After cleaning up after ourselves, hanging the freshly washed bedding over a clothes horse and locking up Angela and Billy’s house tight, we set off home on Saturday morning – a little later than planned at 9.20am.

The day was overcast and threatened rain, which in fact took about three quarters of an hour to start.

We stopped in Belac, on route to the motorway north of Limoges to look for bread. Our plan had been to stop in St. Junien, but the rain had started at that point and in Belac it had abated. Here though, we fell foul of the French custom of August holidays (i.e. whole towns go away at once) as only one Boulangerie was open and its queues were huge! We spent a fruitless half an hour wandering round the town and the market (which was still taking place) before deciding that the rain was too hard to bother queuing. We eventually stopped in small town en route to buy bread.

The rain was so hard that I decided to give the motorway a miss and we followed the ‘yellow’ road (obviously the road that was replaced by the motorway) pretty much all the way to Chateauroux and then the ‘green’ road as far as Chartres, where we planned to spend the night. On this secondary road I was able to maintain a legal maximum of 90km per hour (60ish) without worrying about spray, reckless drivers or overtaking (or being overtaken) in such awful conditions: we rarely saw another car and the worst period of driving was through a short patch of surface water just after beginning that part of our journey.

We stopped for a (damp) picnic lunch when the rain stopped (and started – then stopped again) somewhere on route. Sharon then drove all the way to Chartres in cool but dry fairly sunny weather. We stayed at the Ibis in Chartres, which is quite a nice version of that hotel chain, with proper bathroom + showers and a restaurant serving passable food. Sadly, we weren’t over impressed with the city itself but that might have been the weather, which became wet once again as we walked around the outside of the magnificent cathedral and its surrounding tourist traps.

We completed our journey to Boulogne-sur-mer on Sunday in almost continuous sunshine. I say almost, because it decided to throw it down again just after we’d packed up our windy lunch on ‘the front’ at Quand Plage near the Baie de la Somme.

Tonight is our 7th Wedding Anniversary meal and I’m right looking forward to it! More on France, the French and our meal – later.

Today, we took a trip out east and visited Limoges.

As always on our first visits – I’m not sure we gave Limoges the looking at it deserved but we tried.

We shopped, we explored and we ate there (see: http://saturdaywalks.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/tartines/ ). We will at some future time, re-visit the city. Unlike Angouleme, which we visited on Tuesday. Neither of us can see any reason to re-visit Angouleme!

On the way home from Limoges, we stopped off in St. Junien and had a nice walk around (and a rum and raisin flavoured coffee ice cream …) They have interesting roundabouts here. We also called in at Rochechouart, where we found another Chateau to look at! I’m not usre that I mentioned the Chateau we visited yesterday in Rochefoucauld. Hey ho.

We then planned sautéed veal escalope for tea with pommes dauphinoise and ratatouille, but there was so much dauphinoise (scrumptious garlicy, cheese, creamy potatoes) that we had just them with a bottle of Gewürztraminer and an olive fougasse from Paul’s in Limoges.

It’s so quiet here.

I think we forget (or don’t realise) just how much noise pollution we have to put up with at home. The silence here each night, puts Ty Llwyd and parts of the W.A. Outback to shame. However, this morning you’d have thought there was a circus in town! Cattle, poultry, general birds and a more specific Wood Pigeon all decided to kick-off about 7.30am. They had a good hour of verbalising before they began to fade into the background. If it hadn’t been for the preceding silence, we probably wouldn’t have noticed. What a racket!

Anyway, we decided to visit Brantôme today as it’s only about an hour’s drive from here. Brantôme is a beautiful town on the road from Angouleme to Perigueux. But it’s also a very busy town with lots of people and lots of traffic.

We gave it about an hour and a half before getting too hot and fed up of all the tourists. I know I’m part of that particular problem, but neither Sharon nor I like places to be quite this busy. We’d packed a picnic, so we wanted somewhere quiet to eat it (however, that’s another story) and drove off in search of some such place. I had stayed here in Brantôme once before in a previous life, when Sue and I were taking Ben and Emma somewhere down south west France – Bidart I think, close to the Spanish border, but I couldn’t place the hotel we stayed in! Mind, it was about twenty years ago – maybe more.

We drove on and found Bourdeilles a few miles s.w. of Brantôme on the D78 and spent the best part of an hour looking around the town. There’s a big château here which we could have visited but lunch was calling, so we eventually drove up and down the countryside surrounding the River Dronne, as far as Ribérac and up to Verteillac, where we finally had our picnic. This was a pleasant place too, with commanding views of the area. The town square reminded me of something out of North Yorkshire!

We made our way home via another strong coffee in Montbron and are just settling down for the evening. Carmargue Rice Risotto!

I probably should write this in my Saturday Walks blog, or maybe the main Eduvel blog – but it occurred to me on holiday so, here it is (for regular readers – again!) – a story of good coffee.

We drove into France on Thursday evening and ate our picnic tea (dinner?) in our hotel room. It was late enough then to get straight into bed and sleep. The following morning, despite wanting to set off early we had hoped to find time for one of the delightful coffees served just across the road from the Ibis in Boulogne. But it wasn’t to be – even the Boulangerie we’d hoped to buy our day’s bread from was closed for holiday. The cafe was just opening as we drove past on our way out of town at 8.00am. Hey ho.

We then had a day-long drive to our destination, Roussines, just north-east of Montbron and about 45 minutes east of Angouleme (apparently 45 minutes west of Limoges – who knows?). We’d been deprived of coffee all day. Well, that is apart from a machine dispensed coffee just north of Abbeyville (yet even this was better than most coffees I can get in the UK – you’ve heard me say similar before).

So today, Saturday 30th July, we drove into the nearest biggish town – Montbron. We stopped at the first cafe we found (having already secured our bread for the day) and had a delightful coffee. Now saying it was delightful doesn’t do the occasion any justice at all – the coffee was very strong and yet not bitter; full of rounded flavour and again, no bitterness or smokiness – just good strong coffee with a little hot milk. And without fuss too.

I’ve been going for coffee at the Northern Ballet whenever I’ve been working in Leeds (the college coffee shop is closed for summer) and until last week it was fine. The lady who serves me each day recognised my need for a coffee similar in taste to that described above and prepared a very passable coffee. Until that is, they opened a Starbucks franchise. The first day was fine because she made it for me. Each day since then however, there has been a different server. And none of them get it! Because my requirements differ from the ‘norm’, it seems to be too difficult to do. Over here in France, there’s no need to ask for “two shots please, with just about half the hot water you would normally add” – they just do it right! 

Starbucks! Why does your coffee not have the same rounded ‘coffee’ flavour in the UK that it has in the States? Just askin’.

We’re setting off from Leeds on Thursday, to visit the Poitou-Charente region of France. We’re leaving from Leeds because I have a meeting there in the morning.

This summer has turned out to be a very busy one, but it’s not fair on Sharon not to have a holiday – which was the original plan. We’d thought that we might have to wait until October half term but circumstances contrived to make next week (and a few days) the perfect time to go.

We’re staying at Billy and Angela’s place in Roussines, a place and a region we’ve never been to before. So it should all be great. Fingers crossed.

I’m not sure if I mentioned yesterday; my initial view, that the poppies were past their best was wrong! In the wet lands around the Belgian border and all across Picardy (yesterday) they are blooming everywhere. Obviously, some of the wheat, oats and barley being grown in this region have grown higher than the weed, but almost everywhere else there are huge seas of red.

Gorgeous. 

Today, Monday, we set off in good weather. This got better and better as the day went on until mid afternoon, when it spoiled itself by raining heavily. However, our morning, lunch and early afternoon meanderings were blessed with good sunshine. We wound our way around the wet lands east and north east of Calais and around the canals which head for (from?) the St. Omar region. We’d done a bit of this last July with my brother Andrew, and Debbie but thought it would be nice to take another look. We also managed a sunny picnic by the Moulin, overlooking Watten.

The countryside around Nord Pas de Calais is varied to say the least. We drove to Watten via Wimereaux, Ambleteuse, Cap Gris Nez, Wissant, Guines, Ardres and Bourbourg – and the differences between the various farmlands is great. Different crops, different colours, different landscapes completely. After lunch we had a coffee in a bar and then drove back to Boulogne for a bit of hypermarket shopping.

Because there had been a smash on the motorway junction our road passed under we had to duck and weave to get back and the roads outside our hotel were gridlocked. We therefore dumped the car in a not too far away car park and walked to the bar where we usually have our morning coffee. Everyone was pissed!! The landlady was dancing on a table and they had loud music playing. They were worried that strangers were sitting there but soon came around and started chatting (!!) with us. Excellent.

We’re back to blighty tomorrow, but not home quite yet. We’re staying with Martin and Lin for a few days before I need to get back to a weekend of marking and a week full of work (mustn’t grumble!)

Sadly, Boulogne does not seem to have the ferry trade it once had, so the ‘Spectacle’ (which the French do so well, and so often) was perhaps a little low key. The weather may have had something to do with that though because it was cold – damn cold!

We decided to stay in Boulogne on Saturday to watch the parades, which went on all day.

We’ve become fond of calling across the road from the hotel for breakfast pastries and the eating them in a local bar, where the coffee is magnificent. It’s a good start to the day and we were well fortified then, when we went into the old town to see what was going on. Many of the different regiments were beginning to assemble (representations of the regiments of course – not whole regiments!) and were practicing their marches (see above). They had all slept; bivouacked on the old town ramparts and some looked a little worse for wear. It was fun to see all the different uniforms and the way in which the whole thing was play-acted. Well done France – despite the appalling weather.

The old town restaurants were all booked up with camp followers, weekend visitors and Saturday revellers, so we had to drop down the road to the lower town for dinner.

Sharon had a fabulous salad that purported to be Niçoise (!!) and I had that evening’s ‘suggestion’ – Scallops with Spinach and Asparagus. This was also magnificent. I was presented with nine perfectly seared king scallops and a fistful of white asparagus on a huge bed of wilted but flawlessly seasoned spinach. The fact that it looked good and tasted good made the cost (€€€) easier to bear.

Today was mother’s day (fete de meres).

We set off for Cayeaux sur le mer in heavy cloud and intermittently heavy rain. We had to have the heater on in the car and we felt thoroughly miserable as we made our way. We visited the town with Andrew and Debbie last year and though it quite pretty and somewhere to come again. But, as we pulled in it seemed deserted. The rain had stopped but it was bitterly cold as we walked from one end of the huts to the other – probably ¾ mile. As we walked back along the town’s streets the weather seemed to improve and we eventually decided to stay and have lunch there.

The weather continued to improve, so we put out our chairs and read for a while before beginning our meander back up the coast via all of the towns and villages at the mouth of the Somme. This far south, the poppies are much more in evidence and some fields looked truly beautiful.

By now, some of the Somme area towns (Le Crotoy, Quand plage les Pins, Fort Mahon Plage etc) were beginning to fill up and parking was impossible in some of the larger places.

We stopped eventually at Merlimont Plage Plage, which seemed a little run down compared to the others but which nevertheless had a superb beach and a nice outlook. It reminded me of Byron Bay in New South Wales, but without the hippies.

We’ve just finished a picnic tea in our bedroom – as we had not eaten to planned picnic at lunch time.

For one reason and another, we didn’t get our picnic lunch on Thursday until we were on our way back from Le Creuset. By then, the deteriorating weather had thrown up some really strong winds. Nevertheless, we did manage to eat outside on a picnic bench; but we needed our coats on. By the time we got back to Boulogne, we could hardly stand, as the wind was so strong.

We decided to have a couple of drinks down in the lower part of town before returning for a light snack and bed. We had our drinks in Au Bureau, a popular bar in the large (Dalton?) square. I found WiFi there and thought I’d have a play with Foursquare – my use of this had now become a competition with Alison. However, try as I might I couldn’t get onto the Au Bureau router. I asked for the code and the waiter just shrugged his shoulders. So, I explored the other options and came up with Boing (mwa, mwa s-i-l). This allowed me on and I was able to ‘locate’ myself but actually posting anything was a nightmare. I suspect that downloads are pretty much unrestricted whereas uploads grind to an absolute stop at most times. One post managed to get through in about 90 minutes.

When we got back to the hotel, we tried their free WiFi, which works wonderfully well (see Flickr pics and YouTube video) – the only downside is that it works on just one machine at a time. This will make registering on Foursquare somewhat difficult. But never mind.

Today, Friday, we have done a tour of the Boulonnais countryside. We followed the Course Valley (Vallée de la Course) pretty much top to bottom – but zig-zagged all the way down and then carried on down the Vallée de la Canche to Hesdin.

Both valleys (there are several others) are very pretty and quite beautifully quiet drives. We were spoiled only by the weather, which was mixed to say the least. As lunch was to be another picnic, we had coffee in Hesdin, a town which originated back before the Hundred Years War, when this part of France was the Spanish Netherlands, before toodling up to Azincourt (guess) to find somewhere to set up and eat. Unlike yesterday, we were able to have a wind-free lunch, but only just managed to avoid the rain which came siling down just minutes after we’d finished. We didn’t ‘do’ Azincourt though because of the heavy rain.

We finished our trip at Montreuil, which is another ancient town, overlooking the surrounding countryside and ringed by imposing ramparts. As the weather had bucked up somewhat, we walked all the way around these. About 3-4 kilometres. Lovely.

Dinner. Somewhere. Soon!

For the first ever time we were ‘inspected’ by customs and excise (slack day?) Which was interesting. We’d already passed over the video cameras in the road but now they wanted to check all the door handles for something or other – presumably, if we’d been handling explosives, we wouldn’t have washed out hands first and the swabs would therefore have picked it up. Anyway, we were cleared to go and off we went!

We both enjoy France, so simply arriving in Calais after a very swift journey under the English Channel was a delight. 25 minutes later we were booking into our hotel in Boulogne (Ibis Vielle Ville). We unpacked – which took ages because were had just bundled things into the car before setting off (both of us were out of the house form over 12 hours the previous day!) and went out for a walk. We’d already packed enough food for the day, so as the sun was shining – we made the most of it.

Full day 1 was Thursday and we’d decided to amble across country to Fresnoy le Grand, the home of Le Creuset. I’d been twice before, but Sharon had never been – so we’d made it a feature of one day out. We drove along A and B roads (N and D!), which made the journey slower – but much more enjoyable. The fields of wheat and barley had grown just enough to cover the poppies which must have been magnificent over the last few weeks. They are just starting to show in England, but the only ones we’ve seen over here so far, are those which live on the borers of fields and along the road side. However, even these are being out back – it must be trim the roadsides week over here as we saw many farmers out cutting the edges.

We had a late breakfast overlooking gorgeous valley just outside Boulogne at what I think was Quesques.

Fresnoy le Grand has changed much since I last visited, the factory has gone (it’s still in the town, but it’s  moved) and the pub/restaurant by the gates is closed. All buildings formerly between the pub and the factory shop are now a factory shop car park. Progress! We did find the town to be quite delightful but very closed. No idea why, but everywhere except the chemist was closed. Bars, Bakers, Butchers – all closed. Strange.

Anyway, it’s late now so I’ll finish. But as a reminder for tomorrow. Wind!

Well we’re back. 22 hours door to door – Tulsa to Huddersfield.

Tulsa had started to cool down as we left for the airport, in fact it rained for a few minutes en route. So it was sad to leave. Gail had been the perfect hostess during our stay, even giving up her bed, her bedroom and her en-suite to accommodate us. All very much appreciated. I felt a tad guilty when one of the cats punctured her (good quality) air bed midway through our stay. Note to self: must not let cats into room with air bed unless you have removed their claws/paws beforehand.

All of our flights were on time and apart from the 5 or 10 minutes delay in berthing at Manchester, all arrived at their destination early. Both Chicago and Frankfurt are huge airports but at least Chicago has the terminals to cope with the traffic. At Frankfurt we were dropped on the Tarmac and bussed to a terminal that seemed to be disorganised and too small for the passengers passing through. It was also a long way away from the plane and our bus was overcrowded, especially when everyone on it has just got off a cramped 9 hour+ transatlantic 747 flight.

The main flight was not good on a number of counts. First of all, it was with United, Lufthansa’s American partner, and Lufthansa they are not! The jumbo was an old, not so recently refurbished 747 and seating was very tight. Even 1″ matters on flights of this length, but I suspect that I had as much as 2″ less ‘knee room’ coming back with United as I had going with Lufthansa. When the (thoughtless, inconsiderate but well within his rights) chap in front of me put his seat back I was trapped! I couldn’t even read my book. He’d put his seat back as soon as the plane levelled off after leaving Chicago, so it looked like I was in for a night of frustration. Luckily, the girl next to Sharon decided to move over to sit by a friend after about half an hour, so we ended up with three seats between the two of us, which made the flight more bearable.

While I’m on a grumble, I have to mention the food. It was crap. Really; not just airline food poor, but really crap. All of it. Sharon had a pasta dish (recommended by the steward over my chicken) that tasted like overcooked pasta mixed with lukewarm tomato purée. My chicken was curried (ish) but the chicken was ropey and chewy! The salad was just lettuce, the bread was hard and the pudding was a pre-wrapped flapjack. Breakfast consisted of a strawberry yoghurt and a piece of banana cake. Compared with the quality and choice offered by Lufthansa on our way out, I’d like to suggest that they, Lufthansa, do some urgent quality control on their American partner.

In fact, given the flight discomfort and food, I’d suggest they look for new American partners. Jet Blue were good when we flew east coast to west coast last year.

Despite having to work almost every weekday, we had a great time. This was entirely thanks to Gail. We were well fed (WELL FED) and entertained throughout. Despite Gail having moved to Tulsa only about two to three weeks before we got there, she made sure that we saw and experienced as much of Oklahoma as possible including Route 66, live rodeo, wild bison on the prairie (see pic above), red vinyl roadhouse cafes, biscuits and gravy (although that was more Jaime than Gail). We saw two movies (Salt and Inception) and two T.V. series of Dexter, the serial killing forensic guy, which was made possible by the 17meg Internet download speed with upload speeds reaching twice the speed of my best uploads speed at home! Note to BT Total Broadband – WTF?

It was also great that Jaime could make the time to come to Tulsa while we were there (should that be whilst???). It’s always good to see Jaime as we both enjoy her company very much. I particularly enjoy her adventurous attitude to food (see last year’s New York meal – antebellum shrimp grits with andouille) And we were just a little sad that she couldn’t get to see the bison with us.