46 and feeling fabulous

At the end of the Tour de Rêves

Well, it has been quite a week and if you can't toot your own trumpet on your birthday, then when can you?

This time last week we were just finishing off our six-day cycling challenge that had seen us complete a figure of eight, 437km route around the Deux-Sèvres department of France. 

Tour de Rêves, day 6, rain again

We had rain on four of the six days, head winds no matter what direction we were headed in, a bit of sunshine and with quite a bit of hill climbing it was certainly a challenge. However, it was also great fun thanks to the support we received, by the bucket load. If you would like to donate to the children's make a wish association Rêve, you can do so here, thank you.

Early birthday lunch with café gourmand in La Rochelle

While we were away cycling Adrian's Mum was holding the fort at home (and by this I mean conquering my ironing mountain, among other things) and although sad to say goodbye to her on Tuesday, I was happy she chose to fly from La Rochelle as Adrian treated me to lunch, with a café gourmand dessert. I need a La Rochelle fix every now and then, just wandering around makes me feel a little tingly inside. It also felt quite indulgent starting my birthday celebrations four days early.

L'Hermione in Rochefort

Not only did I get lunch in La Rochelle, I also got an afternoon in Rochefort where we saw L'Hermione, the replica of an 18th century French frigate (built to defeat the British) that was launched in 2015 when she sailed across the Atlantic to commemorate her predecessor's voyage to aid the American War of Independence in 1780.

Swallows ready to fly south

Nature has also put on quite a show for my birthday week, every morning the village has been decorated with hundreds of swallows, perched on the phone and power lines like bunting. It's always sad to see them go, but an incredible sight to see too.

Handmade birthday gifts from the sewing club ladies

Friday was sewing club day and I was spoiled with handmade gifts including a zero calorie (crocheted) cupcake, some not so zero calorie homemade fudge, warm hand knitted socks and homemade walnut wine.

Birthday gift

We have a tradition in our family - a birthday is not a birthday without some tinned fish and you might note most of my other gifts had a food theme too.

Birthday breakfast

While we are talking about food, a croissant from the boulangerie, a pear from the orchard and some homemade quince jelly, served with a coffee and dark chocolate. This was the perfect start to my special day.

New exercise clothes

Those of you who knew me in my youth would probably not have thought exercise clothes or six day bike rides would form any part of my future, let alone feature at my 46th birthday. Well, if I'm honest, neither did I, but I'm glad they did. The rest of the day will also involve cycling, beer, Cremant d'Alsace (think Champagne) and homemade pizza - bring it on!

Cheers! To your good health.

Family cycling in Charente Maritime

River Charente, Saint Savinien

Yesterday I was treated to morning coffee in one of our favourite bars and lunch in another, as we just couldn't make up our minds which one to go to. I had to work for my treats though, with a 25km hilly bike ride to coffee, another 15km to lunch and then 18km home. Some may say that following 58km yesterday, the last thing my legs wanted today was another 40km ride, but some may say that was just what they needed. All I'm saying is that it's not often14 year old Ed actually asks to spend time with us on a family bike ride, so I was going no matter how tired my legs were.

Taillebourg Charente Maritime

We live ten kilometres from the Charente Maritime border and whether we hit the coast or stay inland we often enjoy a day out there. Today we cycled a relatively flat 40km circuit taking in small towns and villages with Romanesque churches, ramparts and chateaux, including Saint Sevinien, Taillebourg and Fenioux. We cycled through vineyards, poppy fields and wheat fields just beginning to turn yellow. We traced the banks of the river Charente and cycled through marshlands where storks were nesting. We had sun, cloud and at our beer stop, a bit of drizzly rain. It was a lovely day and we even met a few fellow cyclists.

Taillebourg Charente Maritime

The first one was a Frenchman with a very old bike who flagged us down at the side of the road to borrow a pump. Next we saw a very Parisian-looking couple effortlessly whirring downhill on their electrically assisted matching bikes, as we struggled up hill with nothing but tired legs and orange flavoured sports drink to power us. Then there was the sleek real cyclist, wearing the Lycra strip of a local cycling club, who breezed past with a courtesy ‘bonjour’ as I was puffing up another hill. But I was quick. I leapt on his back wheel and used his drag to power me up the hill, overtaking Ed and Ade with ease. Well, OK, I'm lying. I spluttered a bonjour, but before the thought of tagging behind him had entered my weary head, he'd gone to catch up with my boys. Oh well, I can but dream and anyway I'm sure he only had the power to overtake as he'd been using my drag to climb most of the hill.

Tomorrow I will not be on my bike, but it won't be a day of rest as the lawns need mowing and the car needs cleaning.

A spring drive through the Cognac vineyards

Mechanical weeding in organic vineyards

Today we took an afternoon drive through the Cognac vineyards as we needed to stock up on the local organic red from our preferred producer, Brard Blanchard. We were also using the drive to plot a cycle route from home to Cognac for a summer adventure. Unfortunately boulangeries and cafés, essential for our refuelling, are thin on the ground so research is required to avoid hungry disappointment.

It is a lovely time of year to be out as signs of spring and new life are all around, in the hedgerows, the villages and the vineyards. The cowslips and sloe blossom are out in the hedgerows and the villages are ablaze with forsythia, window boxes of pansies, flower beds full of daffodil and hyacinth bulbs and orchards turned white and pink with the first fruit blossoms. There is an air of excitement and gentle busyness. The magpies were nest building in the treetops, the chickens were head down and bottoms up scratching in the gardens, including a mother hen with her tiny speckled chicks and the gardeners were working in their potagers and mowing the verges. In one village we drove past a small road with the sign Rue des Amoureaux (Lovers Road) that made me smile and wonder why it had been so named.

The vines haven’t started sprouting their new leaves yet, but the vineyards were still busy. A pheasant with his showy plumage strutted across the road in front of us into the safety of the vines. Teams of pruners, wrapped in coats and hats were snipping the stumpy vines to two spurs while others were busy tying these in to the supports. The organic producers don’t use weed killers, but opt for mechanical weeding rather like hoeing but with a tractor. The non-organic vineyards are easy to spot with their acres of burned orange lifeless grass surrounding the feet of the vines and looking desolate and very unnatural against the fresh colours of spring around them. One of my favourite sights at this time of year is the huge fields of yellow dandelion flowers that had the weather been better would have been alive with bees. Some may consider them weeds, but I love them.

I hope you have enjoyed a spring trip to the Charente-Maritime with me. This post is linked to All About France, a monthly blog link up run by Phoebe at Lou Messugo. To read what other France lovers have to say about France this month click here.

Winter in the gardening club

Smoked trout at Restaurant des Canards

A cold morning complete with a crisp, sparkly frost that clung to the grass well after my mid morning coffee wasn’t the best of days for gardening. It was however the perfect day for the gardening club’s annual lunch. A roaring fire welcomed us at Restaurant des Canards where I feasted on delicious locally raised smoked trout fillet, followed by pork that seemed to melt as my knife and fork approached it, served with creamy potato gratin and asparagus. I was feeling very satisfied and content and then came the difficult bit, choosing from four delightful sounding desserts. I’m not the best decision maker and to choose one over the others seemed almost cruel. Thankfully they took pity on me, played to my greedy side and presented me with a plate containing a small taster of them all. The tart lemon meringue offset the sweet apple pie, the warmth of the cherry crumble was perfect with the cool of the Eton mess with it’s crunch of meringue adding texture and it was all brought to perfection by the espresso coffee. I truly enjoyed every mouthful.

My personalised dessert platter

I will admit to having post good food heavy eyelids, but an afternoon on the sofa with a book wasn’t to be. The cat demanded feeding as I walked through the door, the dog sensed my overindulgence and dragged me out for a walk and when Ed got home from school he needed taxiing to his music lesson before being fed this evening. Never mind, at least I'd had a lovely time with great food and lots of chat and laughter. It really helped up my enthusiasm levels for getting back out in our potager patch where the weeds seem to have taken over, again.

I’ve been a member of this local club since they asked me to be the guest speaker at their AGM last year, something that would have been far scarier if they weren’t the nice, friendly and fun bunch that they are. If you live close to south Deux Sevres and would like to learn more about gardening in a fun and relaxed way please let me know. New members are always welcomed, expertise isn’t required, just a love of gardening.

For more inspiration about gardening in France, you might want to check out French Dirt, a must read memoir about a year in a potager in the South of France.

France et Moi with author Louise Candlish

The first book I've found set on Ile de Ré

At the beginning of the week we took the bikes and a picnic over to the beautiful Ile de Ré, just off the coast at La Rochelle. As a very popular holiday destination it can be rather busy in the summer, but we just kept on peddling the cycle paths through the vineyards and salt marshes until we found ourselves a quiet spot. It is no wonder author Louise Candlish loves it so much she has set her latest novel there. Although we didn’t meet on the island I have been talking to her about what France means to her for my France et Moi feature.

Louise Candlish is the bestselling author of nine novels, including The Day You Saved My Life , set in Paris, and her new release, The Disappearance of Emily Marr , set in Saint-Martin-de-Ré. She lives in London with her husband and daughter.

Firstly, I think France is a special place and it is famed for many things including its cheese, wine and diverse holiday locations plus, dare I say it, strikes and dog poo-littered streets. What do you think makes France so very unique and ‘French’?

Louise: I think it’s the sense that the quality of life has been preserved from more innocent times – but that may be just a figment of our English imaginations! Mostly, it’s the bread, the cheese, the wine, the sunshine…

2) With books set in Paris and the Ile de Ré would you say time spent in France inspires your writing?

Louise: Yes, those two locations have made very atmospheric settings for my stories. Paris is Paris, we all know why it’s the backdrop to a million movies, novels and paintings. For a writer, it’s the romantic reputation – you can’t help but take that and subvert it into something darker. The Ile de Ré is a very special place, it still has a sense of secrecy to it. I don’t write much when I’m actually there, though – the draw of the great outdoors is too powerful.

3) Do you have a preferred holiday location in France?

Louise: We almost always go to the Ile de Ré, but I hope to explore Brittany soon.

4) France has some beautiful cities and there are a few that constantly battle to be my favourite. What is your favourite French city and why?

Louise: I love Nice. I think everyone does. The light on the water is beautiful and you feel very relaxed there.

5) If money and commitments were no object, where in France would you like to own a property and what sort of place would it be?

Louise: I would have a big house with a pool near the Conche des Baleines beach on the Ile de Ré. It’s very wild and remote up there and a windswept walk on the beach is the perfect way to blow away the cobwebs, of which I have many.

6) Food is very important in France and every region has its own culinary specialty, are there any regional dishes you particularly enjoy?

Louise: I love the seafood of the Atlantic coast, the oyster bars on the water where every dish comes with a glass of white wine. Also the ice cream. I’m never happier than when standing in the queue with my daughter, deciding how many boules we are going to have.

 

Ile de Ré Oyster bar

7) Do you have a guilty pleasure you always buy in a boulangerie/patisserie?

Louise: Chouquettes, the little sugared choux balls, which we fill with salted caramel – and I don’t feel remotely guilty!

8) France has many different cheeses, a silly question, but which French cheese are you? A hard and mature Tome, a soft, fresh and lively goat cheese, the creamy and rich Camembert or maybe the salty and serious Roquefort?

Louise: Camembert is the king of cheeses in my opinion.

9) Best French tipple, and yes I know there are many to choose from?

Louise: A kir, but I’ll accept most others with a good grace.

10) Can you describe your perfect French apèro for us: the drink, the nibbles, the location and the company?

Louise: The aforementioned kir, or a glass of champagne, in a shaded, cobbled courtyard, with my husband, daughter and friends. I’d probably be in a deckchair.

Finally, do you have any current projects you would like to tell my readers about?

Louise: The Disappearance of Emily Marr has just been published – it’s a twisty emotional mystery, a kind of tale of the unexpected, with lots of scandal and tragedy and forbidden love.

Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions about France and you.

Louise: It was my pleasure!

You can find Louise on Twitter and visit her website, here.

Silent Sunday

Today I thought I would share some pictures from our cycle days on the Charente Maritime coast.

Fishing huts near Tallmont sur Gironde

The maritime cemetery at Tallmont sur Gironde

Tallmont sur Gironde

Vineyards on the Gironde estuary

Ile d'Oleron

Fort Boyard from Ile d'Oleron

St Martin de Ré

The bridge to Ile de Ré

Summer madness

Ile d'Oleron

We have had a mad few weeks that if I’m honest have seen me turn a little feral. Firstly the weather has been great with days and days of unbroken sunshine and high temperatures that had many (but not us) complaining about la canicule or heatwave. This last week, great became mad with the weather swinging from extreme heat and sun to violent storms, winds and rain and back again more times than I can remember. We were very lucky; with only a few short power outages and one tasty plum tree lost we can’t really complain at all, many others were not so fortunate.

We have used our time without Ed to really push the limits on our bikes and with the soaring temperatures many references have been made to us being mad. Ed loves his days out on the bikes too, but like any normal 12 year old he doesn’t want to spend every day cycling with his parents, so we have clocked up some kilometres without him. So far in the last two and half weeks, we have cycled 640km, an equivalent distance of London to Edinburgh or London to Paris and back again and have seen some really lovely places in this beautiful area. We have called it our ‘stay at home cyclation’, but time out on the bikes has meant certain things have slipped. Our ‘rest days’ at home have been spent catching up with the courgette cooking, baking and finding interesting things to do with the fruit and veggie harvests, which has left little time for housework, ironing or weeding. My normal attitude to housework could be described as ‘relaxed’ but has now descended to a whole new level of yukiness. The heat, the lack of visitors and the fact we haven’t really been here have all contributed to this. Sadly it is not just the house, as standards have slipped on a personal level too and I can’t remember the last time I used my hairdryer to ‘style’ my hair in the morning. The heat, the cycle helmet, the sweat and the pool water soon put pay to any natural bounce so it’s about as much as I can do to drag a brush through it first thing in the morning. I can honestly say I have spent more time and effort brushing the cat and dog than myself.

Talmont sur Gironde

But there is a problem. Civilisation is calling; we can’t remain child free and feral forever. There will be social occasions and family get togethers to attend where my normal attire of next to nothing if we’re home or cycle lycra if we’re out won’t be acceptable. With the temperatures we’ve had I won’t be surprised to find the few bits of makeup I do own (untouched since my last return from UK) to be a melted mess at the bottom of a drawer. My toenails and fingernails haven’t seen a re-shape or polish in months and no amount of foundation can conceal the fact that my eyes and forehead have the milky complexion I was born with, as they have been shaded from the sun by the cycle helmet and sunglasses. My cheeks however are rosy and weathered and I look like a panda. Added to this is the fact I have the most glamorous sisters-in-law in the world means thoughts about what to wear keep troubling my mind. Despite being born in Chiswick, London and having spent many years commuting to work in the City, since moving to rural France I have definitely become the country relation. Removing ourselves from the UK has changed us and different things are important to us now, how we look and what we buy isn’t as important as time spent together. I hate to admit it, but lovely though it is to see friends and family it is always nice to get back to my comfortable French village life.