Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Happy Birthday Laura!
Yes, it’s 30th August already, which means my not so little sister is now officially in her late 20’s!! Happy Birthday Laura!!
Yet again it’s been ages since I wrote, so here’s what I’ve been up to:
I got prickly heat in the middle of August – and pity anyone who gets it – as it drives you mad! You get a nettle like rash appearing randomly, and insanely itchy. This latter effect really tests your patience, as you must not itch, otherwise after the 5 seconds relief and pleasure of itching an itch, it then gets a billion times worse!!! You learn that very quickly!! Luckily the weather has changed, and the prickly heat has gone…
We’ve done quite a bit of cycling since I last wrote, and are venturing out a bit further as we’ve had a bit more time. On Tuesday 23rd we took the van to the garage for a service, and headed off on our bikes – and ended up cycling 70km that day! However the garage hadn’t been able to do the service as the lease company said the lease had expired and they needed to get authorisation! So we had to leave the van for a second day – we did a much shorter ride (about 30km) but treated ourselves to a superb lunch in Blere. The restaurant has 3 “chimneys” – hotels get star ratings, and restaurants that are part of the “Logis de France” chain, get chimney ratings, 3 being the best!! And it really was one of the best meals I have ever eaten!
We finally got the van back at 6pm and set off on the first part of our “holiday”. Now, I know many of you think that we’re on permanent holiday here, but that isn’t entirely true, and we have been needing a break. We still had a couple of guests in region, so we stayed close, and headed north east towards Orleans. We spent the night in a pretty little riverside village called Beaugency in a charming little guest house, then the next morning headed into Orleans. At this point it was chucking it down – the worst rain we’ve seen all summer! Luckily Orleans is a good place to window shop! We stayed in a basic but cheap hotel, which was essentially a room above a bar! The weather brightened and we ambled round the streets just soaking up the atmosphere. Friday morning we headed back to work to deal with our guests and their luggage.
On Saturday, our proper holiday began. We dropped our guests at the station to make their way home, and headed off on a road trip: west along the Loire, via Azay le Rideau, Chinon and Saumur, taking in the scenery from the van, then stopping in at a Neolithic monument (the best in France) in a pub garden (!!), some 16th century cave sculptures, and a troglodyte village. We then headed for the motorway, and the beach: St Gilles Croix de Vie. We found this place by pure chance, doing a search on the “Logis de France” website for hotels with last minute availability, as we couldn’t book til Friday. Only 1 hotel located by the sea had any rooms, so it was here or nothing!! As it turned out, St Gilles is a pleasant little fishing and pleasure port, so a smaller version of Brighton, or Scarborough. There are a few high rise apartment blocks, but it hasn’t been totally ruined, although the English have found out about it – there were lots of families, presumably staying in a campsite just outside town. The weather finally brightened up on Sunday evening, and we dipped our toes in the very cold Atlantic, and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and the sea, watching the sun set…
Then Monday morning dawned with the clearest of skies, and after a final look at the harbour and beach, we headed back, stopping in Angers for lunch and a quick look at the 11th century 100m long tapestry depicting the Apocalypse…then back to pick up new guests from the station by 4pm.
And so that brings me up to date. Almost into September, which is lining up to be a very busy month, and then back to blighty…
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Yes, it’s 30th August already, which means my not so little sister is now officially in her late 20’s!! Happy Birthday Laura!!
Yet again it’s been ages since I wrote, so here’s what I’ve been up to:
I got prickly heat in the middle of August – and pity anyone who gets it – as it drives you mad! You get a nettle like rash appearing randomly, and insanely itchy. This latter effect really tests your patience, as you must not itch, otherwise after the 5 seconds relief and pleasure of itching an itch, it then gets a billion times worse!!! You learn that very quickly!! Luckily the weather has changed, and the prickly heat has gone…
We’ve done quite a bit of cycling since I last wrote, and are venturing out a bit further as we’ve had a bit more time. On Tuesday 23rd we took the van to the garage for a service, and headed off on our bikes – and ended up cycling 70km that day! However the garage hadn’t been able to do the service as the lease company said the lease had expired and they needed to get authorisation! So we had to leave the van for a second day – we did a much shorter ride (about 30km) but treated ourselves to a superb lunch in Blere. The restaurant has 3 “chimneys” – hotels get star ratings, and restaurants that are part of the “Logis de France” chain, get chimney ratings, 3 being the best!! And it really was one of the best meals I have ever eaten!
We finally got the van back at 6pm and set off on the first part of our “holiday”. Now, I know many of you think that we’re on permanent holiday here, but that isn’t entirely true, and we have been needing a break. We still had a couple of guests in region, so we stayed close, and headed north east towards Orleans. We spent the night in a pretty little riverside village called Beaugency in a charming little guest house, then the next morning headed into Orleans. At this point it was chucking it down – the worst rain we’ve seen all summer! Luckily Orleans is a good place to window shop! We stayed in a basic but cheap hotel, which was essentially a room above a bar! The weather brightened and we ambled round the streets just soaking up the atmosphere. Friday morning we headed back to work to deal with our guests and their luggage.
On Saturday, our proper holiday began. We dropped our guests at the station to make their way home, and headed off on a road trip: west along the Loire, via Azay le Rideau, Chinon and Saumur, taking in the scenery from the van, then stopping in at a Neolithic monument (the best in France) in a pub garden (!!), some 16th century cave sculptures, and a troglodyte village. We then headed for the motorway, and the beach: St Gilles Croix de Vie. We found this place by pure chance, doing a search on the “Logis de France” website for hotels with last minute availability, as we couldn’t book til Friday. Only 1 hotel located by the sea had any rooms, so it was here or nothing!! As it turned out, St Gilles is a pleasant little fishing and pleasure port, so a smaller version of Brighton, or Scarborough. There are a few high rise apartment blocks, but it hasn’t been totally ruined, although the English have found out about it – there were lots of families, presumably staying in a campsite just outside town. The weather finally brightened up on Sunday evening, and we dipped our toes in the very cold Atlantic, and had dinner in a restaurant overlooking the beach and the sea, watching the sun set…
Then Monday morning dawned with the clearest of skies, and after a final look at the harbour and beach, we headed back, stopping in Angers for lunch and a quick look at the 11th century 100m long tapestry depicting the Apocalypse…then back to pick up new guests from the station by 4pm.
And so that brings me up to date. Almost into September, which is lining up to be a very busy month, and then back to blighty…
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