Christmas 2014

We both survived our 10 days in the UK and came back for the Flamme d'Armagnac in Montreal, a weekend of walking, cycling, eating, drinking and music where we helped serve a 5-course meal with drinks to 600 people - it was the 20th anniversary so quite a party.  Unfortunately, Judy had twisted her ankle playing badminton and so wasn't able to walk.  This is an on-going saga as every time she thinks it's better it seems to blow up again.

Then back to the UK again for a wedding at Polhawn Fort at Rame Head.  A great time was had by all.  Not worth going back home so we spent a couple of weeks visiting friends we hadn't seen for a long time.  Lots of lunches and catching up with family news, and so thanks to all for the overwhelming hospitality.

Finally up to Nicky and Glyn's to help prepare for Christmas.  Their new kitchen was still kit-form when we arrived and the third bedroom was serving for cooking with washing up in the bathroom - not ideal.  Anyway, the plumber, electrician and carpenters arrived so just before Christmas we were able to install a still-temporary kitchen in the kitchen, which even has under-floor heating - such a luxury up here!

The guys were a bit slow at installing the kitchen units so Chris and Glyn had to install the sink ready for the plumber.  Then one of the electricians stood on the worktop and broke it so we had to do it all again!  But it works now and then we could move all the stuff from upstairs to down.

Meanwhile Bryony had found the new big space and took her first independent steps there before heading off to try and climb the stairs!

We both had rotten colds as Christmas day approached and then Judy went down with a stomach infection.  She spent Christmas Day in bed and Chris spent the night sleeping on a mattress on the landing.  But Bryony had lots of presents and will take a few days to open them all.  In fact still hasn't opened them all on Dec 29th!

The day after Christmas it snowed, although most of it was after dark - this shows a twisted willow outside the window.

Anyway, we're off to Cuba and Guatemala for January and most of February.  Apparently the internet connections are not good so we may not be able to post to the blog as we go and there may be no more news until we get back.  So a Happy New Year to you all!

Another busy summer having fun

Another couple of months have passed without seemingly much activity - except the usual round of fêtes for the summer.  Judy had to cook duck for the medieval evening as Chris had been invited to do some work for the General Medical Council, quality assuring medical training.  This has been very disruptive with a day's work at odd intervals, and will run until the end of November.  Chris is quite keen as he thinks it's a shame to waste his knowledge and experience (such as it now is! J isn't as it has messed up all sorts of holidays all through the autumn!).  But we were both involved in the fête again which had a new team and was more ambitious - and successful.

We spent a day at Jazz in Marciac - world famous but we weren't too impressed - they all seemed a bit serious.  But then a day at a folkie fest in Pau was entirely different and had a much better atmosphere despite the rain.  Oh, yes, it has not been a good summer for the weather in France - exceptional(ly bad) they say.  But we walked 7km (and back) to Lagraulet to eat unlimited wild boar which was delicious, all in glorious sunshine.  We also spent a day at the races, never been before here.  It was trotting races and quite exciting.  Not sure we're up to betting yet though.

We had 24 people for dinner at the end of August - the group who go around each others' houses about once a month and bring food to eat and wine to drink. 

We tried to make it an organic food evening as there are quite a few who like it that way, mostly vegetarians we have to say, so we cooked some naturally-reared beef that went down well with the omnivores.

Our bit of Montreal got renamed as 'Quartier du Quebec' rather than 'Au Pont' so our address has officially changed, but I'm not sure what La Poste would do if you tried it.

September brought in the real summer and it has been really hot all month.  Chris did a couple of days' work back in Plymouth and what with the GMC and all, we haven't managed to get away.  The shutters, which are one of the finishing touches to the house, arrived early in September ahead of schedule (amazing).  They are there to keep the house cool in summer and provide privacy in winter.  We never had curtains in Yelverton so we're used to sleeping through the dawn. So being stuck at home forced Judy to set to work painting the shutters:  they came under-coated but to match the windows is a special colour.  It looks more like a French house every day. 

 It also gave us time to do the decking terrace at the back (south side) of the house, so when Jill and Andy arrived for a few days we actually had somewhere to sit.  Just need to put the ends on now.

A German friend of Chris arrived at the end of September to continue his walk along the Chemin Saint Jacques (Camino de Compostella) as he had finished here last year.  We had invited an Australian couple (who have a second home here) around for dinner and what with Udo's train being delayed it was a very late finish.  Other friends of Chris (his former boss at British Antarctic Survey) arrived next day with other friends and two dogs and two camper-vans, so more self-inflicted headaches in the morning.  Fortunately Udo didn't want an early start.

Judy went to stay with Nicky as she was supposed to be having her tonsils out and it wasn't clear if Glyn would be back in time to hold the fort - baby, horses dogs etc.   Glyn has now finally been put in charge as captain - well done him! - and he did make it back in time, just before the operation got cancelled (twice).  Nicky was really cross, the worse thing being that she had to go back to work!!

Chris took the opportunity to do a cycle tour of the Gers - there are six sites to collect - which took him 3 days: 280km and 14h 12mins cycling according to his computer, all in good weather. The rain arrived the day after he got back. He slept in pilgrim accommodation at 12euros the night for bed and shower, like this little tower in Marciac.

The Gers is quite hilly so he was really grateful for the low gears.   And only another 88 departments to go!

After the two days of rain, October has also been amazingly warm, just shorts and T-shirt weather.  Spent the weekend of 17-20th October in the town of Lauzerte in Tarn et Garonne.  Very pretty but as we sat outside the bar on the friday evening, most voices were English!  

We went for the walking weekend which pulls in walkers from all over the region.  Amongst them (over 700 walked on the Sunday) we were the only Brits - Hooray!

The next plan is to finish the last remaining room - the utility room which was our long-term camp kitchen before December (hmm..).  Strange that when we put things in there all that time ago they're now in the wrong place!  C'est la vie.

Now off to Blighty for 10 days, Judy in Exmouth, Chris spending time between Leeds (work) and Holywell (baby-sitting, dog walking, horse poo picking, etc.).

 

Goodbye Yelverton

We had a great time with Donna in the UK visiting family and friends. 

We dropped her at Heathrow and then drove back here in time for the retirement party of a friend who works in a school near here.  As it was about 40kms away we even spent the night in or 2-person tent to save losing our licences on the way back! 

A lot has happened in July which seems to have flown past.  Most important, we finally completed the sale of our house in Yelverton.  It took ages (we agreed the price in February) because one person in the chain had a useless solicitor.  Anyway, it's done now, boats burnt etc. Hooray, hooray!!

The other good bit of news was that we finally got all the extra costs back for the cancelled flight from Vancouver.  OPODO were totally useless and it took them 6 weeks just to refund the flight we had booked - we'll never use them again.  The have a section called 'Customer Relations' rather than 'Customer Services' and I think that says it all.

What we did learn is that it is the airline who cancelled who are responsible for all the other costs and to give them their due, Icelandair paid up quickly and with no question.

We've been sorting out lots of little jobs on the house, all those bits and pieces which needed a few minutes but which we had never got around to.  Now the list is nearly done. 

So we've been doing the usual things as well as, walking, eating, drinking, partying - it's tough here.  We were invited by a couple of friends from Condom to spend a day or so with them at their apartment at Cap d'Agde on the Med. Françoise said it had been her childhood dream to have a place by the sea and we had a great time with them, wonderful food and good company but the water was cold!

We helped at the mediaeval evening in Montreal and Chris was on duck duty again - just the 360 this time!  Another one this week but Chris will be away in London so Judy will have to step into the breach.

The Tour de France passed through Condom, but the weather was atrocious, torrential rain and thunderstorms as they approached.  The caravan with all the publicity cars was a great spectacle and the cyclists just whooshed past.  We were at the house of a friend which is directly on the route so had a great view - as well as champagne and a great lunch.

 Had some friends to stay, old school friend of Judy and partner Jim who protested about being made to walk but coped well with the feasting at the other end!

Anyway, now the kitchen is in and the house is sold we're definitely feeling more laid back so work has taken a pause.  We're waiting for the shutters to be installed (after the August holiday) and the wood-burner (not sure when) and then we'll probably start again. 

Chris is off to the UK for a few days work and Judy is going in October to help Nicky and Glyn celebrate Bryony's 1st birthday.
 

The kitchen saga - and visitors

Our IKEA kitchen was due to be delivered on Monday 26th May, so we just got back in time.  The guys who delivered it said, "It looks like some bits may be a bit damaged".  We found a few small bits so phoned IKEA who said they'd send replacements next week.  Then we started putting the cabinets together as we had a kitchen-installer friend arriving on the Friday and Thursday was (another) bank-holiday.  By the end of Monday we had 31 damaged things, including base units, wall units, drawers, shelves, doors, you name it!  So, made the big decision and took it all back to IKEA in Bordeaux who were not at all impressed but fortunately had it all in stock, so we came back with all we needed.

We started getting all the base units together and things progressed well but as we opened more and more we found more and more damaged. Fortunately all the base units and worktops were fine and we were missing only 2 wall units, plus assorted bits and pieces so when Christophe arrived to install the kitchen we had a few base units in, the plumbing ready and so progress was rapid over the two days he was here.  He came back for a couple of hours on Sunday morning and then it was wait for IKEA.

To be fair to IKEA, they did respond well to all the problems and got things delivered to replace damaged bits.  I think they'll have a big argument with the delivery company!

So here are a few photos of progress towards the finished article.

Fiona and Ray arrived on the Friday of the kitchen installation, but by then we had base units, worktops, sink and even the dish-washer plumbed in.  Chris worked with Christophe on the Saturday while Judy played tourist guide, then big celebration in the evening as the kitchen was nearly finished - what a relief!

We really enjoyed having them to stay as it means we can take a break (sympathy, anyone?) and enjoy the countryside, food, wine and music.

We had a few more days to finish a few little kitchen bits and also work in the garden which had been neglected since we left for Canada before Donna arrived.

We picked up Donna from Toulouse airport on Monday morning which was fortunately another bank holiday so no traffic jams.  Spent the next few days doing the tourist bit and introducing her to friends here.  Our friend Helene invited us to dinner one evening and she had invited two of her 'young men' friends, both of whom turned out to be gardeners, so that was really good for Donna.  A bit of luck as Helene didn't know that Donna was a gardener too.  The week passed in a rush of the usual fun things including the opening of an art exhibition so Donna could do her arty thing as well and where we bought two paintings.

Now off to the UK to visit the 'rellies'.

Canada - the west

OK, so we missed out the middle bit by flying Ottawa to Calgary where we picked up another hire car and spent the night in a sleazy motel. In beautiful Banff (the self-styled capital of the Canadian Rockies) by 10am Sunday and did a few short hikes in good weather. 

Next day climbed the snow-covered trail (5.5km along and 700m of up!) to Sulphur Mountain. A clear blue sky and fantastic views from the top. Lots of people take the cable-car up and we took it for the descent as the trail was quite icy in places.

We headed north towards Jasper, stopping for a walk alongside Lake Louise which all the brochures show as turquoise but was still frozen white. Then 230km along the stunning Icefields Parkway, surrounded by huge mountains and glaciers, all the while in glorious sunshine. 

Passed a black bear feeding by the roadside. Found our stay in Jasper (the Seldom In, highly recommended) and went for a beer in T-shirts as it was really warm.
 

Our one full day in Jasper we spent doing a series of short walks in lovely places including Maligne Canyon, then lunch at Medicine Lake which sits on top of a vast cave system which takes all the water when things freeze in the winter, so was empty. Maligne Lake 30km away was still frozen 

and we walked a snow-covered trail up to Moose Lake. Really like Jasper, more country than Banff.

Drove Jasper to Calgary stopping to watch a black bear and her cub (who was up a tree). Up early next day to catch the Greyhound bus across the Rockies to Vancouver which was long (15hrs including lots of stops) but super scenery. Mostly mountains and snow until we hit Vancouver where all was green and flowers were out for spring.

It's May holiday weekend in Canada and start of their holiday season so quite busy, but we caught bus-ferry-bus to Victoria at the south end of Vancouver Island. It's a very pretty ferry ride through the islands. Did some sight-seeing and watched some super street-theatre. Victoria is quite laid-back and pretty, flowers are out and the sun shining.

Sunday morning and Victoria was full of music as Monday is the big Victoria Day parade and all the bands were practising - brass bands, marching bands, jazz bands and a jazz choir - and the sun still shone. Then back to Vancouver which is a surprisingly long way!

Three nights in Van-city, which would probably have been better to spend one more in Victoria and one less here. But an interesting walk around along the very informative harbour front, then via Gastown to Chinatown and a replica Chinese garden which was superb. Vancouver has a great setting like many major ports but the mountains at the back make a difference.

And then disaster - Icelandair cancelled our flight from Vancouver to Paris with less than 48 hours to go! Opodo only work UK hours, so we spent the morning rescheduling transport, fortunately there was a flight available only a day later. Trying to call Opodo the next morning was a nightmare, so after hanging on for 15 minutes we gave up. Won't book through them again. So an extra day here, then home. An exciting end to the trip.

Yes, it was good, scenery superb, accommodation expensive and we finally found some reasonably priced wine. Favourite places were Quebec, Jasper and Victoria - but we'll probably never come back: too many other interesting places we haven't been yet!

Canada - the east

We preferred Ottawa to Montreal, cleaner and a bit more character with capital city buildings, a cross between french chateau and scottish castle! An impressive position at the narrowing of the river where the explorers had to portage around the falls and rapids. 


Chris enjoyed the conference while Judy did the tourist bit although we both made the superb Museum of History, half devoted to the native Americans (First Nations) and the other half a life-size walk-through of Canadian history.

 Picked up our hire car (brand new) and headed to Quebec city pausing to eat our picnic at Trois Rivieres where parking meters seemed to be the main thing growing in the streets.

We really like Quebec, loads of character, clean, very French. Shame about the cold and drizzle. Stayed in the old town which is big and very interesting with a mix of small and huge historic buildings.

Headed east then south across New Brunswick stopping to eat lunch by a still-frozen lake then stopping overnight at Grand Falls, which they were!

 
Headed south through New Brunswick past the town claiming the world's biggest axe (there are lots of trees, a mix of firs and birches) then the Potato World Museum (apparently NB produces huge amounts of spuds, with McCains potato processing plants). Lunched in Frederickton then on to a hostel in Moncton for the night.

Crossed the border into Nova Scotia and turned right along small roads to Parrsboro and then Five Islands where we walked a bit then picnicked in the sun while watching a Bay of Fundy tide flood in. 

 On to Halifax where it was raining.

Cold and wet next day but nice and warm in the excellent Maritime Museum. Halifax doesn't seem very interesting, so time to move on.

A couple of things about Canada: it's not really open until mid-May; accommodation is expensive; food and petrol cheap.

Headed south from Halifax stopping at Peggy's Cove, a tiny harbour in a bare rock landscape. 

Coffee at Mahone Bay where there were more churches than people and picnic at Lunenburg, an 18-19th century town with well-preserved buildings. Got told about a coast walk between Green Bay and Broad Cove which was very pleasant then off to Caledonia for the night.

May 7th seemed like the first day if spring! Spent it at Kejimkujik National Park which is lakes and forests and the Mersey River. 

 Saw deer, porcupine, snakes (3) which we were told were rare, a solitary squirrel and watched a woodpecker hard at work. Ended at Digby, the scallop fishing capital.

Drove up the Annapolis Valley stopping at Annapolis Royal, founded by the French in 1604 and the most fought over bit of land in Canada. The Annapolis valley is very fertile and we drove through orchards but still no blossom!

Really like Nova Scotia (minus Halifax). Now two days driving back to Ottawa, then flight to Calgary and the Rockies.

In Canada

We started with two day's visit to Paris (fabulous) where we stayed in a studio (very small but he did give us a bottle of wine) in the 15th arrondissement which was very good. First afternoon we headed for the Bibliotheque Nationale which has four huge towers, supposedly like open books but as we dashed for cover from a thunderstorm we saw that it was built around a huge (about two football pitches) with fully grown pines and birches. Ate heartily at La Cantine des Tontons.

Next day a cruise on the Seine, a great Thai lunch and found the Picasso museum closed for refurbishment so went to the museum of the history of Paris where we saw Proust's bedroom (amongst other interesting things). 

A wander through the Jardin des plantes brought us to a Bryony!

The flight to Montreal with Corsair was fine, better than our last two Lufthansa experiences. Had forgotten that Montreal was the world's second largest French-speaking city so everything in French, but that's OK. Also, no leaves on the trees yet, it's just the end of winter!  And we've just left summer in France!

Very different from Paris with more litter and people begging on the street, but also a wider range of ethnic restaurants, little wine (too cold) and lots of beers. Like in the USA prices are before taxes and tipping is obligatory.

The hostel we're in did a guided walk around the old town then we headed for the hill (233m) of Mont Royal with great views over the city.

Managed to get two tickets for Cirque du Soleil's new show called Kurios which was stunning, especially as Montreal is their home.

Saturday was rain so we planned two museums but only managed one - just too much to see at the Musee de Beaux Arts. Then train to Ottawa where we are sitting in our one-bedroom suite. Conference for Chris today (Sunday). Walking tour and orientation for J.

Nearly there!

So March and April have been busy around the house.  The jointeur took longer than expected to finish all the joints (we reckon a plaster skim coat is much more sensible) 

but that gave us the chance to work outside tidying up the trees (hazel) in the hedge that we started to do last summer.  That's done now and hopefully will just grow for the next few years.

Then we took advantage of the gap to make a dash to the UK to empty the last things from our house in Yelverton which we are fairly sure is sold.  So hired a van, spent the day driving to Caen, overnight to Portsmouth, drive to Yelverton, load up, overnight to Roscoff, drive back next day!  Nicky and Glyn were staying with his parents in Bere Ferrers so they came to help us move stuff (well, Glyn did) which was a great help and it was good to see them all if only fleetingly.

We then spent 4 days painting the big room downstairs, two undercoats and two top-coats of about 170 square metres each - ouch!

But it looks great and the next week we laid the floor (bamboo planks).  Monday we got the first four rows straight and let the glue dry.

Tuesday we laid 13 more, Wednesday only ten because there was a tricky doorway, then finished Thursday with another tricky doorway.

Couldn't do it all because we had had to cut a channel in the floor for the external air supply for the wood-burner.  As we didn't know which one we were going to have we didn't know where to put the hole.  But all sorted now and we'll wait for the replacement bit of floor screed to be properly dry (in May) before we finish off the floor.

We have the floor all down in the kitchen bit so we went to IKEA in Bordeaux to order our kitchen.  That will be delivered on 26th May just after we get back from Canada then it's a week or two of flat-packs.  We have a carpenter friend who will come and help us, especially fitting the worktop, but who knows how that will go?!

The journey to Bordeaux wasn't just for the kitchen as our friend Denise from Cottenham flew in that day to stay for a week, so we've been doing touristy things with her and just bits of work on the house. Her first day was spent on a walking treasure-hunt organised by the Condom walking club.

 About 150 people on the walk and at the lunch which still hadn't quite finished when we left at about 4pm.

Monday we dined with our friend Helene in Condom, then Tuesday we had to go to Agen to collect the wood-burner.  Wednesday we walked to Fources for lunch through great spring-time countryside.

When we got there we discovered that the auberge was fully booked - how dare they!  Fortunately we had arranged to meet friends there and so they drove us back to Montreal where we ate at the restaurant in the square which is under new management and has had a complete re-fit.  The food is good too.

Friday night we dined with friends from the Montreal walkers and helped plan a couple of walks.

We finally got the lights installed in the big room, quite complicated but it looks great.  We bought the ceiling lights ages ago and couldn't really remember what they looked like, but we're still very happy with them.

We've been without lights in the big room since we moved in in October 2011, so this was quite an event!

Have been tidying up the garden so it doesn't look too awful while we're away in Canada.  Leaving here on 22nd April, two night in Paris, fly to Montreal (not the one we live in, obviously!) for three nights then Ottawa for a conference.  Then three weeks of travel and, no doubt, more blog posts!

Baby Bryony is growing well and Nicky seems to be surviving her first shift alone while Glyn is back at sea.  Donna is booked to come here in early June so life goes on apace!

Sun, snow and plaster-board

OK, it has been mostly plaster-board.

We started on the big room (kitchen/dining-room/living-room) when we got back after the long stay in UK.  Twenty-three sheets went on the ceiling (a kind builder friend lent us a magic machine for winding it up)

 and 30 on the walls (the pink one is fire-resistant and will be behind our wood-burner). 
 

But it's now all done and we're waiting for a 'jointeur' to do all the joints.  We have done them all upstairs but this was just too daunting.

Meanwhile we spent 6 days with the walking club at Llloret de Mar at the beginning of February.  On the way there we stopped to see some interesting 'organ-pipe' geology, a bit like Bryce Canyon but smaller, quite spectacular nevertheless.

 The bus got stopped by the Spanish motorway police who went over it with a fine-tooth comb and managed to find something to fine the driver 280 euros on the spot.  I think they have to earn their salary in fines as the Spanish economy is bust and there's no point trying to fine the Spanish!  Then we spent 3 days doing various walks and a day out in Barcelona.  The cathedral (pictured) was designed by Gaudi and was started about 80 years ago and is still unfinished - hence the cranes.  Quite impressive though.

 Unfortunately Judy's foot is still bad (pulled tendon) but she managed some of the walks and lots of wandering with others who were just there for the fun, the sun, sea and general merry making.

 We had been keeping an eye on the snow reports and the weather forecast and managed to find a few days when both were good at the same time.  So off to Ax les Thermes where we fought our way through the snow on day one but then had three glorious days of sunshine.  Again Judy's foot was a bit of a limitation - she was fine going up and along the flat but no brakes!  No fun in that so she walked in the snow or sat in the sun.  It was actually pretty good!

 On the way back we stopped at IKEA in Toulouse to design our kitchen.  Took hours, and then they wouldn't let us order it for June delivery!  But a good thing really because after we got home we wanted to change a few things.  We also went to buy the wood-burner as the shop (Leroy Merlin) were showing one in stock but when we got there they didn't have one.  So we have to go to Agen (closer) to order one.  Really looking forward to a finished room with kitchen and fire.  Fed up with all the dust everywhere.

Meanwhile, as all the heavy machinery is finished, we've had the drive done, so the parking area is looking smart and not muddy.

We've just got back from a weekend, also with the walking club, snow-shoeing in the Pyrenees. 

This time it was Chris who had to opt out as he got a flu-type bug on the Saturday night so didn't eat, drink or do the Sunday walk!  Much to the amusement of the assembled group who had never seen him drink only water!