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.


　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

　

Wednesday

Today we all decide to do different things.

Marian and Ben head off into the blue yonder on the bikes - not quite sure where they went but whatever they came back all happy and enthusiastic still about the wonderful bikes they'd hired.

I actually think they went up to the Fontaine de Vaucluse at one stage and I gather Ben is now very very keen to buy himself one of the amazing carbon fibre framed bikes - ultra lightweight and easy to handle.



Trystan, Leila, dad and I head over to Aix en Provence for a sightseeing day.

 We drive past Lacoste up on the hilltop to our right and also through Bonnieux (again up on the hillltop) past Lourmarin and eventually arrive in the centre of Aix itself.

These three villages are among the many famous  ' villages perchees' of Provence..

All this really means is that they are what we would call hilltop towns as they seem to be perched on top of the hills !!

They are fascinating to walk around as they really 'perch' ! and the narrow little lanes meander uphill, downhill or around - such fun to ramble about and make discoveries in ....


We park up and wander for a few hours, snapping away with our cameras and dad, as always, guiding us through the maze of streets.

I swear he has a map in his head of everywhere!!



Leila browses in a marvellous bookshop and treats herself to a new book - the writer/illustrator is very famous and revered in France and her style is quite unique and thoughtful.



We buy nibbles for lunch and some lovely cakes as treats for afters ! yum.

Aix itself was an interesting town with lots of ancient narrow streets perfect for wandering about it in.


Mid afternoon we head back home and eventually find ourselves at a supermarket where

Trystan and Leila decide to shop for his favourite Sauerkraut and sausages dish as it was their turn to make supper.


 When a young boy this was always his request for a birthday treat !! so it goes back a few years.....


We arrive at the villa and find that Isabel and Marian have been busy drawing and painting.

 Isabel is working on her drawing of Gordes and Marian is sketching out a memory picture of their time in New York.

This involves remembering where they went and drawing little reminders of each of the places. A fun thing to do.

New York was where Ben whisked Marian off to and proposed to her while there !! so it will all be very special to them both,

She is very organised and seems to be getting on well with it all.

Isabel is at the colouring in stage. All looks wonderful.

.
Trystan and Leila get busy preparing our feast this evening.


Both are good cooks and this meal requires us to have really good appetites - which we usually have !!

never fear.....

Tonight Team Eeles prepare themselves mentally for the big challenge ahead tomorrow.......

wait and see ......!

Tuesday

Today, hubby n I are up early and tackle the debris from the night before. I always like to start the day with a sort out before preparing breakfast etc. A sort of clearing of the decks.....

Halfway through the mammoth washing up session the cleaning lady - Izabel - arrives and seems quite surprised to see me up to my armpits in suds.

 We have a dishwasher, which I had already stacked and got going but things like pots n pans are easier by hand. I didn't think I could leave the dishes for her to do but apparently I could have !!! Just not used to having staff....

Gradually the family arrive downstairs one by one, and she has to work around us - sweeping floor, cleaning out the fireplace, bathrooms, bedrooms etc. She even washes the downstairs floors while we tuck into our breakfast.

All looks very shipshape and tidy when she leaves.

Lovely, brilliant job and I was glad when it was done.

She even offers to take a photo of us all together at the table.... one fact that she mentions though is that last year the temperature at this time of year was up in the 30s, sadly for us it is not quite that warm yet !!

Her gardner friend says it is all due to the lunar calendar - there are 13 new moons this year and not the usual 12 ?

could he be right ?

A chap we met in the campsite outside Canterbury on our way down to France was, actually, on his way back to the north of England. He had bought a house in the Loire last year and spent the winter there - sadly for him it was the wettest and coldest on record he said

Felt just like being back in good old GB and not France at all he said !!

At least in Britain it's sort of expected but he felt rather cheated really as nothing had lived up to his expectations. Grim.

The weather today is cool in the morning, but most days it has perked up as the day gallops along and the sun comes out.

The family want to get some cycle training in for their next big conquest (Mont Ventoux) and so head off towards St Saturnin and up what they affectionately called the 'wiggly'.... when I ask where this is I am simply told north of St Saturnin and up the many hairpins into the foothills of the Ventoux range.

  Good practice.

It sounded very exciting and they all seemed to have had a great time exerting themselves. The whizzing downhills are the best bit I'm told, well at least they are the fun bit and a reward for the uphill struggles.

Philip could never understand why I didn't use the gears more when cycling and my reply was 'I'm here for the excercise and not so much for the pleasure' and I wanted it to be hard work !! which it was....and I only changed gears when I absolutely had to.

 He used to chortle away in amazement at my puffing.

Leila and I decide to stay chez nous; Leila drawing and starting to plan for their trip to Paris the week after when her mother and sister come to join them. I head off up the track for a ramble and a photo session.

I just love discovering what is around me and don't really feel the need to head off miles all the time.

We travel so much that it is fun just to 'do' locally now and then. I remember it all better the more I see it and walk it.

The views around are glorious and I can't stop snapping the vineyards and the mountains in the distance as I walk through them all.

 I love Provence, it all seems so manageable somehow and terribly civilized.


Portugal was a lot wilder and a lot emptier, well, at least Alentejo where we were.

The family arrive back en masse late afternoon absolutely sodden as the heavens had opened up and again they ended up in the pool cooling off the aching legs !!

 Showers, changes and chillling again for a little while.

We enjoy a late lunch altogether.

Marian, Ben, dad and I head off into Roussillon and drop off a couple of the bikes. We only make it just in time and the girl in the hire centre is pretty short with us !!

Odd the things you remember ??!

We carry on into the town and do a quick food shop. The choice is disappointingly limited in the local small supermarket.

Eventually we settle down for the evening ahead.

　

　

　

　

　
　

Monday

 

Today I have decided to have a day chez nous - a chance for a little peace and quiet - and plan to get my paints out for a spot of dabbling and fun.

Last time I was in London, I bought a whole set of new acrylic paints, gel retarder, brushes and pallette knives.

So, I really have no excuse for not being creative today.



 But, first a spot of gentle housework !! a general tidy up and a wash on, or several in fact. Can't waste that good drying wind, it even has a name - The Mistral !!

Usually it blows for 4/5 days and then disappears.... until the next time ....

It can be quite fierce and a real pain but at times it is cooling and welcomed.

I want to tackle something simple to start with - and so paint a sunflower, or three in fact in one picture. It is always a bit of a gamble when I paint as I am not very controlled with a brush or pallette knife in hand and just see where it all goes.

The final picture is certainly colourful and a little bit too energetic looking maybe in the end in fact but I had great fun doing it and that is all that is important to me.

It is not a commercial venture, and I only do it as a pleasure and have no intention ever ever to get stressed by 'failure' or it not looking 'right'. Great cop out really !! but it means that I am always happy with the outcome.

 Simples !!

 
The family all head off mid morning to organise bike hire but first drive over to Isle sur la Sorgue for a spot of sightseeing and picnic buying session in the village.

Lots of fresh bread mainly as most of it was already in the fridge beforehand.


They wander round the town a while and eventually it's time for lunch !! They find a spot by the river to hunker down and tuck in.

Phil still has his ancient picnic blanket - much washed and much loved

He apparently had it at school and even his brother recognised it when he saw it recently at home, happy memories of so many family picnics over the years.

 We have carried this old blanket with us absolutely everywhere we have gone for a holiday ! In the old days it was simply laid over everything that was in the boot as a cover-all to keep things from rattling around etc.....

Nowadays I think he is truly attached to it ! It's ok though, nowt wrong with that.

It's a bit of gentle joke in the family that dad will drive half an hour to find just the right spot for a picnic !!

He usually manages to find somewhere a bit magical in the end, so well worth the few extra miles.


After this the troop head over to Vallon where the bike hire place was and collected the bikes after being measured up and handed out one accordingly !

This is defintely a first for Phil and he is very impressed.

I can hear the longing in his voice when he talks about these fantastic road bikes. His is an ancient all terrain model that he's had for about 20 yrs !!

The only advantage to his old wreck is that he can leave it anywhere and it'll never get stolen. Well it hasn't been yet anyway, but we musn't tempt fate as they say.

Phil drives back to the house, stopping here and there for a little photo session and the youngsters cycled back through the lanes.

They arrive back, later in the afternoon - the first actually being Isabel !! and one by one step into the pool, shoes n socks off but still fully clothed, to ease their aching legs. A funny sight indeed as they paddle around thigh deep in the soothing cool water with a glass of thirst quenching lager in hand ! The pool has many uses you see....


What was really funny was that dad had stopped at a little stall on the roadside on his way back and picked up a large punnet of fresh cherries for us all .

Trystan, on his way back had also filled up his pannier with cherries - but they were scrumped from a tree just outside Langes in fact !!

This is a huge huge cherry growing area - thousands of trees in plantations, and almost every garden has a cherry tree or two and they are absolutely laden with fruit so the temptation was just too much... and on tasting, the scrumped fruit was the most delicious and juicy.

The bought cherries were totally inferior quality, splitting and not half as sweet and ripe. In future, whenever we bought cherries we always checked them out first. Once bitten.....

While the family change, shower and generally chill, Dad and I prepare the evening meal, lay the table, light the candles .....

Spiced duck breasts with a fruity sauce and lots of veg.

Dad really is a good cook

This was inspired by Jamie Oliver in fact - I love his style of cooking, fun and not too obsessed with 'cuisine' and technique but good simple tasty food that all can manage to cook without too much experience.

Perfect for families.



No games tonight, but lots of lounging about on the huge sofas and stoking up the fire.

  Earlyish bed all round.

A weary but happy clan.