Sunday

Today is our very very last day together as a whole little family unit. I'm trying hard not to feel sad as it has been such a marvellous time us being altogether and enjoying our holiday here in Provence.


I feel thankful indeed that our children (they are always our children to us !!) have come on holiday with us.


Their time off work is short and precious and I appreciate that these days here have eaten into their annual holiday allowance.


Most days here, dad and I are up early, habit....but it serves us well as we can organise the kitchen, lay up for breakfast etc. Boring chores that no one really wants to do while on holiday but we have lots of leisure time so it's no hardship for us at all.


Today is going to be pancake day - so I actually wake Marian, Ben and Isabel to get cracking with the cheffing bit..... normally I don't as it is a holiday after all !


 Trystan and Leila are busy doing last minute packing and a general house search for their belongings. Amazing how stuff gets spread around over a week.

Marian mixes up an enormous batch of pancake batter and it's almost like a production unit with the cooked pancakes piling up very quickly.


 Some are even flavoured with cinnamon, that's a new one for me (Trystan's idea) and I find them quite delicious.

They are kept warm in the oven and eventually we set the table outside as it's a beautiful day again and all get stuck in to a pancake feast.

We have a huge assortment of fillings - prunes, sweet chestnut puree (a family favourite), nuts, yogurts, fromage frais, apricot and strawberry jam, cheeses, lemon and sugar. I can't remember the rest ! so it's a case of each to his own.....and tuck in.....

Trystan and Leila have a deadline with the TGV in Avignon as they are heading up to Paris for their last few days in Europe.


So we pile their luggage into the car and after lots of hugs all round and a few tears (I can't stop myself!!) they leave for the next stage of their european tour.

Dad will drive them to the station and then come back to take the caravan to its next home for a while.

In the meantime I get cracking transferring all our stuff from the house into the caravan. The girls and Ben promptly pack their bags and leave them outside ready for the next trip - Marian and Ben are flying out to Palermo on Monday morning and Isabel is heading back to the UK.

They are then free the rest of the day to enjoy the pool and mess around having fun.




Philip arrives back in time for our late lunch and then we load up the car and hook up the caravan and sadly take our leave of the beautiful villa in Provence which has been our home for the last week or so.

One little last moment of panic before we actually head off though - Marian just wants to check where their passports are.....so a quick unpacking of their luggage, a sift through and nowt appears....but happily eventally they are discovered inside Ben's shoes !!


All fine, we can now head off. A last farewell to Izabel and her husband Jose - the housekeeper and gardner, and we trundle very slowly down the rugged drive.


The next campsite is literally a mile up the track and so it's not far to go - it's called 'L'Arc en Ciel' and it's a beautiful rural site with lots of trees and is very french in that it is somewhat rambling and slightly unkempt !! well, at least compared to the Caravan Club sites back in the UK.


 All very regimented and shipshape there allways, sort of comforting in a good way as you almost know what you are going to be arriving at. Also the pitches are quite apart which is wonderful as you can't then hear the man next door snore at night !!

We settle in to the pitch which is in a very secluded corner with a view over to Bonnieux accross the valley. We make ourselves comfortable for the evening and enjoy our last few hours together. It is going to be very 'cosy' in the caravan tonight, 5 of us in all, but all is well and sleep comes easily.

A really early morning start tomorrow for dad and the youngsters means we really really have to be sensible about bedtime.

Ah well, all good things come to an end, and this time together has been really good and sadly it has ended. Well, until next time.......well start planning the next big gathering soon.

　

　

　

　

　

Saturday

　

Our last proper holiday day as tomorrow it's moving on time sadly.

We have a family conflab at breakfast time and we decide to eat outside at the table by the pool again and all help by fetching and carrying crockery, cutlery and laying up the table.

Many hands do really make for light work.

I prepare eggs florentine, well my version of it and it all takes rather longer than I had anticipated as the quantities are much larger than I am used to cooking these days. Also I can only find 6 eggs when I thought I had masses of them tucked away in the fridge - and it is only later that Leila discovers the actual hoard - in the old fridge !!

We'd had to ask the housekeeper to change the fridge as it simply wasn't keeping our food cold enough for safety. The spare one was in the garage and eventually was brought it for us to use.

I simply hadn't thought of looking there as I presumed it was emptied by us and not in use any more. Still what with bread and croissants it was plenty and yummy and all very leisurely in the end - everything seems easier and less stressful in the sunshine.

All that balmy-ness envelopes us and eases our life it appears.


While decisions for the day are being made I prepare the ragu sauce for the lasagna we are to have this evening. Forward planning makes life a little easier.

Today it seems we are craving excitement and in the end decide to do either horseriding or canoeing !! The final decision is for the canoeing - yikes - as I remember the river well from our walk last week and even then it was gushing down in torrents.

 So, white water canoeing it is.

We chill by the pool for a while then start finding the right clothing for the canoeing (any old stuff), pack a picnic and then head off to the canoe centre near La Fontaine de Vaclause. We arrive and walk over the bridge to check out the river.

Phew no change there then....lots of turbulence......

I become alarmed and start to doubt whether I have the courage to go ahead with the adventure at all as the river is still gushing about and looking very wild !! I really am not very brave at times it seems and certainly don't crave excitement and adrenaline rushes, not sure I ever did really.

I just like things to be fun but not dangerous...

Anyway we have the picnic (on dad's old blanket again) as the wooden picnic table is occupied by a group of young french in fancy dress - something along the theme of Marie Antoinette I'd say as the wigs were bouffant and extremely colourful !!

We later learned that they were a 'hen' do and would also be fellow adventurers on the torrents, (they were not as lucky or skillful as we were and actually had a few rollings and soakings !!).

Something to do with all that wine that they were quaffing maybe ?

 I should have had a glass or two to give me dutch courage too...perhaps ?

By now I am getting very jittery over the whole escapade and this is mentioned to the centre and they very kindly offer to put me in the canoe with the guide !! (can't get safer than that I think to myself happily).

  I get a choice of which guide I'd like to go with, scrutinize them a little and promptly reply 'both' - to hoots of laughter !!

I figured with 2 guides I'd be even even safer....one was a chunk and the other a lean machine. I actually got the lean machine in the end and worried again that he'd not have the strength to fish me out of the water.....as I am a chunk too these days....

We pay our fees and get handed out a lifejacket each (you can tell these things are designed by men with no 'bosoms' because to be effective they have to be so tight that I can hardly breathe) and wander back to the car to put on sunnies, hats, sun cream etc and of course to take piccies.... lots....

Poseurs that we all are.....


Sadly I decided not to take my camera on the canoe (just in case we rolled) as the pictures would have been beautiful. I was sat right at the front in the lead canoe - the guide sat at the stern, doing all the macho steering bit- and it seemed as if I had the river all to myself (bar the odd fisherman or two).

Really really lovely if I hadn't been quite so scared....

We amble down to the slipway by the bridge and have an instruction talk from the guide whose english was brilliant thank goodness.. don't grab the trees, don't lean over too far, what to do if you roll, follow me, etc etc....
.

Right, it's time to get actually into the canoes. We stand alongside, all obedient, paddles in hand and suddenly there is a rush of bodies from under the bridge... two young women had obviously rolled and were drifting downstream in the strong current, canoe floating wildly down the river past them.

A manic flurry of activity all round and the girls manage with the help of the other guides to get to the trees and were lifted out of the river. All very exciting and disconcerting at the same time!

Afterwards, the guides look at us expectantly as they hold our canoes at the ready - ok? time to go....I could hardly get my breath !! what ?? after all I've just seen. Deep breath, oh no, that's too uncomfortable...

I decide there and then that I can't be 'chicken' all my life and after all the others are safely (??) in their crafts step in and off we are launched into the middle of this swirling torrent and I feel we are bouncing about on the deep.

  The river is a beautiful opaque turquoise and I couldn't think of a more beautiful place to die !!! if I had to that is...

We whizz downstream, the guide giving me instructions all the while (I think he was doing this to keep my mind and body occupied so I wasn't anxious, bless him). After a while the river calmed and I began to relax and enjoy the whole trip.

We had a few exciting moments here n there, clambering over a weir, around another weir, up a narrow tributary that normally couldn't be accessed as it was too shallow but now that the river in full spate was open to us, up to a millrace..... all sorts of things. It certainly was an interesting stretch of river.

Apparently the whole trip is 8 k, about 5 miles. It certainly seemed a lot shorter but then again we were travelling at the speed of the river current which was far faster than normal.

We even had a spot where we pulled off the river and had nibbles and more excitingly saw an otter swimming by. They are common on this river we were told, didn't see another one afterwards though I did look around.

To end the adventure we had a line up and a race to the bank and of course a lot of splashing at each other with the paddles! A good soaking for some ? The minibus and trailer is loaded, and we are driven back to the canoe centre. Happy and relaxed that now all is done and dusted and we are survivors !!!!!!

more picies.....

On the way back to the villa we stop at the poppy field outside the village of Langes and Marian and Isabel get arty with the camera while we all munch happily on the cherries we have just bought from the roadside stall again.

Another quick shop at Simply U (can't believe how much food we get through these days) - the youngsters have a wishing for pancakes for breakfast and so we need stuff....meanwhile dad disappears again - guess where ?

Back at the villa, we shower etc and light a fire as we have done every night. 
The girls get on with their drawing again. The massive lasanga is prepared and enjoyed.

Dad had also been back to the cake shop and produced another tray of the most delicious looking cakelets for us all to share...

 
 



Then it's a card game called- by our family at least - Liverpool. This a firm family favourite but needs alert wits as the trumps change with every hand - bit of a nightmare really.

  The points are counted out at the end of every hand and it seems as if Isabel is going to win but is pipped at the post with a lucky final hand by Ben.

You just never know with this game how it will turn out. Perhaps that's why we enjoy it so much - the surprise factor ?

We had said we were going to bed early as tomorrow had to be an early start - but, guess what - we didn't in the end !!

 the game sort of took over and we just felt it had to be finished...

It has been a brilliant day.

　

　

　

　

　

　

Friday

A day by the pool for most of us !!

 It's a beautiful blue sky and so we breakfast on the terrace outside. Well you have to chill sometimes...and so far this week we have been rather busy bees...some of us more than others I have to admit but still....

Marian and Isabel tackle my hair (it needs teamwork) as it is fairly long and shaggy by now - almost unmanageable. I get a nice cute bob which is easypeasy to maintain. Perfect.

 I have such thick wild hair and poor Marian is a little uncertain where to start on it all !! Still she does a marvellous job and I am really happy with my new 'look'.


Takes years off me as they said, well actually what they did say was that I looked like Molly - the Bichon Frisee I used to walk !! She used to be groomed every 6 week and her ears were 'bobbed' so she looked very very cute.

 I can live with that.

Then Isabel tackles Marian's hair.....just a little trim to tidy up the ends ...while Marian browses the internet in readiness for their trip to Sicily next week.

Sometime in the morning the youngsters tackle the cherry tree again - but this time with more gusto !! We have a resident jay who seems to spend his life in the tree happily spitting out the cherry pip when he's eaten one! 

He's become quite fearless of us by now and hops around all over the place merrily.

Trystan and Leila feel very energetic and walk over to the next local village - Goult, another of these amazing hilltop villages in this area of Provence. It is slowly being restored to its former glory and even has its own windmill with sails. Cultural events are often held in the grounds there too.


They arrive back in time for lunch and don't even look as if they worked up a sweat despite having just covered about 12 km!!


I'm envious.

Dad has spent practically the whole morning washing the caravan and car. All gleaming. They had been very grimy and dusty after our journey down through France.

Mid afternoon Marian, Ben, Isabel dad n I go to Coustellet for a food shop at Simply U. The supermarket at Roussillon is tiny and not very well stocked with fresh foods really, a bit disappointing. We are tempted by the giant squids and sardines - Ben's favourite fish. It is their turn to cook and he will prepare them on the BBQ for bruschettas.


One amusing thing was the BOGOF surprise - you know how in the UK you get a buy one get one free offer, well they had this on one of the sardine packets. But, when we got home and opened them all up - underneath was a packet of sea bass and not more sardines as we'd expected !! a bonus.....and funny !!

well we thought so ... hey, look at this !!

I get to grips with skinning and gutting the huge squids - I have prepared them often but never with quite so much ink involved. They smelled very very strongly of the sea and at the mealtime wasn't sure if I could eat them - but I did and they were delicious.

Amazing what a bit of garlic, lemon and a good cook can do......well done Ben.

Dad produces an amazing cake for our pudding - see I told you he can't resist the sweet stuff .


While we'd been shopping in the supermarket he'd found a little cake shop nearby called La Vie en Rose, roughly translated as Life in the Pink ! and everything in the shop was pink, fluffy, girly and totally over the top but very cute.

A little pink palace dedicated to confectionery of all sorts.

He chose a gateaux (one of the new creations) and the chap asked if he'd like something written on it ?? Dad had a think and asked to have Happy Holiday - which they promptly iced on to a pink heart (what else?) and they spelled it very prettily as Happy Hollyday !!

Aaaaahhhhh..

To round off the evening is a game of pickupsticks !

There was a giant cupboard in the sitting room and in it were loads of different board games, cards, computer games etc for our use, but pickupsticks it was !





A very tense and exciting game which was won by Leila. A good steady hand is needed for this game.

A last clear up and it's bedtime !!
　

Thursday

Today is the Mont Ventoux cycle trek (one of the most famous climbs of the Tour de France) for the more energetic members of the family, ie, Ben and Marian, dad and Trystan.

It is going to be quite a mammoth trip as there is even snow on the mountain top and so the correct clothing has to be found for all -

 gloves for the downhill (hands can get particularly cold),...

hats, fleeces and rainwear in case of the odd downpour....

 snacks and bottles of water.....

It's a matter of searching out all our stuff and layering up - dad has all this gear secreted away in boxes in the boot of the car !! and we supposedly only packed for the summer holiday. I ask you !! but of course as he always says - you never know what you're going to need and when...

and he's usually right...

The car is laden and off they head into the hinterland of Provence ...... excited at the challenge. Last few words were - we'll be back for a late lunch, hopefully
about 2 pm ish ?

They have decided to tackle the mountain from Sault on the east side, longer but less steep and the advised tactic is to take it steady,

 (Trystan being a bit steadier than the others apparently !).

  It is hard work for sure but not as tough as they'd thought it was going to be....??

On reaching Chalet Reynard (two thirds of the way up) they are surprised and annoyed to find a Route Barree sign !! A Dutch film company is doing a shoot there and for a while they watch an old bus carreereing down the hill time and again !!

No warning anywhere about all this and the marshals stand firm despite being harangued by about twenty irate cyclists who rightly feel quite thwarted !!

So, no choice but to cycle back down to the car and try another route. Crumbs, two treks.

They drive round the base of the mountain to the west side and actually drive up from Malaucene to the top just to make sure it was actually open on that side.

By now the summit was in cloud so they drive back down one third of the way and get back on the bikes again and finish the challenge.

 All completed !!

Euphoria and best of all the cloud lifted and they had marvellous views all round.

Time for a celebratory crepe or two - all this cycling certainly works up an appetite,

A team photo was taken at the summit and also one of Leila's Ted - a soft toy doggie - her first solo writer/illustrator creation.

Marian and Ben buy a souvenir milestone - they have growing collection of quirky souvenirs from all their travels!

I think Ted deserves his own travel blog, maybe we'll have to start one.... 'Ted's Travels' ?

Afterwards, they gleefully whizz down the mountain, dismantle the bikes, load them up and head home.

Weary but happy.

In the meantime, Leila, Isabel and I decide to walk into Roussillon for a painting/sketching trip. We gather all our bits and pieces, and I suggest that Leila and Isabel head off first as they are both hardened fast walkers and I know that as it is almost all uphill I will struggle to keep up.


I follow at a stately pace and wander off the track here and there to admire the views of Rouissillon from the opposite ochre cliffs and of course take more pictures as I ramble along.

Eventually I find Leila busy at her sketching in the market square. She is quite an inspiration as she always carries her sketching papers and pencil n her handbag, just in case, so wherever she is, she is happy, drawing away and taking it all in.

Today it is a general market and there is a lot of hustle and bustle with a wide variety of stalls.

 Thank goodness I find the cashpoint and we treat ourselves to some quite fantastic maccaroons - there is at least a dozen different flavours and we buy one of each to sample..

(how can you not, especially after the lady at the stall gives us quite generous taster samples?).

Her husband is the baker and he has been very inventive with his flavourings - pistachio, lavender, aniseed, coffee, caramel, swrawberry etc. We have a bagfull and they are deliciously moist and succulent inside with a nice crunch to get through first. Perfect for a pudding later on. Can't wait !!

















We also select one of the salamis on offer - there is a whole stall of different varieties - we choose the fig as we have never seen this before anywhere and it has an intriguing sweetness, again a little tasting beforehand.

 Aren't they clever tactics.....?



Also we are very very tempted by all the olives for sale and finally decide to get some tapenade made with black olives, anchovies and capers and also two different types of olives.

I particularly find olives very hard to resist and regard them as a treat for myself whenever I buy them back in Britain.

My husband thinks of cakes at treats but I can skip these over quite easily !! Although when I lived in Germany I used to treat myself (once a week) to a coffee and a black forest gateaux !! very very 70s indeed. yummy though and compared to the cakes I'd eaten back home as a child, these creations were the height of sophistication to me !!



The germans and austrians make some of the most delicious cakes and they are always loaded with fresh cream or at least dolloped on top generously. Calories galore but one has to be a little indulgent now and then !

Leila decides to stay in the market square sketching and I head up the hill in search of Isabel. She is perched high up on a wall and my heart almost stops !! It is a good 40 meter drop but she is blissfully engrossed in her drawing and painting.

When I eventually get up there I can hardly stand near the wall and decide to pop round the corner to do a quick watercolour sketch of a beautiful blue doorway. My brush is tiny and we had arranged to meet again at 1.30 so the little drawing and colouring in is more of a token than anything seriously studied. Fun though.

While wandering round the village I discover the cemetery - somehow I find these places fascinating, not in a sad way but just interesting. They are so different to the ones back in the uk - here they are much more ostentatious, have flowers galore, though mostly of silk or china and lots of photographs of the deceased.

Sometimes you can get a real sense of the person while alive simply from the various plaques placed on the tomb. Not at all creepy.

I head off back to the house and the leave the two girls to decide what flavour ice cream to indulge in. There is quite an amazing choice on offer and when I do eventually decide (a week later) to have an ice cream I ask politely if I could have a half and half (not being a great fan of ice cream.

 I usually have one half scoop of coffee another half scoop of choclate flavour - I find that's enough for about six months), and am not very politely told - 'no mixt' !! so much for the french idea of service.

I am astounded as this is the first time ever ever I have been refused. Ah well, such is french life. I buy a coffee flavour ice cream and hubby gets half of it as well as his own !! He could live on the stuff almost, well , beer too.....of course....

Back at the house we all change into our swimming costume (in my case) and the girls into their bikinis. Gosh, I can't even remember when I last had the courage or the body to wear a bikini ?? Anyway they both looked fabulous.

We read, potter, and eventually have a little dip in the very inviting looking pool, but, it is still unheated water and quite takes our breath away to start with. I think I did manage about 30 lengths in the end but had to get out to warm up as my heart started to pound !!

 Funnily enough though, the longer I was in the water the warmer it seemed to get ? Isn't that weird ? Isabel noticed this effect too...perhaps we just got number....
We decide to start our lunch as the troops were not back yet, and luckily we did as they weren't in fact back till quite late afternoon. cyclists return weary and elated. Mount Ventoux conquered !!

Another paddle in the pool to ease those legs, at least it's being used for something !!

Trystan has a much needed haircut, he likes to keep it fairly short these days - Leila's sister Holly is a hairstylist in Camden, London - and has shown her how to get a cool flicking sort of cutting style.

 I watch keenly and I might try this technique on dad's hair, although he is ultra conservative normally and just wants it short and very easy maintenance !!

 Next time he's due for a crop I'll get adventurous with my shears but just won't tell him.


In the evening, Dad and I get cheffing - roast lamb and lots of trimmings for supper - a real treat as lamb seems horrendously expensive in France. We even have fresh mint for the sauce - Izabel the housekeeper had arranged for her husband to bring a large bunch from her garden for us - meant for a cold cherry soup in fact (one of the many local way of preparing the cherries) but the cherries had long since disappeared and hence the mint sauce....

The maccarroons disappeared at an alarming rate too - quite delicious.

The end of another wonderful day.