Time to get the hanky out again

Time for another trip to the airport and the usual revealing of the hanky, sadly the end of another happy week with the family, kisses and hugs all round and they are on their way home again.

Ganges Market

Friday saw us taking our usual trip to the market to savour the sights and smells. I have to get my weekly fix of smells, cheese, spices, fruit, and freshly roasting chickens.

Le Vigan

This afternoon we took a ride to Le Vigan, where Den spotted a watch he liked in a jewellers. I was not keen as it had a bright orange face.

had promised to buy him one for his birthday that was in March, but as yet he has not found one he liked.

Here we go again-Auberge de la filature

After our earlier discovery of this wonderful restaurant we decided to take Mark and Kay there to taste the delights. Mark and Kay are very much like us and do enjoy well prepared food. As Graham’s girlfriend Eve could not make it to the restaurant when we celebrated our friend’s birthday they came along with us.

The food I must say was equally as good as the first time and we all left feeling fully satisfied and quite content.

Mark is still reliving the Pate he had for his entrée.

Mark and Kay finally make it

After our earlier exploits of Trains, Planes and Automobiles Mark and Kay finally make it for their return journey. I know it was a complete disappointment that they had not made it earlier but they are now here for longer and the weather is so much warmer.

Charlie and Kate

Tonight we have some friends over for dinner, Charlie is in our French class and has been living in France for about a year, and he and his partner Kate are renovating a house at Sumene. Kate is an artist and has an exhibition of her work at a local restaurant; we shall hopefully get along to view some of her work. Charlie is in the same field of work as Dennis and they can often be found swapping database stories.

A gold star in French

French lessons in Ganges again this morning, we had to write an account of our bird watching day, on Sunday in passé compose. We both reached for the dictionary, and started to write furiously… this time Dennis came to the fore and produced a very remarkable piece of work, awarded a gold star by me for his effort!

Keep up the good work Dennis, it will all become clear in the end. Hopefully in the not too distant future.

A new discovery Auberge de la filature

We are always on the lookout for good restaurants and have not found the best of them in Ganges, so was quite excited to receive an invitation from a friend to celebrate his birthday at Auberge La Filature. It is not too far from us and we had a very pleasant evening. They do a set menu with not an enormous amount of choice but that is what I like. I find if a restaurant has masses of dishes to choose from, I often find they do not do any of them well. I like to find a place that has little choice but what they do serve up is tasty and well cooked.

I had the tomato cake for entrée and a rather delicious Veal dish for my main course. It came with a tasty sauce served with a generous portion of Dauphinoise Potato.

I found the surroundings homely and welcoming, and above all the owner was pleasant and helpful. We, I am sure will be returning soon.

I see no birds

Our French tutor invited us on a bird watching day at Campestre. It was to be an early start. We had to meet at 7am which meant we had to be up by 5am.

We duly arrived at the rendezvous and waited as a slow trickle of other enthusiastic bird watchers arrived, the day before it had rained quite a bit and the weather this morning was very damp a thick mist hung over the valley where we were supposed to be able to see the birds.

A decision was made by the organisers to move to another location. We all jumped in our cars and headed off in a convoy down the road. We arrived at our next location still no birds, back in the car again and we arrived at our third location, after a few minutes of scouring the skyline a bird was spotted returning to its nest, I hastily scanned the sky back and forth but saw no bird, everyone was ooing with delight. But I sadly missed it, my binocular skills are not what they used to be. We waited for a while and then it was thought that if it was the female bird returning to the nest then she may well stay put for a while longer.

Exhausted we returned to the bird centre and watched slide shows of other birds of prey and we went on a guided walk around the surrounding area, we learnt quite a bit of the history of the countryside and how the landscape has changed over the years.

Then it was time for lunch and a well deserved rest before we headed off on another bird finding walk. It was a very pleasant stroll through some very pretty countryside, a narrow path meant that a lot of it was done single file. After what seemed like a long walk we came to a fork in the path and could not see the leaders of the group, we then discovered who we thought was our bird watching expert was merely another bird watcher following the person in front. A decision was made to turn back as we were obviously lost! After quite a long walk we came to a clearing and found the rest of the group leisurely resting on the grass with a collection of birds flying above. How we got lost I will never know.

The evening was spent back at the centre where a bar had been arranged and Jazz music by le Dixie Gang du Vigan

The day was a very enjoyable one and one I would like to repeat again, this time hopefully I will see more birds.

Sommières Market

Today we visited Peter a gentleman we have got to know through the Languedoc page website. We have found a wealth of useful information here and it has been our bible to guide us through the stages of moving to France.

The website has a good forum that covers many of the topics that crop up with the move, including everyday practical things like shopping, restaurants but also covers the more serious topics such as Tax and Health topics. If you need any information at all post a link on the forum and you are bound to get a lot of replies to your question, many of them like minded people who have covered that situation and can offer practical advice or help from experts who can give you a link to an official website with more details.

We met Peter in a bar at Sommières market, it was Easter weekend so the place was bustling with people from all around. The market was quite big and had lots of delicious smelling goodies on offer. We spent a while with Peter and his wife and a few of their friends sipping coffee and wine….it was so nice to put a name to a face as Peter had been really helpful to us on a number of topics.

How’s my river?

Dens brother and wife are now safely installed on the plane back to England. They had a fantastic time, I have always said you either get it or you don’t………..they got it. The scenery, the weather, the food, and not forgetting the wine.

We visited the Cirque de Navacelles, I think I will start a rogues gallery of visitor photographs taken at the top. I think we will be seeing a lot more of it this year, we have already been there twice since February and we are only at the beginning of the year.

Val my sister in law was really taken with the view of the river from our apartment, she checked it out every morning and at just about every other opportunity she could. I think the attraction was how it looked at different times of the day dependant on the light conditions.

I have always raved to the family back home at how stunning the scenery is and at times must sound like a broken record but when they arrived their jaws dropped to the floor and said wow now we see why you were so desperate to get here.

We had such nice weather as well during their visit that it was the perfect few days away from cold England and a nice time to have a rest and recharge the batteries ready for work again.

Very much looking forward to their return, which I don’t think will be too far away.

And yes Val your river is fine I have been keeping an eye on it for you.

Eager anticipation

It is Saturday morning and after yesterday’s heavenly evening meal we are now eagerly awaiting the arrival of Den’s brother and wife, they are due here on Sunday afternoon Ryanair willing. The house work has been done, just a few extra provisions to be collected from the local supermarket before they close.