) which is currently a maze of pathways whilst a stepped feature is being created.

Popping in on old mates

We managed to do our long-distance visiting last weekend, and luckily Anil and Mick were still in Dordogne, about to set off home the following day. They'd experienced the incredible storms the weekend before and many of their jobs took longer than expected. Thankfully Anil warned us to bring our wellies so we were able to have another look around the very impressive land on which Anil, Anita & Arun are going to build their home.

The first photo shows Mick just woken from his afternoon slumber. It's good to see that some things don't change!! Anil and Mick moved the temporary mobile home to this position after it sinking into the mud on several occasions. It is really quite luxurious inside. Photo 2 shows Anil's weather station which feeds all the information inside to a very sophisticated apparatus. Boys' toys, heh?

The other shots show the mobile home in its new position near to their own private wood, the catkins making a valiant effort to prove that spring is on its way.

Sadly we only stayed for about 45 minutes before continuing our journey to Figeac. More next time...

(The camera is repaired and we're back to fighting form!)