Gerards account

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We continue our travels and are now in Pont Aven Brittany, we arrived on Monday 11 July.

To cover off what we have seen since my last post, we have stayed in St Genies-de-Fontedit (where we also travel to other main centres by train), we stayed with Adele in Bourdeilles (Dordogne region) and then to Pont Aven.

St Genies (close to Beziers) we stayed at for 4 weeks, with Alison (Jennys friend) staying with us for the first week. Having a car for this time meant that we could travel around the region which is what we did.
While Alison was with us we travelled to Carcassonne to view the historic town centre and the new town centre. It always amazes me the history that is here, that we don't have and how these buildings were built without the use of the construction equipment that we would use today. Another structure but more modern was the Viaduc de Millau, even taking into account todays modern construction equipment this is impressive. The height it stands above the valley floor and the span between pillars, it just seems to sit in mid air, so grand. We also managed to visit the beach and some of the local villages. Internet access was a challenge during this time, so we used the local pub at Magalas for its free WiFi, providing you drink or eat something.

St Genies was a place of rest for the family, having been on the move since leaving Vendome and living out of the suitcase it was good to be able to unpack and just relax beside the pool with local wine and cheese. The weather certainly treated us right, even managing to get in the odd swim once the water temperature was at a reasonable level. Here we lost track of time and days, which was a good thing. I must comment on the 7 locks in the canal at Beziers, this takes boats (mainly pleasure ones) from one river level to another through 7 locks each lifting the boat 3 meters, so a total height difference of 21 meters between rivers. These locks are over 100 years old, what an amazing structure. I could have sat here all day and watched the activity of it all of first timers positioning their boats in each lock, with upto 4 boats being able to fit in each lock. This would be a test for first time captains.

Our day trips on the train always started from Beziers, we visited the following:
Nimes, the old collosium was an unexpected highlight. It may sound a bit dull but she is the most intact one for this country and the local audio aid was one of the better giving insight into the gladiator fights and its use during waring times. Of course we lunched and continued to shop.
Marseille, I held high hope for this place, by the sea, modern, great cafes and shopping maybe, but we were disappointed greatly. I don't know if it was a bad day or we saw the wrong area of town but this place was a major dissappointment for all. We even left earlier then expected.

Barcelona Spain, this was a 4 day break and this city never sleeps, well thats what it seemed like from our unit which was on the main drag called "la rambla". The unit was just ok, if we could have found better we would have I think. The noise and the heat were there, plus the pick pocketers, plus the street vendors selling what ever and then all the people. We enjoyed the tapas and other local food, even took in a local bus sightseeing tour (a first for us). We visited the Sagrada Familia church. This was as you would know still being finished, but what vision to design and then undertake the building, the time and money it would take. The detail on the outside, well you cannot take it all in. The shopping here was great and enjoyed by all. It is different to France and we enjoyed coming back to our small french village house.

Toulouse, no Jenny for this trip as she was in London with her sister, so its up to me to get the family to and back in one piece and on the right trains and find someone to cook tea ( as beer is not suitable food for young children). With my girls help we completed this task with flying colours. We stayed in the old town centre, sales were on in the shops, we lunched and viewed and saw another part of France. I can't get over the homeless people with dogs, why they are not moved on by the police. Why they are left to hang around train stations - this is the gate way to the city and this is the first impression tourists get?? 😞

As Jenny was still in London the girls and I packed up and left early to catch the train to Adele's house. We had to drop the car off at Carcassonne, then taxi to the train station. We missed our connection at Brive, but finally made it to Adele's with family and Jenny waiting at the train station in Perigeux. Jenny was back (she was only gone 4 days) and now I could relax again.

This time with Adele and her family was great, having had Adele in our family for 1 year she was one of us and now she wanted to show us her town and region. You never hear much of the Dordogne region, but we would come back again. There is still so much we have not seen as with the rest of France. For me the high-light was the trip with Theirry and son Jean to see the end of the Tour de France at Super Besse Stage 8. We stayed with 2 other friends and their children, this was a great experience seeing it live and in front of you, not only the cyclists but also the caravan of sponsors products, the team buses, support vehicles, what a special time. Not to much shopping this time, but we saw castles, rivers, caves, churches and good times sitting outside having lunch and tea as you can do in this country during summer. Like our country before Christmas this area is facing water restriction before summer has arrived, rivers flows are low and farmers are restricted as to how much if any water they can draw from the river for irrigation. We viewed a sheep farm owned by Francois and Martina, friends of Adele’s parents. They farm 900 sheep mainly under cover for most of the year. These sheep are raised for their meat and not the wool. We were really looked after during this time and they even offered for the girls to go and stay with them like Adele did.It was sad to leave. These 10 days soon came to an end and we are off on the train, it will take 8 hours and we will arrive in Lorient and then hire a car to take us to Pont Aven. We arrived here on Monday 11 July.

We are on the countdown to heading home with just over 2 weeks of our holidays left.

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