Make a hash of it!

Tuesday 19th September 2017 - Les Salles sur Verdon.

I must apologise to those readers who are not interested in the least by cycling.  The last few days have been cycling intensive.  I thought I would talk a little about the site we are on instead.  We chose the site from a Caravan Club book of European sites and in the blurb it had a review that said "manhandling likely, very well recommended", Janice's ears perked up straight away and said that's the one for us!  Sadly, she hasn't been manhandled so far.  The site is very close to the shore of the lake, on a hillside but we are at the very bottom on a spacious pitch.  There are lots of Germans and Dutch here and the toilets are again unisex.  There always seems to be availability of the toilet cubicles and I think I have worked out why.  It might be that they are unisex that is putting off the women from using them.  Motor homes and caravans all have their own toilet facilities and I strongly suspect that many women are opting to use their own facilities rather than settle down in a cubicle next door to a man.  Of course that could be considered sexist behaviour but who cares when I get a free choice of cubicle when I go.  On a same topic, I am looking forward to the French discovering toilet seats, as it seems that they haven't quiet invented them yet but I can't expect too much development as they have only just moved on from 'continental' toilets (apologies to my French readers, only teasing).  I tend to use the two tissue method on the porcelain before sitting, possibly too much information  I know.  Lastly, I must say the toilet block is modern and very clean, no issues there.

Today was a sunny day with a cold northerly wind.  It was tricky to decide what costume to wear.  We were cycling to Moustiers Sante Marie, a small town that boasted to be the prettiest in France, a boast I have heard from many towns in France.  It was indeed a lovely town built on a hill on the edge of some cliffs.

Here I am relaxing......all in the best possible taste!

We climbed up to the chapel on the hillside....

Yes the one up there!  

On the way back we stopped at the Gorge entrance.

Pretty spectacular.  I think there will be more to see as we travel further along the Gorge tomorrow.

What I haven't told you is that before we set off I had started the slow cooker with a corned beef hash. I know it doesn't sound like a French meal, coz it isn't, but we've had a tin of corned beef in the van for about three years and it needed eating.  It did have a French twist in that I used some aubergine in the mix but I didn't forget the magic ingredient.......Worcestershire Sauce!  We came back to a lovely smell of our tea.  It was lovely.  Sorry I didn't take a picture but it's not a photogenic type of meal.

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