Plage de la Mine

From le Payré we motored on just a few kilometres to the end of the road and walked through the pine forests to this beautiful beach that we were very happy to rediscover after a few years. (Jim & Les: this is where we had a beer at the beach café when we had a sneaky holiday in May four or five years ago.)

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The colour of the sea was amazing but sadly we didn't have our swimming things with us. We returned the following week and ventured in with Pete, but the waves were tiny and the blue was grey!

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I'm not sure what the priest was doing on the beach, but I loved the group. I'll need a better camera if I want to be a member of the paparazzi!

Le Payré

Just before Nadine's return to the UK after her major stay this summer we had a lovely drive out to our favourite Abbé de Lieu Dieu (already posted here several times!) and onto the Payré estuary where the very high tide made it all very interesting with only a narrow sand bank between tidal waters.

We were curious to see a couple picking some of the plants there and found out that they were salicornes (known as samphire in English apparently) which grows on salt marshes and is used in cooking. Apparently their preparation is very long-winded so perhaps not for us!

End of season do (3)

And so, on into the evening. We ate (courtesy of Matt) at Nico's, and as usual we were treated to wonderfully cooked food and an excellent ambiance. That's Matt & Nad before the meal!

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Then to the Casa Blue where DJ Call was in da house and a GREAT time was had by all, well into the small hours.

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I don't really need to point out the stars of our group, enough to say we had a fantastic time even at our age!

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Let's hope Jeremy, Mousse, Floppy, Benji, Charles & Malice return next year to make La Paillote THE place to be!

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Big cheers to Matt for a fantastic day!

End of season do (2)

So, onto Pedro's to enjoy further drinks in the early-evening sun - what an idyllic spot.
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I've obviously perfected the traditional French pose in the first photo and Tine is in her element in photo 2 with her entourage around her. Then we have my two favourite girls looking very sporty after their afternoon high in the trees. Finally Jeremy, Gaz (old Uni mate of Matt's), Matt and moi. That's Mousse's long shadow giving clues to the time of day.
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Final instalment next time.

End of season do (1)

It's been a tough season at La Paillote but luckily August's weather and crowds have helped put a smile back onto Matt's face. Another plus has been the fantastic team he's had working for him this year. They have been so hard working and ever-supportive of Matt, always done with good humour - I think I will remember the laughs the most this year.

As an end-of-season treat Matt took us all to Indian Forest not far from here (very like Go Ape in the Lake District). It wasn't really my cup of tea (as we say) but I raised myself to the challenge and here is the proof!

Photo 1 has the full team but no Mousse (taking the photo) - don't we look fetching in our purple? Photos 2 & 3 show me in action, then photo 4 shows how it SHOULD be done!

Afterwards there was fun time in the park. That's Jeremy, Matt's chef riding the bucking bronko in photo 5. Following that we have Mousse & Floppy (don't ask!), Matt & Charles, and finally Nadine trying to defeat strong elastic bands!

What a day, but far more to come. Watch this space.....

Photos

First of all I'll come clean - only the first photo is mine. So a big thankyou to Peter Davison and our new card-reader!
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The first photo shows the beautiful sun shining through the almond tree outside where Loulou, Sylvie & family stay each summer. Note the blue sky - apparently this has been the hottest summer in 50 years in France (sorry UK!)

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I love the next three photos (cheers, Pete): one of our artichokes that we didn't manage to eat, looking beautiful; yet another sunflower photo (apologies to those who are bored); and finally a great shot of our 'new' jetty 12 months later.

Visitors

What a busy summer we've had with very many visitors. Obviously Tine's time was taken making excellent pizzas at La Paillote, but that didn't stop the rest of us from socialising!

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Inlaws Loulou, Sylvie & family came for their traditional stay behind the White House. They too had lots of visitors so we didn't see quite as much of them as usual (hopefully to be put right before too long with a visit to Figeac). Rémi & Caroline are growing up fast and it was great to see Loulou fully fit after his second hip replacement. Sylvie went off for a few days on a girlie yacht trip on the Med off St Tropez, mixing with the jet-set. Can't be bad! Phil is showing us how to do the Madness dance, by the way.

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We also had a visit from our Bingley friends the Davisons (well, 4/5 of them) who hadn't seen the house before. Nadine prepared a wonderful lunch for us all and Tine managed to get a few hours off in the afternoon to catch up with her old buddies. The pumpkins aren't as big this year - it's just Peter being arty! And we had to use Lindsey as a Philippe substitute for the family photo behind the bar. Courtney & Gavin look very relaxed in our deckchairs!