We're On The Move Again

With the wonders of modern technology I am filing tonight's blog from an Aire on the A6 Autoroute North bound.  Contrary to my earlier post regarding the overwhelming smell of urine on these service areas, I am happy to report that we have secured a parking slot tonight where the smell is more of eau de diesel rather than eau de pee!

It was a late decision made today to leave the Drome because the weather proved to be much nicer than had been forecast.  In fact it was yet another hot and sunny day, the tenth in a row and we did debate about staying longer.  However, we decided to believe the French Meteo forecast for tomorrow onwards which predicted a decline to rain and frequent storms and by 5pm we were hitched up and ready to go.  

It's a bit of a chore packing up the caravan even when there are two of you to complete the task but on the only photo I am posting tonight, I would ask you to look closely at the effort that Linda was putting in as I slaved over awning,  groundsheet and the nuclear reactor in our van, commonly known as the chemical toilet.  I could write a whole blog on the Thetford cassette toilet but I am keeping my thoughts and ideas secret at the moment as I believe that I can harness more energy emptying just one of these than I can from a roof full of solar panels.  Oh and don't ever mention splashback to me!!

It was surreal leaving the caravan site as we were the only people actually staying there today.  It's never happened before and I think it unlikely it will happen again.  Even the owners and staff had left before us and we had to switch off all the lights and lock up.  A fabulous place to stay though and we would recommend to anyone.

And so 200 miles gone, 200 to go and this time tomorrow, Linda will be drinking champagne from my trainers!! Not...

Les Eglises de France

Oh dear!  Things were going so well with the blog and I have received some really nice comments to date.  However, I was given a rude awakening today when I was the recipient of a minor grumble regarding my dissitation on the night sky in the Drome.  It worries me even more in light of today's filing being on French churches but I will try and make it a tad more interesting.

For anyone who has visited France, virtually every city, town, village and even the smallest of hamlets usually contains a church.  It all stems back from the Country's wholesale adoption of the catholic faith which still holds strong today - well not as strong as you might think - and resulted in a cathedral and church construction boom, the likes that has never been repeated.

There are some wonderful examples from the Cathedral of Notre Dame to those in the Drome which are only large enough to handle a congregation of five and one of those includes the Vicar! 

I have attached three photos tonight, the most interesting one being La Chapelle Saint-Jean D'Ollon which is close to our base here and is situated on the top of a 500 foot cliff! You really do need to be a believer to attend the monthly service here as it involves a mile walk up a 1 in 4 gradient!

To end on a serious note, the Catholic Church is in serious decline here as more than 35% of the population profess to having no religion and only 1 in 20 attend Mass.  Many of the churches are now being sold off and converted into houses, restaurants and even clubs.  As far as the Chapel near us is concerned, I predict that if it is ever sold, the local base jumping club will be the purchasers! 

Star Gazing in the Drome

Do any of you, like me, look upto the skies on a clear night and wonder just what or who indeed is out there?

Well the last week has provided us with lots of opportunities to do this as every night that passes appears to present a more magical sight.  Last night was simply stunning and I found myself laid out on one of our relaxer chairs looking skywards.  It's a shame that I can't present you with a photograph of exactly what I could see but the view was an astronomer's paradise.

Part of the beauty of stargazing here must be the almost total lack of light pollution.  In fact, when I stepped out of the caravan last night, I firstly walked into one of the loungers and then fell over one of the guy ropes on the awning!  If takes a while for the eyes to adjust to the darkness here you know.

It has been fascinating during the last week watching the "super moon" develop.  Super?  I would say it was spectacular! I took the opportunity to view its surface through binoculars and the detail was stunning.  It appeared to me that a chunk on its right side was missing.  Perhaps it is made from cheese after all?   It must have provided an incredible sight when viewed through a telescope.

Apparently there are 100,000 million stars and in excess of 100,000 million galaxies that we know about. The oldest thing to view in the sky is the Keystone of Hercules or as us lesser specimens know it, M13.  It is a mere 9 billion years old and still going strong.  How do we know these things?

Mind you, did you know the planets move across the sky and that stars stay fixed? 

I feel that I am offering an element of education with my musings which I find quite satisfying but I end today's blog by returning to my own theory about what is out there.  I think that the universe and beyond is so vast that there is a 61 year old called Alistair out there somewhere just completing his nightly blog from the Drome.  Mind you, he probably wasn't stupid enough to buy his wife a sympathy card on their anniversary.

Photo attached of me falling over the lounger but also a couple showing perhaps why the area is so dark.

41st Wedding Anniversary. Celebration or Sympathy?

I hope that you read my blog regarding our 41 married years together?

What I forgot to include was the faux-pas I committed on the day and which truly demonstrated my lack of understanding of the French and their greetings card industry.

Being the last minute "lulu" that I am, I had forgotten to get an anniversary card before we left the UK but to me, that was, "pas de problem." After all, there are plenty of newspaper and greetings card shops in France and all I needed to do was slip off discreetly and acquire said card.

Proud of myself, on the day I handed over the card to Linda waiting for the reaction to the beautiful display of Calla Lillies on the front and my personal verse inside.

I didn't expect a burst of laughter but understood very quickly the reason!

Apparently, I had given her a Sympathy card rather than an Anniversary one!  Perhaps there was some kind of sub-conscious Freudian intervention here and that really what Linda actually deserved was sympathy for the 41 years she has now suffered with me? 

On the other hand, perhaps she still loves me despite all my foibles??

Proud picture of the offending card is below.

It Isn't Just About the Eating

You will have seen a couple of previous posts which have merely provided visual evidence of what we get upto at or around 11am most mornings.  Typical of us really that it revolves around food!

Today, yet another beautiful, warm and cloudless Drome day and sitting down to one of our favourite pieces of French patisserie, I decided that a little research was due about the Mille-Feuille.  Its translation means a thousand leaves and it is also known in some parts of France as a Napoleon.

Its origins stem back to 1651 when a description was first given and typically it is made up of three layers of puff pastry alternating with two layers of creme patissiere.  Sometimes this pastry cream can be substituted with jam - for us that's a desperately poor substitute!  The top layer can be dusted with confectionary sugar but more usually and in our case preferred, it is covered with icing or fondant and finished with brown stripes made from chocolate.

All we know is that they are the perfect accompaniment to a good filter coffee and that no one back home seems able to produce them to the standard of a time served French Patissier.

It's been a slow news day here so I hope you don't mind a little background on our daily eating habits?

To The Young Ones Amongst You, How About This For Next Year's Challenge??

If you've just read the previous blog update, you will have seen mention of Mont Ventoux, a name that brings fear into the hearts of professional and amateur cyclists worldwide.  We have spent today on the slopes and summit of the highest mountain in this area and close up and personal, I can understand the fear that it engenders.

It has been a regular feature of the Tour De France over the years, the last time in 2013 when eventual winner, Chris Froome, crested the summit tape in a time of 59 minutes.  That is a staggering time when you consider it alongside some other statistics:

The length of the climb from Bedoin to the summit is 21.4kms

The height at the top is 1,912 metres

The actual climb is 1,639 metres

The average gradient is 7.6%

The maximum gradient is 12%

The fastest ascent was by Iban Mayo in 2004 at just 55 minutes (was it clean though?)

Someone once climbed it 11 times in 24 hours (he's still receiving treatment for a very sore arse)

I can confess to it being a hard climb in the car as well as you follow and try to overtake this snake of cyclists as they seek the summit.  Some look in total control whilst others look anything but and it is fascinating to see the different shapes and sizes taking on this challenge.  The other intriguing thing is to watch people on mountain bikes having to use twice as much effort as those on pure racing bikes costing thousands of pounds.

The most famous cyclist in respect of Ventoux was Tommy Simpson who died on its slopes on 13th July 1967.  It is a very sad tale because at one point, he was rolling from side to side on his bike and actually fell off.  He sought help to get back in the saddle but unfortunately, just half a mile from the summit he fell again with his feet still clipped into the pedals and died where he fell.  It was very sad that amphetamines were found in his jersey and in his blood stream although the cause of death was classed as heat exhaustion.  There is a wonderful memorial to him at the place he died and for many cyclists this is a place of pilgrimage as the photos demonstrate.

It is a desolate place at the top when you come out of the forest that covers the lower slopes and wind speeds in excess of 200mph have been recorded on the summit. Today, the temperature at the top was just 12 degrees compared to the near 30 degrees at the start point in Bedoin.

For anybody with a sporting bent, this mountain draws you in and challenges you to have a go.  Having completed the climb out of Settle over towards Malham last year, Mont Ventoux need hold no fears for you young ones so how about it next year??

41 and Counting...

Yes, it's time to tick another year of domestic bliss off and look forward to what the forty second one holds in store.  Who would have thought that I, sorry I meant she, could survive 41 years with what can only be described as a paragon of virtue!  Yes, we've had our ups and downs.  Today it was up Mont Ventoux and then down Mont Ventoux (more about that later) but we've come through them all and as I remember the Vicar saying all those years ago, it does look as if for us two, its "till death do us part." Personally and at this stage, I'm more than happy to run with that and I think Linda feels the same way.

We've enjoyed a truly lovely day in the warm sunshine of the Drome including a lazy three course lunch in the village of Malaucene and are now back at our site enjoying a bottle of something fizzy.

Photo attached and here's to the next 41.