F***ing Tourrettes

Friday 22nd September 2017 - Bargemon.

I don't want you thinking we are having every day as a gorgeously sunny day.  Just to keep you right you will see that we had some grey cloud today.

In the absence of David Beckham getting in touch we cycled along the road to the villages nearby.  The first obstacle was the Col de St Arnoux, a little hill between us and Seillans, about 9km of climbing before the drop into the village.  We kept our eyes open for Beckingham Palace but didn't spot it.  We thought we would make excellent house sitters if they needed someone reliable.  

All the villages near here were on hills.  We didn't stop on our outward journey but called on the way back.  Our lunch stop was in Fayence.

Like all the villages it was lots of narrow steep streets.  Usually with a clock tower on the top.....

 And the views were wonderful.

It feels rather like Tuscany, lots of hills, olive trees and terracotta roofed houses in hill villages.

We had our own apple in the pannier but we purchased our lunchtime pain aux raisen.  It was a whopper and only cost 1 euro.  Good value and it was possibly the best of the trip.  Our coffee purchase have varied in price from 2.40 euro (for 2 americanos) to 6 euro!!!  Are we being ripped off?


The village next to Fayence is Tourettes......what an f***ing good place.  Janice didn't want me to bring bad language to the f***ing blog but who cares!  I am not sure whether there is any tangible connection with the French neurologist Giles de la Tourette who named the disorder whereby sufferers often have a compulsive need to utter obscenities.  The village was rather ignored as a tourist spot compared to Fayence but it was perhaps just as nice with narrow streets and lovely views.

Back we cycled uphill to Seillans which on balance was the nicest unspoilt village.  We walked through the little alleys.

Do I need to say anything?  I thought not.

The cycle back was challenging but enjoyable.  We are getting into the groove on hills now.  Our teatime meal was steak and salad , the steak from the butcher at Bargemon.  Had a glass of Luberon red.  We had driven through the area earlier.....super dooper!  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strictly raining!

Image
Saturday 4th November 2017 - Vironvay. We had a rainy day forecast so we had a quiet day.  We had a drive to Louvier market and more importantly we made an important visit..... We also bought some brioche for a second attempt at a bread and butter pudding French style. I will have to check with Wendy to see what she thinks.  It was certainly tasty and disappeared quickly. Our day was nice and relaxing followed by a lovely meal. We watched Strickly Come Dancing for the first time, Sian and Janice are big fans and I sneekingly enjoy it too.  Ger puts up with it too. There was break in cloud for a while and although the photo isn't too good we saw a nice moon reflection on the Seine.
Read more

Bonfire Night but no fireworks!

Image
Sunday 5th November 2017 - Boulogne-sur-Mer. We said our fond farewells to Ger and Sian.  They are extremely kind and considerate hosts.  We enjoyed our stay very much. We moved north to stay at Boulogne so we would be close to the tunnel for tomorrow morning.  It felt very cold today despite some bright spells.  We felt so cold it was like a cold Bonfire Night in England.  We will not be celebrating Guy Fawkes here in France...they don't do that here. We arrived in Boulogne and had a little walk around.  It was a little dreary on a Sunday but the old fortified town area was nice with a grand cathedral. I came here about 3 years ago with my friend Bruce, so had some memories. We found an Aire de Camping Car and couldn't immediately park because of parked spectators cars at the entrance blocking the way.  The town football ground is next door and a game was in progress.  We waited for the end of the game to allow cars to leave before we could drive...
Read more

France is closed!

Image
Wednesday 1st November 2017 - Nogent-le-Roi. We had changed our plans a little by deciding that tomorrow we would visit Versailles. As we drove past Tours and northwards we realised that the roads were pretty quiet and when we stopped at a Lidl supermarket and found it closed we twigged that it must be a public holiday.  It is now November and it is All Saints Day.  The day that the French remember the dead.  It seems a great idea but I thought it might be a bit morbid thinking of the dead all day?  Whatever people were doing they were not in public places, they were not eating out, exercising or shopping. We called at one of our favourite places from two years ago, Chateaudun.  It's a small town south of Chartres. The chateau is very imposing.  We stayed at an Aire de Camping two years ago on a car park just below the chateau walls.  I am wearing long trousers for the first time in a long time.  I managed to avoid wearing them through October but...
Read more