1. Fabulous seeing old friends and celebrating together Barry and Eileen's 40th Wedding Anniversary, their Ruby anniversary.
We've known them for nearly thirty years and had been upset and disappointed that our friendship had been damaged when they first moved to East Anglia and then later to Provence. Just great to re-kindle that friendship and also to see several people all recovering successfully from their various troubles.
Friendship, camaraderie, fun, laughter, sunshine, swimming, sailing, superb food, superb hospitality.
2. First visit to the South of France, the Var region, Provence.
The immediate impression as you use the train along from Nice to Les Arcs - Draguignan is of the very steep red hills largely covered with trees. Beyond Les Arcs the hills are of a gentler sometimes greyish hue, covered with evergreen oaks, serpolet (wild thyme) and wild sage. But none-the-less harsh, and occasionally a brutal terrain.
3. Food and Wine of Provence and the week.
It all started with Mussels, Sangrier (wild boar) and the local Provence red wine, and we drank an awful lot of that. Fortunately it was only a twenty minute walk to the the Wine Co-operative in Le Thoronet, a walk I was to do several or was it many times. Towards the end of the week we broadened our horizons and included both the famous Rose Wine of Provence and also the white wine.
Then there were the oysters and the escargots, plus the bacon and eggs and the kippers.
The cheeses were all excellent, though there was an appalling incident when someone cut the nose off the Brie. It was all reminiscent of a public execution in Riyadh!!
It was a succession of two course breakfasts, three course lunches and four course evening meals, all with beautiful food. The Party Dinner itself was held in an Logis de France and of course the dinner and the service was exceptional.
4. Hills and Mountains and walkingSeveral times we'd slope off upto the quarry, some thirty minutes brisk walk above the house, and sometimes we carried on to the top of the ridge above this disused bauxite quarry. Being some 1350ft up in the Montagnes des Ubacs, there were superb views across to the Haute Provence.
This exercise was excellent but inevitably if you do it every day, you build muscle and put on weight!
5. Sun and cruising off St Tropez and St RaphaelWell, the south of France wouldn't be the same without visiting St Tropez particularly on Market Day. I could have done with a sun hat but ideal as it was, 79 euros was a bit excessive. I really needed some new swimming shorts but no one had any. They did have some wonderful yachts in the harbour, from Sunseekers to Vintage Yawls, to huge racing yachts, all really well looked after.
A 'pression' later and we were off to St Raphael, were Barry has his boat. A beautiful boat, a superb afternoon, a swim in the crystal clear waters of the Medterranean, and brilliant sunshine.
If I'd invented this description no one would have believed me.
6. The man in the boulangerie. The first they knew was the sound of an old man singing in a broken voice with a strange accent 'It's a long way to Tipperary' and they joined in and helped him sing it. He has no name, just that he was about 85 years old.
In the village of Le Thoronet the main road is named "La Rue 16th de l'Aout 1944", so what happened on the 16th August 1944?
There is a memorial at the southern end of the village inscribed with the names of seven men.
From this road junction it is about 5kms to the Pont d'Argens, the bridge over the river Argens. These young men planned to blow up the bridge as part of the resistance effort, they were members of 'Le Maquis'. They needed dynamite and went to the quarry above the town to steal some.
They were caught and were shot.
Seven young men cut down, the youth of the village, there were tears in the old man's eyes and he gratefully recalled the help the English had brought to them.
7. Swordfish at a Transport Cafe.Yes, would you have ever believed it?? But this routiers restauarnt near the junction of the RN7 and the Peage north of St Tropez served swordfish and beautiful it was too, as was the Hors D'Oeuvre and the dessert.
8. And some momentos:- a hunting knife from Lourges market, plus a wooden tap for the barrel we have and a vinaigrette jug
- 200gm of Coco Rose Haricots from the market in St Tropez, destined for my allotment as some of next years seeds
- three little Serpolet plants, wild Thyme from Barry and Eileen's garden
- a picture of St Tropez,
- a bag of Croissants and Pan au Chocolat