Porte des Cevennes 10th April 2012

Note: pale grey text is a link to a website - more photos available on Picassa https://plus.google.com/photos/100479903138288883757/albums/5729885650804705633

Our last night in Anduze, its been raining all day and now the thunder is rolling round the hills. But its been a good few days with mainly lovely weather and lots of special events over the Easter weekend.

Our first trip was up to Mialet and the Grottes du Trabuc (link), underground caverns with  stalactites and  lakes. On the lowest level are thousands of tiny stumps a bit like the Terracotta Army in miniature.

On Good Friday Jim decided he needed to spend some time on his dissertation, so Margot and I cycled into Anduze and caught the little 'vapeur' up to St Jean du Gard. Going through the tunnels in the open carriages wrapped in steam and occasional beams of light was very psychedelic, definitely the way to travel and with lovely views as we climbed up the valley.

After a quick tour of the town we set out to climb a nearby hill with rock outcrops overlooking the valley. A stiff climb but well worth it for the view but with thunder rolling around the hills we were lucky to get back for a beer before the rain set in. The town was being set up for a music festival the following day so we decided to revisit.

Saturday started sunny so we decided to attack the ridge across the valley. About 7 kilometres but with a steep climb up to the ridge. There are some lovely old houses on the road up but most seem to be holiday homes. A very pleasant pine forest along the ridge where we had a picnic with good views back across to our house.

In the afternoon we headed off to St Jean du Gard to find the festival - the Boulegan a l'Ostal - in full swing. Last years youtube Boulegan a l'Ostal 2011 clip gives you a good idea as the weather had turned wet and the mixture of rainbow knitwear, dreads and waterproofs was much the same. Jim was a bit freaked by the ageing hippies but I must admit I felt perfectly at home and even persuaded Margot to join me in a dance before being dragged off to a creperie. I like the idea that amongst all these holiday homes there are isolated communities of potters and musicians still living the dream. And whose to say they are wrong nowadays? As well as the music and dancing there was a market for traditional instruments. Some beautiful workmanship including some guitar-harps which I had never seen before.

Sunday started sunny again but this time it stayed that way as we went to Pont du Gard (website), using the season tickets we had bought last September. Apart from the bridge itself there were lots of activities put on for the Easter weekend. We had our picnic overlooking the bridge to the sound of chanson a la Edith Piaf and an acapella choir. Just beyond was a farmers market with ice cream flavours that would have done Heston Blumental proud - fig, lavender, thyme, rose, abricot and mint. After lunch we walked up the river and along the old aquaduct and into the Memoires de Garrigue which is a patchwork of fields representing the various traditional crops. Dotted around were dozens of animations including a fabulous storyteller, a children's hairdresser who wove flowers into the most exotic styles you could imagine and a roundabout made up of wooden animals carved from trees - each of which would have been a work of art in its own right. It was powered by a see-saw operated by conscripted parent. Great stuff.

More photos on https://plus.google.com/photos/100479903138288883757/albums/5729885650804705633

On the way back we went by way of Nimes which was a pleasant surprise. with its new central square, the Roman arena and la Maison Carre and the Cathedral. Too late in the day to go inside but it was a lovely walk in the evening sun and a pavement cafe beer, followed an excellent Menu a 12 euro.

 Jim was using his fancy camera to great effect with some fantastic night shots and the clever panorama feature.

The weather held out on Tuesday so Jim and I decided to start the day with a run, repeating our 7k assault on the ridge oposite. Then we headed off for the Corniche des Cevennes and Mont Aigoual (in the van this time). The Corniche is a beautiful winding climb, a motor-bikers dream. At the top there is a monument to the resistance fighter so the second world war who managed to hold off the SS in the rugged terrain. Interesting that it included a number of German anti-fascists some of whom died here and were commemorated. There is some fantastic walking country and I would like to come back, perhaps to follow the new Grand Randonne following Robert Louis Stevenson's  ride with his donkey.

We were at Mont Aigoual last September, in fact it was were we got the call from Jim that we should come home fro Becca. Then, it was shrouded in cloud and we couldn't even see the ground from the observation tower. Today the weather was perfect and the view astounding. You can see the Alps, the Pyrennees and the Med as well as the whole of the Cevenne. Its a meteo station and we went round the museum which had a huge satellite screen of Europe's weather. It was satisfying (schadenfreude) to see we were the only spot not covered by a huge swirl of cloud but don't worry it has caught up with us now.

Having brought his new bike Jim was determined to have a final bike ride, so next day, while Margot went to the Musee du Desert (link), we headed up into the mountains in the drizzle. We went up past the Grottes du Trabuc to tiny hamlet at 1500 feet. The hills are no steeper than in Yorkshire but they just go on and on.

By now the rain was torrential and we were soaked to the skin so we headed back to Anduze, abandoning our plan to go over another col to St Jean. Its so unfair that a couple of hours solid climbing can be undone in 20 minutes of free-wheeling, but fun though.

Off to Avignon tomorrow but with the weather getting even worse Jim doesn't fancy camping so we are booked into a family room at the local 'Etap'. A bargain at 60 euros total. It will also give us time to do a bit of sightseeing before putting Jim on the train and heading to Narbonne.

photos on Picassa https://plus.google.com/photos/100479903138288883757/albums/5729885650804705633

Allez France - 4th April 2012

This post comes to you from Anduze, la porte de la Cevenne, where Jim, Margot and I are spending 10 days at Jenny Zobel's house. Jim will catch the TGV home on the 12th and Margot and I will spend the following 10 days meandering home from campsite to campsite.

Staying overnight at Ann and Alan's we got off to a good start for Dover and the ferry to Dunkirk, squeezing enough out of the tank to avoid the queues at the petrol stations and fill up at Super-U. By nightfall, and despite our out-of-date map, we were in the Loire valley and found a municipal campsite at Long. This lies at the end of the 'Rue de la Chasse a Vaches', a sport that strangely doesn't seem to have caught on beyond Long.

More excitement followed next day as we skirted Paris, desperate to avoid the peripherique. Leaving Versailles, which was far too crowded for a visit, we accidentally drove our 1.99 metre van into a 2.00 metre 10-mile tunnel which seemed to be some sort of double decker road under a motorway. A bit like the intro to Doctor Who or 2001 as the lights flashed past 1mm above our heads before hurling us out into some alien Paris suburb. Shocked and disorientated we drove as far as Nevers and settled for a nice little hotel and a pizzeria in the old quartier.

Heading south in the morning mist we eventually arrived at Clemont Ferrand. By then the mist had cleared and we stopped at the Puy de Dome for a picnic and a climb up the 'chemin des muletiers' to the top.

From there we drove to La Bourboule just below Mont Dore (in the photo above) to a nice little year-round campsite. Fortunately we had a good camp site book as most of the sites opened on April 1st, the following day.

Jim had brought his brand new road bike so he and I rode up to Mont Dore to christen it, sipping beer in a cafe as the sun set over the snow-capped peaks.

Another freezing night with Jim in the tent with two sleeping bags and us cosy in the van. Then over the col and cross country through the mountains and then into the Cevennes, all taking turns driving and arriving at Anduze in time for supper.

Sadly, JZ is having to sell the house that here father lived in for many years. You can see it and the town in a Joseph Zobel interview in Anduze on Youtube. Most of her fathers things, including paintings and sculptures he did while here, as well as furniture, will be being shipped to Martinique for a re-creation of his workspace there. In addition JZ and Edward are having to prepare the house for viewing and Jim and I spent the day helping to create a terrace to disguise the rubble from a wall that had been demolished - see video and our theme song .

JZ and Edward left yesterday morning and we spent the afternoon climbing the hillside behind the house - rows of stone terraces and no obvious path until we got to above the tree line and found a track, though it wasn't clear whether it had been made by human, wild boar or 'mouflon'. Whoever made it, it didn't seem to lead anywhere so we scrambled home. Plenty of other walks to do. Weather turning colder and we had rain through the night  but were made to feel better hearing that there was snow in the North of England.

Today was cloudy but rain held off so Jim and I did a run followed by a bike ride up across the ridge to Generagues were we found the cemetery and the Zobel family plot. Very steep climbs, including the last couple of hundred yards which you have to climb whenever you come back to the house. Jim then drove off to Arles to visit Decathlon. Margot and I were going to do a walk but it started raining again so we have postponed that for now.

See our holiday snaps on https://plus.google.com/photos/100479903138288883757/albums/5727586393755881297

Due South - 26th March 2012

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Off to France tomorrow! 3 days wandering down with the van, 11 days in JZ’s house near Anduze then a week making our way back probably via the Pyrenees and the Dordogne. Jim will be with us for the first half then catching the train home to get back to college. We are taking the bikes but not sure which ones yet. Jim is collecting his new road bike today but the mountain biking down there should be good so which to take?

Let’s hope the weather is as good as it has been here. Ann and Alan came up for the weekend and we had a picnic in Nidderdale high up on the tops. On the way we stopped for tea at How Stean Gorge which has done a lot of work remaking itself as an adventure centre with abseiling, potholing and a via ferrata. If you know the gorge its not exactly the Grand Canyon so everything is on a scale that would be great for Tommy and Robby or even Emily and Ben if they come up.


A & A came up to see Nanci Griffith at the refurbished Barbican theatre. Great show, she is looking a bit frail but the voice is as good as ever. Lots of old favourites - Radio, Trouble in the fields and From a Distance (still can't see why this has been adopted by Christians like Cliff Richard as the lyrics are actually quite ambiguous - take a listen, am I right?) and a great new anthem for the Occupy movement Hell No!

Margot was off for a re-union of the World Studies Trust . Met lots of old friends but managed (surprise, surprise) to come away with new work to do. So yesterday I went with Ann and Alan to see the Miro exhibition at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. Not that impressed. I would like them one at a time in the right location but this was overload. Never mind, another lovely day and we had a picnic in the country park before A&A headed south and I went back to Wakefield to finish off Jim’s house.

The house is now on the market. Much of this month has been spent painting and cleaning and it looks pretty good but the market is still slack so even if they get the asking price it will be sold at a loss. Jeff and Debbie came up and helped last weekend which must have been difficult it being Mother's day, but we cleared out all the remaining possessions, much of which is now sitting in my garage.

Jim is now settled in to his new flat which is just around the corner from us so we see a lot of him, which is nice. He is getting into triathlon (hence the new bike) and we do regular along the river bank. Matt is also running, in Manchester, and looks likely to be faster than either of us. The lads wanted to start a book on who would  get the best time but I declined, a bit like turkey's voting for Christmas. Two months and we all start the 10k season in Hull. Jim is also getting into squash and comes along to the Railway Institute where I play but for the time being I can still beat him, thanks to animal cunning.

Apart from that, this month has been dominated by my essay for the Lifelong Learning classs. Entitled “The role of intelligence tests in the development of the theory of intelligence” it has really got me interested. I’m glad to have finished the essay which had to be cut down from about 10,000 words to 2,000 but I’ll be going back to re-reading some of the books that I only skimmed through. Fascinating stuff but difficult to understand if only because each author invents their own terminology, something to do with justifying a book deal I think. I also signed up for the next module, Social Psychology. I had intended to give myself a break over the summer but have got the bug. Keeps the old brain on its toes.

Before we head south tomorrow I’ve got a meeting with Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust, trying to get some money out of them for the longer term management of the cycle path that goes through their new village at Oswaldbeck. Greenway Champions are busy on part of the track but there is a lot more we could do if we had the resources. In the meantime we have erected interpretation boards to let passers by know what we are up to. Lets hope they don’t get ‘tagged’ or defaced as we are really pleased with it. Its on the website. York Greenway Champions