Reflections on Weather, Whether

Hi,


on our house hunt we Eurotunnelled on Monday 2nd in our Hymer from Kent. As we headed South it first got warmer (9C) before we got here to Champagnac-Riviere, Limousin where it is & has been freezing! Somewhat to my surprise-100's of km south & it's colder than UK..oh well.


We've used up one of our LPG gas bottles so are off to St Junien SuperU for a refill through the light snow showers.


My whether concerns the possibility of house hunting further south because of the climate so I would appreciate any thoughts on warmer climes.


We are really enjoying ourselves with the company, food & wine locally-eggs 1€ for 6 from next door + oven-ready rabbit that we're not sure about. Saw our 1st house near Chalus that was nearly but not quite + the agent got a puncture on the way back-boy was it cold until we got rescued! Thank goodness our miniature schnauzer pup, Rocco, had his fur coat on so he was OK.


Bit of a ramble really but thought it might be of interest.


All the best,


Roger


Oh & as a PS we've been very pleased to get UK tv through our motorhome satellite dish. I'm a Derby County supporter & it was great to get the latest through East Midlands today within minutes of getting booked in.

Thanks Celeste,

The very helpful young man at Credit Agricole explained that the French love paperwork with copies of everything! I detest paper-even have an online sub to The Times (!). He did all the photocopying & gave us a wodge of paper when his laser printer went into 'vomit-mode' .

I spoke to the tax lady at my UK accountant & she has promised to send me a pdf copy of my P60 by email so I think we've cracked it-'nous avon craque' (hope that doesn't mean we've broken something rather than solved the problem!).

Beautiful sunny day here-even took our puppy a walk without his fur coat & turned our fan heater in our Hymer off for the first time.

Personally I'm keener to avoid high temperatures rather than low ones-we both come from Derbyshire & are used to snow & ice. Have been to Sainte in June & thought I was becoming hypoglycaemic (insulin-dependant diabetic) because I was perspiring so much, similarly couldn't sleep in a Chateau gîte near Libourne we rented & was really uncomfortable when camping near St Emilion-39C!

Your temp extremes sound shocking maybe like having a red hot shower in our Hymer that suddenly become ice cold!

All the best,

Roger

Thanks to Haydn, Brian, Andrew & Simon for all your helpful replies. From camping, caravanning, giteing & motor homing all over France for over 40 years our plan is to aim for south of Mansle & avoid the mountains!

It is a very sunny 5C here at the moment & it's beautiful. We have been told that with bank account opening they always ask you for something else & sure enough they want our P60s-I need to get a pdf copy emailed by my accountant. We are both drawing UK retirement pensions & I wonder if they are your only income you would not have a P60 so what might the bank accept then, I wonder?

All the best,

Roger

to find a nice warm place you need to travell to one of the french dependancies. every where in france except north west will be colder than the uk in winter and hotter in summer. something to do with the gulf stream effect, stuff you should remember from school in your geography lessons.

there are always pros and cones, the limousin region is effected by the atlantic in the summer and autmn months and then in the winter it has a touch of the mountain region, that is why the fields are green in summer as the region has a high rainfall for france, well above the average. in winter it gets cold draughts coming out of the Massif central to cool the air down.

so summing up the region is warm and wet in summer and cold and wet in winter. just a bit like the south west of britain.

Hi Roger, lots of good comments here about warmer parts of France - basically the med, especially if you want it dry too and yes most of France is as cold as the UK in winter for the very simple fact that it's further from the warming effects of the Gulf stream ;-)

The micro-climate 'excuse'. We have at least one 'micro-climate' effect throughout the department/region every year then. End of 2013 for two weeks was tough, early 2014 then mild but wet, this winter only a couple of weeks now and nothing much before Christmas. It is always hard but usually short. Three weeks of very cold is 'long'. Wet, on the other hand, is not so usual but there are years when it last for umpteen weeks. The Lot et Garonne can be cold too but that where there are really good prices and northern parts of Landes too, after that prices go up again steadily as you approach the Pyrenees.

Thanks Hettie & Brian, we are a short distance from Dordogne & Bob, the campsite owner, says this cold snap is quite unusual for this micro climate. However, every time there is a claimed micro climate we always seem to get 'orrible weather!

The GPL fill-up was easy once I'd stretched the tubing. So I now have peace of mind regarding our extra heating! Now we have Credit Agricole to meet-that's the next hurdle!

All the best,

Roger

The SW is hardly warm this year, nasty white stuff fell out of the frozen sky today. The warmer parts of France are ( not coincidentally) the most expensive...

Limousin is always cold in the winter....known for it. You need to get south west but not too near the Pyrenees as the wind is blooming cold coming off them also.....

Good buys in Charant at present