Bonjour a tous, from a sunny France which we will be leaving unfortunately in a couple of days’ time. As the title of this month’s blog says it has been a lovely restful few weeks under blue skies (most of the time) with a lot of sunshine and also a lot of doing very little! Just what we needed and just what we wanted. It will hard to go back to our sometimes-hectic life in Carlisle!
Before I get into what we have actually been up to here in sunny St Aygulf, I have to remember that April actually started off in not so sunny Silloth, where we spent the weekend with our grandchildren, and Hazel and Phil in a caravan enjoying the delights of Storm Dave! The weekend actually went well and the kids all really enjoyed it. Because the holiday park swimming pool was not open, the park gave us vouchers for the children to do various activities, meaning that they could take part in things which might have proved very expensive normally. So, they did rock climbing, art stuff, zorbing and generally kept busy going to the playground on their scooters. Layla loved being with her older cousins, Ethan and Hadley and they were great with her and the baby too. They only drew the line at attending the children’s disco, which Hazel and I took Layla to on her own! They did get to swim too, at the pool in Wigton with Hazel and Papi whilst Phil and I looked after the baby. The weather wasn’t good, but it didn’t seem to spoil their fun at all. Even Storm Dave came and went with virtually no problems apart from a bit of rocking of the caravan and the sound of torrential rain on the roof…neither of which disturbed the kids at all! We managed a little walk on the beach at Allonby and celebrated Phil’s birthday with a nice meal in our favourite Jack’s Surf Bar there. It was a good weekend and it was also good that Matthew and Susie had had a break too, especially as Susie had not been well after her previous bout of chemo.
The next few days were a bit hectic as we sorted out all our usual “going away” stuff. We also had our bathroom to empty, ready for it being redecorated whilst we are away. It will be nice to see the redecoration when we get home. On the 8th April, a week later than planned, we made our way up to Edinburgh and flew out to Nice. We were a bit apprehensive about arriving there and being stuck in a long queue at border control, due to the new entry regulations which involve having biometrics (fingerprints and eye scans) done for entry into the EU, but no…it was straight through and stamps in the passports as usual this time. We suspect it will be more problematic when we leave, but we will see 
We stayed overnight in Nice as usual and then got the train along to the flat, which we found in good condition and we were soon sorted and off to the hypermarche to stock up with provisions…at great expense as always! Our next-door neighbour was in residence for the first few days…normally her flat is rented out as a holiday let…so it was nice to chat to her for a bit, until they set off home. We had a little drive along to St Maxime one day just for a bit of a walk around but really did not do much that first few days.
Our first weekend here was quite busy as the “Eco” event was on in Frejus on the Saturday and so we went to see all the fun …although looking at all the tractors, animals and children’s craft stuff was not quite the same without Layla in tow, like last year! On the Sunday, we had a quiet day until the evening when we went to a really good concert in the church here in St Aygulf, given by a Gospel Choir. It was packed …and very lively and we really enjoyed it.
We ventured out and about a bit more during the next weeks. We returned to St Maxime for the Marche des Fleurs there which was very small but very colourful too and we enjoyed all the fun. Another trip out saw us going to Grimaud, which amazingly we have never really visited before…not entirely sure why! It is a nice little medieval village perched up high with some stunning views over the Gulf de St Tropez, and once again we enjoyed our visit very much…apart from the traffic jams on the way there and back. That road along the coast is always a nightmare traffic-wise, even this early in the year. We would never use it in high summer! One of our other days out was a trip to Gourdon, somewhere we have been before, but it really is a lovely drive up there and back along the Gorges de Loupe. Gourdon itself is another old village perched up high and after we had had a little wander round, we ate our picnic in a flower filled meadow just at the edge of the village. This is what holidays are all about for us!
Our other big new adventure this time was taking the Bateaux Bleus ferry from St Raphael to St Tropez one day to meet up with a couple (Alex and Alison) who I have known virtually for many years, but this was the first time actually meeting them face to face! They were on a cruise and were visiting St T that day, so we met them up for a coffee…which turned into lunch as we were talking so much! Alex was a big help to me when we first set up our gite and BandB in France years ago, giving me lots of advice and tips they had learned from running their very successful gite business. We had a lovely day and it was great to meet them at long last. The boat trip was also something I’ve been wanting to do for a while and although it was a bit expensive, we really enjoyed seeing all the places we know and visit often along the coast from the sea! St Aygulf looked really good although we struggled to identify our apartment building, even though we often watch this boat going back and forth from our balcony!
Speaking of meeting up with friends, we enjoyed a nice lunch with our friend Gisele one day too. We sat in her little garden in the sunshine and again caught up with all her news. Last Sunday saw us meeting up with our old “cruise pals” once again too. Mandy and Carolyn live near here but Jean and Ewan had come across from Scotland for a few days’ holiday this year and so it was great to reunite our old cruise dinner table once again! It has been 9 years since we all met up on that cruise and it is lovely to have kept in touch all that time. We also met up with Jean and Ewen in Antibes on Tuesday and thoroughly enjoyed our walk around the old town and lunch together once again.
We have of course had several trips down to the beach while we have been here. We started, as always, going to our favourite beach here in St Aygulf, but as there is often a cool wind blowing there, we have discovered that the small beach near the harbour is more sheltered and so we have been going there more this year. The sea is still quite cold but Geoff has been enjoying his swims a lot. I too have ventured in a few times but have not stayed out there very long! It is, shall we say, “refreshing” in that sea just now! Needless to say, there are not a lot of folk actually braving the water and our French friends think we are totally crazy for venturing into the sea at all this early in the year! We have enjoyed our beach time though but, as always, an hour or an hour and a half is enough for us. We often marvel at all those people who spend the whole day there….we would get terribly bored, not to mention burnt to a crisp as the sun is very strong here, even now.
We have eaten out quite a bit this time. We went along to our favourite place Bistro l`Antre-Potes in Les Issambres, where we ate well as always and enjoyed chatting to Eric and Magali. I eventually got to eat some moules frites in St Raphael one day, but this was done indoors as the weather was not good that day. Our other main activities have been mooching around the markets on Tuesday and Friday mornings and we have eaten some great “take-aways” from there too. The Thai lady and the Tagine lady do some fantastic food! I have to say though, we have really spent a lot more time “at home” this time than we usually do…just sitting on the balcony reading, knitting (me only that one!), watching the boats go back and forth on the sea, watching the swifts swooping around the courtyard and just generally relaxing. This was absolutely what we needed to do and we have enjoyed it very much.
I’m happy to report that all is still good with our little Sylvie car. She is beginning to show her age a bit now & is just about to pass the 200,000 km point. This means that she needs a new timing belt…whatever that is! Geoff took her to the garage to discuss this being done but was told to bring her back in September as he was too busy just now. However, Geoff did manage to set up a meeting with someone from a Peugeot 206 FB page he follows (I know…it’s sad!) in Le Muy one day, and got a new gear stick lever, as Sylvie’s had disintegrated last time we were here and the remnants were being held together with gaffer tape! He was very pleased with himself for doing that! Whilst we were in Le Muy, we had a little walk around and I can safely say we will not be going back! We do worry a bit about our little car though, as if anything drastic happens to her now we doubt she will be repairable and judging from things we read on the internet, we doubt we would not be able to get another car to leave here now. We don’t use her a lot but it is nice to have the freedom of having a car here really. We need to take care of her 
Being back in France is always a joy for us. We slip back into our French life so easily. We have of course also been watching French TV again…which we really enjoy. One of our favourites this time have been Le Meilleur Boulanger de France. I always marvel at just how many different types of bread there are here and the stock that these boulangeries keep! Who eats all those lovely cakes and loaves they all have?? I have also been wallowing in my favourite French soap opera, Plus Belle la Vie which I loved when we lived here and which I still enjoy watching whenever we are back. It, like most soaps, is total tosh but I love it! Unfortunately, having just caught up with the present story lines and new characters, we are about to leave it behind for another 4 months The other totally toshy programme, which Geoff loves, is Camping Paradis, which seems to have a permanent slot on a Tuesday evening, where endless re-runs are on every time we come here! Geoff says it makes his holidays watching it…because there is always a happy ending!
Now, alas, we are making our pre-departure preparations to go home and we are hoping all goes well with the journey back. Unfortunately, we need to travel along to Nice on Friday, which is May Day, a jour ferie and a very strict no working day in France. We are struggling to get any information as to whether the buses and trains are working normally. We already know the trams in Nice are definitely not working, which means our usual trip into the old town to eat there, on our last evening in France, will not be happening this time. It’s going to be a bit of fingers crossed time until we get to the airport on Saturday morning I suspect, and again we are not entirely sure what will await us there with all this fingerprint malarky that is supposed to be happening just now. I will update you all on all that next time! But for now it is…
A bientot mes amis…