Shelagh & Percy

(click on picture to see the days photos)
We woke rather early again at 06:30, which could be a good thing as we didn’t then need to rush. Unfortunately Percy had a rather unsettling morning for no good reason, resulting in him not really enjoying his breakfast; Shelagh ate well to compensate as at €12 each she wanted value for money!!!

We drove through the main part of the town from the hotel getting to the port at 09:30. St Malo has some old and beautiful buildings from across the decades; some are beautifully kept while a few seem a bit neglected. A shabby exterior in France does not always mean a shabby interior. We were amongst the first onboard the ship so that gave us some time to take some pictures and video of the ship in the port. The weather was overcast but warm and very pleasant so we could stroll around the deck taking in the views of France from the ship.

We didn’t feel the need to eat a full menu in the restaurant so ate from the main self-service restaurant; it was quiet as the boat was far from busy so we got a window seat and found it very comfortable. Shelagh having a prawn starter, not the usual couple of prawns on a bed of lettuce stuff, we are talking about a bowl of prawns (see picture). For a main course Shelagh had a ‘Shepherd’s pie’, with duck, which the chef when it was requested called out ‘ahh Shepherd’s duck’!

Anyway we returned to our cabin to really rest and relax and that allowed Percy to write up the current day’s blog and Shelagh to edit it! The sea is calm and the sky is blue with just a slight swell. We had a little wander about on deck as we passed the Channel Islands and the tip of Normandy

We came into The Solent on a lovely sunny afternoon; we’ve not made this approach before as the Le Havre or Caen route comes in at a sharper angle. We approached the Isle of Wight from the south. A bit choppy for the local sailboats but it gave us a lovely view of Portsmouth as we came in. The timing was perfect to see the Isle of Wight hovercraft come alongside the Bretagne going into the Southsea hovercraft slipway.

We were in the car and off onto the motorway without any problems for the 10 minute drive home; the traffic seemed a bit mad and pushy especially for a Sunday evening but maybe it’s just that Jard was so quiet.

(Click on picture to access the day’s photos)

We got up at just after 06:00 this morning, just in time to see the sea mist come in and then be burnt off by the sun. So it was a leisurely packing of the car and tidying of the house, we left just before 10:00.

We stopped off en route to the McDonald’s car park to upload the last few days work of pictures and comments. By and large it was a quick and uneventful drive to St Malo apart from one small oddity. Just after we had left Les Sables going along the N160, with a speed limit of 110 kph, we were followed by a black Renault car. Nothing really special in that apart from the fact that we have notice the French hate to be behind a British car. Anyway my speed varied between 100 and 110 kph and this car stayed behind us, in that usual French location behind one. Too close!

Anyway this car stayed with us all the way behind us up to the toll motorway, A83. It followed us through the same toll booth to pick up their ticket. We moved away smartly thereby giving us quite a gap for them to make up and we could go our separate ways. Anyway the car caught up with us and again followed us. The speed limit is 130 kph and we were doing 120 kph, do you think that this car was just there by accident?

Anyway we got to the end of the toll motorway and we were driving to the middle toll booth when I changed lanes at the last minute to go to a shorter queue. Surprise surprise he also changed lanes to be behind us at the toll booth. Anyway we paid and were off and we never saw the car again! It had followed us for some 56 miles for well over an hour. It’s registration number? 899 VBB 60, if you wanted to know. Why he was following us who knows, bored maybe, I have to check the car tonight to see any drugs have been fixed to the underside!

We stopped off at a small motorway service area and had a packed lunch we had organised and carried on to St Malo. We had a detailed road map so getting to the hotel was not a problem, a bit challenging at times but ok. The hotel La Villefromoy is a lovely little old world hotel with very modern touches, including free WiFi.

It is a minute’s walk from the sea and the very large promenade. We just walked down to the old town which took a ‘30 minute walk’ to a ‘40 minute walk’ with all the picture taking.

We very quickly found two of the places that Shelagh’s father and grand father had taken on their visit in 1939 just before the outbreak of war. We took pictures of the identical location with Shelagh in the position of her grand father; the third location took a bit more time to find. One of the pictures is of Shelagh’s grandfather walking in front of a restaurant called ‘Duchesse Anne”. The restaurant is still there with the same style of canopy. We decided that since they were charging some 110€ for some of the meals we would eat at the brassiere opposite and therefore be able to look at the place!

We then were able to walk along the promenade in the evening sunshine back the hotel.

(click on the picture to see the days photos)
A great start to the day weather-wise again. Mark and Lorna packed and off home by 10:00, we were off to the Ile de Ré. It is a long drive about an hour and half there are two issues with the drive the first is that it is mostly single carriageway road and therefore a speed limit of 90 kph, and second because it goes through a lot of towns and villages the limit goes down to 50 kph.

There is also a lot of heavy traffic, goods trucks and many wide loads on these single carriageways, which also slows up the traffic. We went straight to St Martin de Ré and photographed those places and buildings that were not practicable the last time we were there two weeks ago. Also we did a lot of video of the town, where last time we did none, mainly due to the better weather.

We picked up the special bowls for Esmé and Maggie that we had ordered, plus some sweet summer clothes that just may do a turn over a good UK summer and ate paninis in the middle of the town. We were able to really have a walk about the sea-ward side of the town this time.

On the drive home we missed our turning on the motorway; we have always had a problem with that junction as it is so poorly sign posted; it says Nantes, not Marans and it catches us out. Instead of turning around and back tracking our path we opted to link up with our route by driving across country. (Bad choice!)

Even with a good map it was hard work, with the vagaries of the French road sign system, the one way routes in and around the small towns and villages, not to mention the villages not on our map!

We just got back popped into the local Super U for last minute supplies for breakfast and for use en route back to the UK.

We then cycled down to the port for an evening meal. Lovely setting and we picked a double table to pick up the maximum evening sun with the view over the harbour. We opted for a starter, main course and coffee to follow; we also had a free Kir each due to a card we were given last night. A really lovely evening meal and on the cycle back the sun is still up high and warm at 20.45!

(Please click on the picture to link to the days photos)
A lovely day! Shelagh and I planned to go to the Super U at La Tranche to buy all those French things that you cannot buy in the UK.

Mark had confirmed via text messaging to a friend (Nigel) who lives nearby their house that there is a mains water issue. It appears that the local mains water has been contaminated with a bacterium (crypto-sporidium) and that all drinking water must be boiled. Nigel confirmed that all the local supermarket shelves of bottled drinking water were empty. So part of Mark and Lorna’s task this morning was to purchase some bottled water to take home! It looks like it will be a long time before the mains water will be suitable to drink.

We did our shopping at the Super U but unfortunately I picked one of those ‘wayward’ shopping trolleys that have a will of their own. Normally this is not a problem but with this ?cracked rib of mine I seriously aggravated it to the extent I had some serious chest pains. In itself not an issue but it does sap one’s energy. We did buy a lot of wine.

Back at the house Shelagh settled into her cross-stitch work and I read for bit. I had to go for a ride to ‘blow the cobwebs’ away, just a short trip north to the salt marshes along to La Saulnerais continuing on past an area called ‘Fief des Grippaudières’ on then to a major road and then back to the house with a following wind.

A nice quiet 20 minute ride, not a photogenic ride but attractive in is own way and I felt a lot better for it.

This evening we went down to the port for our dinner, in celebration of Mark and Lorna’s time together. It was a lovely evening if a bit windy.

(Please click on the picture to link to the days photos)
Martin, the owner, knocked on the door this morning to check it was ok if the service man for the canopy came over between 5 and 6 this afternoon. Now there was a lovely warm start to the day and Shelagh and I when straight into the town to do some basic shopping. Basically to shop at the small local shops, for meat, ham, bread, eggs, fruit and vegetables.

We had got there early enough for the parking not to be a problem or the queues at the shops to be long at all. Then we went over to the local Super U, to pick up the odds and ends.

Back at the house to have a dinner of bread, local ham and cheese with a gazpatcha starter.

After that we went out to the McDonalds car park to upload the last couple of days into the website. On the way we watch a rather erratic French car driver absolutely desperate to overtake a lorry even in the town speed limit zone. As the lorry with the following car left the town speed limit the lorry sped up faster than the car could accelerate. After that we were in a 90 kph zone and the car could not overtake with the oncoming traffic, even with his wheels over a solid white line.

We finally decided that I should get out the video camera to record the accident, which we thought was about to happen. I just got the video camera operating when he overtook in a 90 kph zone just as he was passing a speed camera. So we caught the whole overtaking and the flash of the speed camera as he went past it. The daft thing was that the guy had a local number plate so he was a local person. Even so the speed camera has a very large warning sign just before it, as do all French speed cameras, plus a speed sign after the warning sign just to make sure you know what you should not be exceeding.

Back home we had another simple bike ride down to the sea at ‘Boisvinet Plage’ along the coast to the port, with the obligatory  ice-cream, and then back home. We could watch the sail boarding and the kite surfing from the high point along the walk. I did manage to persuade Shelagh to buy a dress on the way back; it was a rather nice simple dress with a touch of elegance that will work on warm formal occasions. OK it is a dress and Shelagh does not do dresses but the odd one from time to time is fine. Equally the design is very French so it is nice and different.

The owners Martin and Sylvia arrived at just after 17:00 and we chatted while we waited for the ‘canopy man’ to arrive. He did arrive and a new canopy was ordered of the new design so that tension cables are not exposed as in the current design, mind you the current one latest lasted 10years. The ‘canopy man’ is a local man who installed the current canopy, but interestingly does not have an e-mail address or a website.

We then started up the BBQ and cooked the biggest steak I have ever cooked; Fred Flintstone, eat your heart out! It was bought at the local boucherie in Jard (Jean Michel Cornuaud), where Shelagh asked what beef he would recommend for BBQ and told him how many we were cooking for and this is what he came up with and how to cook it.

We did cook it as per his instructions and the steak was well cooked from a French point of view; 8 minutes in total but turning every 2 minutes. From a British point of view it was a medium rare cooked steak and very nice piece it was. This was our last meal here en famille as we’ve decided to eat out tomorrow night, being Mark & Lorna’s last night as they set off on Friday.

We had a nice relaxing evening with a very domestic scene as Shelagh started a new piece of cross-stitch; a map of New Zealand her ‘friend’ Charley has given her and Lorna took up her first piece of cross-stitch since school days. Shelagh suspects the topography of NZ might have changed by the time she finishes it but enjoyed doing the first 4″ of border once the canvas had been stitched into its frame. Mark watched a film on his lap-top and Percy edited up some more holiday video.

We also had a slice of local ‘cake’ called Gâche which is like a nice Madeira cake and we had slices of fresh fruit and cherries on top. It has crème anglaise in the mixture so is very moist and soft. It was still quite light at 10.30 when we all went off to bed.

(Please click on the picture to link to the days photos)
Well I think that Shelagh will not be having street paella for a little time in the future. We cannot say for sure what the problem was, it was definitely not food poisoning but maybe it was a bit too rich in some aspects.

The day was a warm day with not a lot of sun around but it did appear from time to time.

Shelagh and I went for walk along the coast path from Jard to Saint Vincent and back again. We did take the car to the beach to start the walk. Almost no wind at the start of the walk by the sea but it picked up as the walk progressed, which was just as well. It was very muggy and there was always the chance of further storms.

We did half of the walk to Saint Vincent on the beach as it was low tide returning by the coastal path back to Jard. My right knee has started to play up in such a way that has not happened for decades; in fact it’s never been very bad since the first couple of years after my accident. Shelagh reckons that I have been cycling and walking a lot over the last week; far more than I have for years and that has taken its toll on my knee.

We were surprised to see a ‘No Cycling’ sign at the beginning of the pathway at the Jard end; we had cycled along this path twice last week and not seen any signs. However when we took the path again at St Vincent we noticed a sign that end too and in fact at every intersection along the way so we feel certain that the men had been out on Monday erecting them, especially as there was evidence of fresh sawdust near each one. We were relieved we hadn’t ignored signs last week and glad we’d had the opportunity to ride along that stretch but sorry that the route is now barred; we noticed several cyclists very confused at being confronted with the signs. However we can also see that it in peak summer time the path would become very busy with walkers and cyclists could be a nuisance so maybe it’s a summer time ban and the signs come down again later in the year.

In the evening with the wind picking up Mark retracted the house canopy and there was a loud bang with a cable snapping. As we were all outside looking at what had gone wrong, there then appeared some heads from over the wall. It was the owners of the property who were over from the UK and were visiting next door in the garden as the cable snapped.

They were very OK with what had happened and popped over a bit later for a chat and to inspect the canopy.

Mark & Lorna provided supper tonight and we had Buffalo burgers and Toulouse sausages with potatoes and salad. The burgers were heart shaped and Shelagh thinks it’s because they are low fat and therefore good for the heart; it may be just to differentiate them from the beef for the butcher! All very tasty anyway and it was warm enough to eat outside at 9 o’clock.

(please click on the picture to link to the photos of the day)

The day started grey but bright but by the time Shelagh I when to Jard sur Mer, it was market day, it started to rain. There had been some thunder last night but in the morning while we were out there was quite a lot. We actually had a very successful shopping expedition, picking up lots of items that we needed for the UK. I was able to purchase some very nice clip-on sun glasses. I had bought some at the same shop three years ago. Now with my new prescriptions they only just fit. It appears that this is the only place that you can get good clip-on sunglasses. Well, some that I can find anyway.

Shelagh had been on the look out for a clock for the back bedroom and finally saw one yesterday which was just right; it was in a small shop which only opens for 2 hours on 5 days of the week, excluding Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so it was important to go today. We finally got to the Post Office for stamps too so we could get postcards sent.

Shelagh also bought lunch for herself from a market-trader and risked a big dish of Paella which she thought looked interesting and turned out to be very tasty indeed, even if it did stink the house out!!!!

We drove up to the McDonald’s car park to upload to our website that took almost an hour with four days worth needing to be done. Mark and Lorna had lunch at the Port at Jard and watched the lightning during lunch over the sea.

We spent the rest of the day at the house writing, reading or sorting out pictures on our laptops. Of course having decided the day was going to be a wash-out it turned out to be a lovely afternoon and evening; we all had supper in the garden. Never mind we probably needed the rest.

(please click on the picture to link to the days photos)

Today we had a English fried breakfast, just for a change. The day was predicted to be wet with a temperature of 24 degrees, Ha! What do they know? It was lovely and a warm sunny day. Ok so there was some thunder and lightning in the distance last night.

We had one of those slow starts to the day where we finally left the house for a bike ride at just after 12:00. We cycled down to the port and had a panini & frites for lunch with a cold drink and then set off to Saint Vincent sur Jard. We then cycled further east along the coast but using the back routes which took us to several small beaches. They would be rather nice if we were in a beach swimming mood, but we weren’t so we then cycled back. Mark & Lorna had been further along the coast at Les Conches and had been swimming.

We took Mark and Lorna out for an evening meal at ‘Le Transatlantique’, which is on the sea front looking out at the marina at the Port de Plaissance. We were indoors but, by the window with the window removed! So we had the sea breeze and evening sun with our evening meal. We all had the set menu, each taking the different options. At €14 for three courses it was very good value; Shelagh had her first oysters since having them on the beach at Granville during the French exchange 41 yrs ago!!!

(please click on picture to link to the days photos)

The day started very sunny with wall to wall blue sky, with me trying to correct for the extra unplanned sun I got yesterday. I nipped into the town on the bike to pick up some croissants for breakfast, which we had on the patio in the garden.

The trouble started with trying to access our website and finding that the webpage had changed. I also checked out another one of my websites to find the same problem. I had thought that I had picked up some form of spyware on my computer and they had accessed the website after picking up the passwords. “Not happy” was not the word for it. I had the computer carry out a full check for any virus that may have been picked up. There were a few ‘tracking cookies’ that I deleted.

We came back to the cottage to talk this over with Mark where he thought that we could be vulnerable. We all then went back to McDonalds to access the internet. Mark found that I had not paid my maintenance cost for the domain name ‘shelaghandpercy.co.uk’ and so they had simply closed it down redirecting anyone accessing that web address to one of their advertising revenue generating site!

Mark and Lorna went off to the beach while Shelagh and I went back to the cottage for something to eat and to calm down as the web-site problems had worried us.

The day was very hot with Mark and Lorna having a really great time at the beach in the sea. After dinner Shelagh and I went for a bike ride down to the port just to catch a bit of breeze and to stretch our legs. We came across the local marching band setting itself up at the marina. We hung around taking up what little sea breeze there was just watching and then the band with their accompanying dancing girls marched off to a parade area and performed for 40 minutes.

We think that this was some sort of mid-summer festival, with quite a lot of people around the Port area and with another stand put up for a local pop band and a set of disco dancers. We left just before 22:00 back to the cottage, the sun had just gone down but the air was still warm.

A distant storm rumbled and flashed away through most of the night but here there was just a little shower.

(click on picture to link to the days photos)
Not a nice start to the day with heavy overcast and some spots of rain. Shelagh and I went out to look at the local market in Longeville. It was a local market for local people! There was some trinket stuff but not what we were interested in. after that we were back at the Jard shops to pick up some fresh ham and some fruit and vegetables for an evening meal.

We were of course in the shops behind one of the worst Brits that you come across around here. Those are ones who don’t speak any French and don’t even try, absolutely not a word, even a “Merci” after all the effort put in by the shopkeeper! All that after they’ve ignored the “Please don’t serve yourself we will help you” signs written in French & English!! Ho hum!!

Anyway, back home for a light lunch, mostly fruit and then we decided it was a shame to stay in or be in the car so we headed off to St Vincent sur Jard on our bikes. We set off with a littlest of fine misty drizzle in the air and had a good ride; decided on Crêpes instead of ice-cream at the little booth in the village down by the sea. The nice stall-holder warned us it would take 5 minutes to warm up the crêpe cooking plate and we agreed to wait; we then had at least a quarter of an hour to talk to him and Shelagh found her French wasn’t doing too badly. We discussed the state of the Euro, high food & housing prices, the weather and where to find the best waves! Also children learning other languages, so a good comprehensive stretch of vocabulary skills! Then the crêpes were ready!!

After St Vincent we set off through the pine forests to the coast path towards Jard sur Mer; a lovely path right along the top of the cliffs and an abundance of coastal plants all around. We walked and cycled back to Jard and then met up with Mark & Lorna and joined them in having a lovely ice-cream by the Port de Plaissance. By now it was very hot and sunny; they set off for home via the Super U where they stocked up on meat for a BBQ supper. We stayed a little longer and walked around the marina sea wall before heading home through the town.

This evening we’ve sat outside and eaten our supper catching the last rays and heat of the day.