Famous Last Words!

While Rosie went off to her first Welsh lesson, we packed our bags and made ready to leave  later in the afternoon for the ferry. Before that there was a pleasant lunch in the garden under sunny skies. An added bonus was being able to see several red kites in action.
The drive down to Portsmouth was long and after paying over £6 for two cappuchinos we came out of the services to find that the rear window of the car was half open. Tried to close it but it got stuck completely open. Managed to cover it with a blanket weighed down with the umbrella stand that Jill had given us. "At least it's not raining", says I. Talk about tempting providence ...... all along the A34, the rain just teemed down. Arrived in Portsmouth 10 minutes before the supermarker closed so I did a quick scoot around picking up some cold meat, cheese, fruit and a Hovis. Not much of an meal but it was the best we could do given that we couldn't leave a loaded car.

Managed to get some sleep on the overnight crossing. This time we were wise to the disembarkation problems and asked to park on a lower inside deck. A car with an open window exposed to the elements served as a good excuse.
BMW in Le Havre were great. They managed to pull up the window and firmly tape it in place. Had another picnic en route while looking forward to a good evening meal to celebrate our wedding anniversary.
Our hotel in St Poncey in the Massif Central was simple but in a pretty village and the food was good. And an apéritif in the sun on the terrace was a plus.
Arrived home the next day in lovely sunny weather, more than happy to be back.

Mwynhewch eich bwyd!

After a leisurely start to the day we took Chris and Rosie out for lunch. Good food, in pleasant surroundings much  to our liking. Afterwards took a jaunt into the nearby town in search of postcards. Hopefully, they'll arrive in France before we do.
And this title means "Bon appétit!"

Croeso i Gymru

Today, it was time to gather up all the shopping and other acquisitions, pack and move on to Chris and Rosie's new home in South Wales. Had a leisurely drive in the sunshine, stopping off in Raglan for a nice lunch. Despite all the comments about wet Wales, we had a couple of days of beautiful weather. We were able to have tea in the garden when we arrived and I have to say, that the garden is just splendid, summer houses (yes, plural), a pond, veg plot and lots of verdant nooks and cranies.
Ps. The title means "Welcome to Wales".

Lunch in the Cotswolds

By now we were running out of energy and ideas of where to eat that would have something to suit

Mum ; I must have mentioned before that she has a very limited palate which is the bane of my life. Settled on another pub lunch, this time in Chipping Campden. Beig a Sunday, there was nothing much else open so we went back to Mum's ; Christian to sleep, Mum to do her crossword and me to knit .... domestic bliss?
As if lunch out wasn't enough, John and Jill took us for a Chinese meal in the evening. despite all good intentions of eating meagerly, temptation got the better of us! Then went home and settled down to watch the start of the new series of "Downton Abbey". What suckers we all are for costume drama featuring the upper classes. Don't let on to the comarades. In our defence we did watch "The Mill" which was excellent, based on fact and redressed the balance of British social history..

Wherefore Art Thou, Will?

Back again to Stratford for more shopping and to meet Mary. Good ol' Christian, he's a gem; uncomplaining and patient. Still, lunch in a pub and then a walk next to the canal in the sunshine was a real pleasure. The Warwickshire countryside was looking its best and the narrow boats added to the scene. All we lacked was a Shakespeare look alike to accompany us.

Pleased to Meet You!

19.9.13: A day off! Yes, a lazy start, lunch at The Bell and a zip around the shops in Stratford. Weather was ok but better than that, it was just us. On our return, we called in to see Joan who's moved around the corner from Jill and seems to be happy in her new house.
20.9.13: Started the day with a visit from Ollie, Tash and the new baby who is just a week old. She's a wee smasher! From the youngest relative to the oldest .... picked up Mum and took her to the garden centre for lunch. Pleasant surroundigs but like the one earlier in the week, there seems to be less emphasis on the  garden side of things and more on eating and gifts. Supermarket shopping ... what joy and then home.

Pub Fare

17.9.13: Met up with Mum in the town, visited several charity shops in search of china cups and saucers. No success in that department but came away instead with a lovely M & S winter skirt. Went to "El Café" for coffee. It's a tiny little place which has good reviews on Tripadvisor. In fairness we didn't eat there but quite honestly, there was nothing to set it apart from any other café. These jaundiced eyes are too used to the real thing.
Mum treated us to an upmarket pub lunch in the village where we met contempories from the village that I hadn't seen for years and years. Our meal was fine but Mum wasn't very happy that the September menu didn't include the gammon that she'd had and enjoyed in August. The terrine that she had instead didn't meet with approval so I guess this place will be struck off. Shame as the only other place in the village serves run-of-the-mill fare which we're more than happy to give a miss. You know what they say about pleasing people ......?

18.9.13: Today we went for another pub meal, this time "The Fleece" in Bretforton. It was worth it just fo r the character of the place which dates from the time of Chaucer. If you're interested you can read about its history on http://www.thefleeceinn.co.uk/history-of-the-fleece-inn/  Although sunny outside, its dim interior made it cool enough for a fire but the wood was damp and it smoked. It all added to the atmospere.
From here we went to the Evesham garden centre where 90% of the visitors  were elderly people on an afternoon out. Every year there seems to be going more and more downhill.
The evening redressed the age balance as Jill's kids came around with their families so we met JJ for the first time and heard Isla count and say her alphabet. Much more fun.

No Frills Sailing

Stopped off for coffee with Gilbert and Jacqueline, who have finally sold their shoe shop, before going to catch the ferry. Oh dear, we really need to go for another means of crossing the channel as the new owners of the line can only be considered as the maritime equivalent of Ryanair. Pitiful facilities and it was an old non roll on / roll off boat. That meant that when it was time to disembark all the cars had to back and turn around thus taking nearly an hour as a consequence. To add insult to injury, the crossing was so rough that once we were out at sea, we weren't allowed out on deck. Our sad little picnic was eaten in the seats where we spent the whole of the 5.5 hour voyage.  Finally arrived at Jill's after midnight where a cup of cocoa and plenty of tlc put us right..

Family Ties

This morning our youngest granddaughter acted as our guide in town where we went to buy bread and dessert for lunch. With the sun shining we had to have a coffee out on a terrace of a café. The weather held long enough for an apéritif outside too but lunch we had inside. Once back at Christophe's, it wasn't long before we were on the road again. Sylvie (cousin) and Christophe had only arrived home from Spain that afternoon but vallantly insisted that we go around for something to eat. Irene and Alain (cousin) were also there and we really appreciated the effort that they made to see us. So, our last meal in France was a good one. Can Uk keep up?

Chilling Out

10.9.13: A lazy day spent close to home (because of the rain) until it was time to go over to see Lydie and Bernard for dinner.
11.9.13: Cold and miserable but we went to the local market only to find that the old characterful café is no more. Found a café near to the house where we were soon talking to the locals only to find that we'd met one of the clients at our local market.  He's from the same family as the stall holder that we buy cheese from and had been down in our neck of the woods on holiday. Small world, eh?
12.9.13: Weather still miserable, so gave the market a miss and went to the Pissaro exhibition featuring paintings of the ports of Rouen. Dieppe and Le Havre in the Musée Malareaux. The restaurant was fully booked so we came back to Montivillers (photo) where the market had finished and had lunch in the "Pomme et Cannelle". We'd been thinking for a while that we'd like to try it but now our curiosity is satisfied, there's no reason to go back.
13.9.13: Did some supermarket shopping as we're cooking dinner this evening. Weather miserable, chilly but dry so we were able to have a walk along the prom at Fécamp before lunch with Christophe at "Terras Nuevas". This time we had an excellent meal; lots of verrines.
Our meal in the evening was a simple affair, apéritifs, pasta with smoked salmon sauce, cheese and petits fours.
14.9.13: Caught up with "Young Moltabano" who's as beguiling as his older self. The mannerisms and reflexions are the same but it's difficult imagining this thin, curly haired, bearded young man becoming the Salvo of later life that we first met. It is fun though being introduced to all the characters that we already know. Later in the afternoon we went over to Valérie and Guilhaume's for the night and celebrated Hugo's birthday..