FRANCE

14 July – 12 August, 2010
This was not a country on our list to do. Both of us had visited France before and neither of us really impressed enough to do a revisit. The reason for us choosing is as a destination in our travel was our friends, UWE AND ROSIE who were going on their annual holiday to Normandy and spoke so well of the region we decided that we would like to see an area where they had spent their annual holiday for the past 10 years. With the dates coinciding with our return from Scotland we spent two weeks with Uwe and Rosie in the heart of the Normandy, taking Jim (our grandchild) with and then encouraging Nicole and Frank to join us for a further two weeks on the coast, this giving us a month altogether. We never expected what we got,
NORMANDY WAS WONDERFUL – THE DEFINITION …………….

UWE & FOOD = OUR EXPERIENCE OF THE FRENCH PEOPLE AND NORMANDY CUISINE

We were introduced to life in Normandy by being able to be part of a family. Like all visits to a country it was lovely to be staying within a local community. Uwe and Rosie rent a home, outside of a small village called St Pierre-s-Dives. It is part of a family Bed and Breakfast establishment and the home belonging to Aneke Duhamel. Many years back she and her husband owned a hotel which had 40 beds. It was lovely to be able to chat to her with that common denominator! They sold the hotel and bought a very old, old Farm House with a lovely view. The view is what sold it, lots of love and tender care, and many heartaches and lots of money they transformed this old derelict farmhouse to a lovely warm home with 5 bedrooms (all en suite) and two additional separate apartments. One of these is where Uwe and Rosie spend their annual July holiday. They have just become her extended family and by the time we left we felt very close to this wonderful French lady. We saw all the photos of what they bought and the changes made. We also were introduced to their super neighbors, also “an Anike” and her husband who had recently inherited an old house (150years old) complete with the old furniture, books, linen, etc etc. It looked like a museum. (Complete with spider webs and dust.) The lady who had bequeathed it to her, was 90years old and had no children and left it because of being assisted in her later years with sorting her finances and banking etc by Aneke (what compensation!!!!) For at least an hour after visiting, I was completely speechless. (Yes all you know me; I was really speechless, not many times in my life as this ever happened.)
Our location was 40km from the beach, and most days we managed a visit to the beach added to that a visit to all the local and even further away places of interest. We were blessed with a super “Free French” guide. We saw the best places with all the “need to knows”
All the drives in and around the area and on the way to the beach are through little towns with lots of “French Chateau’s” and lots of 13th – 18th century buildings, wooden-framed Norman style houses. The area is also famous for the training of horses, so lots of lovely green farms with horses and foals, sheep, cows etc. Narrow, windy roads lined with trees and lovely old buildings. All the little towns have at least one old church, and lots little cobbled streets with a lot of arty shops, art galeries and museums. Each evening returning to our “Utopia” for wonderful French food. Always, snacks and “Aperitifs” then a starter, could be Jacques Mussels, different seafood aperitifs or even some cold meats, sometimes just a break would have been good, but No, No, that’s not how the French do it. Then follows the main course, most days, fresh fish or seafood, more than once really good beef or ribs of sorts. Then break time and the cheese, cheese and cheese served with Baguettes and after this follow a pudding, e.g. Crème Brule etc and then coffee. Of course it is always accompanied by good white or red French wine. Sometimes both. Liquors, especially Calvados, and Ricard in plentiful supply.
While on our travels here we visited the towns of:
1. Deauville,- The place to be for your holiday if you are a Parisian returning from your holiday You had to have visited Deauville; Gold drips off the ladies, they could drown if they swam from the weight. Just to sit on the street Café’s and watch is an experience all on its own.
2. Bayeux, Famous for a tapestry which recounts the conquest of England from a Norman perspective. Fifty eight scenes fill the central canvas, while religious allegories and depictions of everyday 11th century life fill the borders. The final showdown at the Battle of Hastings is depicted in graphic fashion, complete with severed limbs and decapitated heads in the last 52nd scene. It evens includes one scene with Hailey’s Comet blazing across the sky in 1066. It is believed that the 68.3 mt long tapestry was commissioned by the Bishop Odo of Bayeux who was William the Conqueror’s half brother, for the opening of the Bayeux Cathedral in 1077. The viewing of the tapestry is done with translations in most languages by way of a radio. Added to this was the wonderful Norman Gothic Cathedral, Notre Dame which dates from the 11th to the 13th Century. Close by at Arromanche, a small seaside town is part of the D-Day landings. Code Named “Operation Overlord” was the largest military operation in history. Early on 6th June 1944, Allied troops stormed ashore along the 80km of beaches north of Bayeux. The beaches now known as Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword. The most brutal fight taking place on Omaha Beach. To make it possible to unload cargo without having to capture one of the heavily defended ports, the Allies established two prefabricated breakwaters, one of which can still be viewed at low tide in this seaside town. It is a wonderful and historical super trip down the coast visiting it all and going back into history. Amazing what you learn at school and bored to tears with, you see and enjoy at this later time.
3. LISEAUX- Famous mainly from the Saint Theresa. (She was born in 1873, entered the convent at the age of 15 and died in 1897 at the young age of 24 of Tuberculoses. Because of her memoirs published after her death and translated into more than 60 languages, she quickly became known and venerated throughout the whole world. In “Story of a Soul” Theresa explains her “little way” to holiness, not by sacrifices but by the monotony of little acts offered to God through love. In 1925, she was declared a Saint and two years later was proclaimed Patroness of the Missions. She is also the Secondary Patroness of France. Adding to this lovely city there is a Basilica, a church, one of the greatest of the 20th Century. Its construction began in 1929 and was only consecrated in 1954. Its walls and those of the crypt are covered with mosaics which reflect Saint Therese’s message based on love and trust in the Good God’s infinite love. Situated in the part of the church beneath the dome is the reliquary containing the bones from Saint Therese’s right arm. There is a Cathedral of Saint Pierre, from the 12th & 13th century. Also in the city is Therese’s family residence from 1877. The Carmel chapel contains the tomb of St Theresa. She is represented there lying on her deathbed wearing the habit of the Carmelite order. A Museum of Art and History. The St Germain De Livet Caster also from the 15th and 16th Century.
4. HONFLEUR – Is an old harbor town, the harbor filled with lots of yachts and fancy boats. To enter or exit the small harbor, the road-bridge must be lifted, giving access to the boats but of course stopping the traffic. Seeing the amount of traffic on the road, quite something while the boats have the right of way and the traffic comes to a halt. Around the old port, there are lots of little shops, restaurants, street cafes, museums and art shops. 500 years ago the explorers started from this port. Today it is a very big fish harbor, with Fish and Seafood available from the markets in abundance. The street which you enter into the town is amazing, an avenue of trees and flowers on all sides.
For me, other highlights of our first two weeks, was being taken by Aneke,(a fellow catholic), to the local churches, one of which was an open air mass, one gospel evening done by Caribbean Singers who were part of a supporting group to visiting musicals. Another evening Rosi and I went with her to a “Festival Musique” an evening of music on “Flute et deux harpes) (Harps) this was held in a local old church and the acoustics just unbelievable. I have to mention again, our super evenings of food, laughter and friendship. Other days just being able to drive through the little villages to local old churches, buildings, and Chateaux’s and being able to understand some of the old history, Having Uwe’s knowledge and French translations just made the journeys so special and never was there anything we queried he could not answer. His energy with Jim was fantastic, the beach and swimming so much easier. Both Rosie and Uwe will make super Grandparents “one day” (Come on Eva, Gramps and Gran are really ready for this)
After two weeks, we said goodbye to friends and moved to the beach in a seaside town called Blondville. The location was tremendous, right on the beach. The hang-up was the time of year, it was full all the time and the ablutions not too wonderful. But just having the family for the last part of our trip before going south and heading home was wonderful. Again we took great pleasure in the food and being able to share our travels around Normandy with Nicole, Frank and Lisa. The weather was not as nice or as kind to us as the first two weeks but we managed to do a few days on the beach and lots of visits to the local sights. One which we did not do with Uwe was Mont Michel which is an Abby on a rocky island connected to the mainland by a narrow causeway. Unfortunately we chose one of those rainy cloudy days, one where the beach was out, but I think all of the 100,000 other tourists did too, it turned out a nightmare when we approached St Michel, Mud, slush, hundreds of cars and seriously all the tourists in France in the height of their tourist season, we took a back turn, found ourselves a lovely French restaurant and enjoyed the food and company. Wolf and I are definitely going back down the coast of France on our way to Spain and Portugal so we will do this sighting then, which will be at the end of the season and hopefully a lot easier. More about the Mont St-Michel in the following blog. We left France in lovely sunny weather, and made our way back to Germany to sell our winter home, shop, etc, before going south for our trip back to Africa. France coast, Northern Spain and Portugal will follow before we put our feet back on AFRICA soil.

SCOTLAND

SCOTLAND

15^th June – 10^th July, 2010

After worrying about my British Visa arriving in time, it was an absolute relief to receive a sms from the British Visa department to notify us that we could collect it on the Friday before departure. And after all the worry about the time for the visa, on arriving the ferry we discovered that the Tickets were booked for the 16^th and not the 15^th, so we had to have them changed. (No going back for us!!) By the way all, yours truly never did the reservation; Sir Wolf did it while I was in SA so this time I could not get into trouble!!!!!!!!The reason which took us to Scotland was ROBERT AND NANCY, and anything we would see of Scotland would be a bonus and to our surprise we received many bonuses in the month we were there. After traveling as much as we have over the past 14 months (can’t believe it’s that long) you would have thought we had seen it all, but to our delight, the ferry from Rotterdam in Holland to Kingston on Hull in England was a real treat. To describe it, is not really easy, it was a combination of a huge shopping mall to a type of ship. The reason I say this is because it is much wider and squarer than an ocean liner. I suppose for the amount of cars, trucks, motor homes and now even the new big caravan homes which are being transported from England to Europe. You actually drive onto the Ferry and then down a quite a long type wide passage and turn at the bottom and face the other way, this way getting off the ferry is a breeze. Upstairs were bars, restaurants, shops, casino, cinemas etc etc. 4 Decks for cars etc and about 4 decks of cabins. On our trip over we must have been upgraded (I am sure to our change of date) and had a front cabin which was a four berth so we had plenty of room and it was really super. Supposed to be a duty free shopping area, but really quite expensive. Lovely dinner in one of the restaurants and after a very restful night the driver, (thought he was in heaven) woke up and had to start driving again and change the side of the road!! I think Wolf could easily settle for a ferry home and stop driving for a while. No such luck!!! Our trip from departing from the ferry took us North via Leeds, Kendal, Carlisle (the border of Scotland) bypassing Glasgow to Perth and then into the suburb of Blairgowrie. We had pre-booked a campsite, as close to Nancy and Robbie and after setting up camp, we joined them for our first drink of many and caught up on all the news. For the first few days and including the weekend we chilled, looked around the town, spent many hours chatting, went to Robbie’s golf club for dinner, went to the Alyth Annual jamboree featuring an agricultural show with sheep, cattle, highland dancers, vintage tractor display and more. The most amazing thing at this show was the sheep and cows. They just are so different from anything in Africa. We actually met a reporter for one of the local papers, who explained the different types and gave us a real insight to the local agricultural life. Will be posting some pictures of these amazing animals on the blog. Also got to watch lots of soccer. On Monday we left to go north. (Only about 180km) Nancy and Robbie’s daughter, June (who has been in SA quite a few times) stays up further North West than Inverness in a place called Gairloch. Nancy had organized us a camp site and a caravan home for them, about 14km outside of Inverness at a small place called Daviot. A lovely trip through lots of little towns. We went via Kingussie and Aviemore, where we stopped for a walk in the town and had a super lunch, (our first glass of wine for the day but shame none for the driver!) Arriving at the camp site we were so pleased with the caravan home which Nancy had booked, we spoilt ourselves and took one too, so luxury we had for the next three days. We had a super braai, (just like home) and Rob and Wolf watched the soccer while the girls chatted and laughed over LOTS OF WINE!!!! And laughed some more!! The next day we had a super drive through little streets, some so narrow you need to wait for traffic from the other side and visa versa. The route took us north west passing the turnoff for Ulapool from which you can take a ferry to Lewis Island (more of that connection later) about 180km which takes a good 3 hours to drive. We stopped at little villages and really saw the lovely countryside. For Wolf and I, we really related the area to the Natal Midlands in summer, lovely hills, and so much green and lots of flowers and beautiful scenery. The Lochs (lakes) all along the way, so clear you can see to the bottom. For us, Gairloch seemed to be at the end of the world, but what a lovely surprise to find a little town on the sea, could be Fishhoek about 100 years ago, just a few houses, little shops and just rocks and sea. Gairloch’s history has always been dominated by the sea because until recently, it was hard to reach by land. History is all around and the craggy local rocks are some of the oldest in the world. Place names speak of Viking invaders and the traditional Gaelic culture, (Gaelic is still spoken locally) you can see Bronze Age hut circles by Sand River and the remnants of a vitrified fort at An Dun. An ancient feud between the rival Mackenzie and Macleod clans ended in 1494 when James IV granted the lands of Gairlock to the Mackenzie’s. Their family home still nestles in the lovely Flowerdale Glen. The deserted settlements and tumbled ruins of abandoned croft houses are being investigated by today’s local historians. The fishing boats that now land are descendants of the huge cod fishery once based in Gairloch. FOR a TRANSLATION IN GAELIC: Welcome to Gairloch in Gaelic is Failte gu Gearrloch. We were welcomed by Stef and June and introduced to their family, their dogs, cats and chicken, friend and life at Gairloch. We had a super home cooked lunch in their lovely garden with all the usual ”remember when”, lots of laughs and wine of course, (none for the driver, SHAME!!) And a short walk on the beach before we returned to our campsite. June and Stef, hope you will read this, Thank you both for a lovely day and really hope we can return the hospitality one day in AFRICA. Again we returned to our campsite and were able to share the soccer, tennis, laughs and “Wine of course”. Sitting on the grass outside of our caravans, using a 3lt box wine for the table, we were ignored byour husbands who said we “embarrassed them”. A report went back to Africa about the “Lady Drinkers” Wonder who did that!!!!! The following day, we explored Inverness. We took a super boat cruise down Loch Ness. A little history. Loch Ness stretches almost 22.6 miles (36.4km) from Fort Augustus in the south to Bona Lighthouse at its most northerly point. Here its waters narrow as it enters into Loch Dochfour and joins the Caledonian Canal allowing shipping a passage to Inverness and the North Sea beyond. The loch covers an area of almost 21.8 sq miles (56.4 square km) and it is Britain’s second largest expanse of freshwater. The loch’s incredible depths make it the biggest by volume. They have depths of up to 754feet (230mts). The volume of water contained within the loch has been estimated at staggering 263billion cubic feet (7.45 billion cubic mts) and definitely enough room for a mysterious creature!! “NESSIE” On the trip we went up the Caledonian Canal, and saw, 1. Dochfour House, (an old Venetian style house, and home to the Baillie family whose ancestors arrived with William the Conqueror in 1066. They have been in the area since the mid 15^th century. The original house being burned down in 1745 and rebuilt in 1780. 2. Bona Lighthouse, one of the smallest manned lighthouses in the UK. 3 The spectacular summer floral displays and village green at the village of Drumnbadrouchit. 4. Aldourie Castle dating back to 1626; 5 The ruined remnants of the Urquhart Castle. The site dates from the 13^th century. In its time it has been besieged, ransacked and ruined and rebuild with depressing regularity and changed hands between the Scots and the English. So here lots of history!!!!. Inverness itself has origins since the 6^th century. And also the first documented account of the sighting of the Loch Ness Monster, “NESSIE” Now a modern city, it sits between the shores of the Moray Firth and the head of LochNess and the Great Glen, which is the massive geological fault line that splits Scotland from east to west. Myth and legend say that the original medieval castle was razed by Malcolm III after Macbeth murdered Duncan I there!!!!!!! Again we had a super day, with lunch (AND WINE) and then back to “home from home” with more of the same. The following weekend was spent having a “TRADTIONAL NEWS YEARS EVE” meal cooked by Nancy, and also a super lunch on Sunday with friends from SA, Alf and Jean, sharing the German Soccer game against England. Quite Racist, the Scots are with England!!!! On Monday, we were treated to a visit to Edinburgh. Two bus trips, one to Perth and then onto Edinburgh, we visited the Castle, the Old Town and all its attractions, shops, restaurants and bars. Walked the historic Royal Mile (most of it) from the castle to the bottom of the road to the Palace of Holyrood house. Again super lunch (AND WINE) even the “driver who was not driving that day” was able to join the rest. Other trips over the next two weeks included a trip to Dundee, visiting the small harbor town of Broughty Ferrie, Pitlochry and a super trip to St Andrews. St Andrews, of course home to the famous Golf Course, what comes to mind is the British Open. This was to start the week after we left so the town was bustling. St Andrews has a special place in Scottish history and legend. It takes its name from the saint whose relics, legend tells, were brought to this place. The town played a leading role in Scotland’s affairs in the Middle Ages and its university was Scotland’s first and is world famous. The coastline of river estuaries, sweeping bays, sandy shores and cliffs attracts a rich number of sea birds and marine life. At one time St Andrews had a large inshore fishing fleet which suffered many disasters and loss of many men. The womenfolk and children earned a poor wage tearing mussels from the rocks in freezing water. Now mussels are collected only for bait and the harbor is home to only a few fishing boats. For us the beach front was lovely but quite windy and apparently usually windy, so for me, I will always feel sorry for the golfers which have an extra handicap (Wind) when I watch in future. We visited the Great Cathedral which was constructed in the 12^th and 13^th century and at the time was the largest building in Scotland and for years the centre of the country’s religious life. It now is just a ruin. The castle was built by the bishops for comfort and protection. It was a palace, fortress and prison but suffered from 400 years of wars and sieges. Again just a ruin. Now for the connection to Lewis Island, we had heard from our great Family Friends, “The Dedominicis Family” from Pinetown in SA that their second daughter, Romina was on Lewis Island, now engaged to a young man, Scott, whose Mom lives on Lewis Island and Scott is now studying there. Well with the help of internet and sms, (how wonderful the world is for connection now) we organized with them to spend a weekend with us, (our last in Scotland) It was another bonus and really special. One to meet her fiancé and also to meet up in this special country. Again we had a super reunion with her, a great meal, a trip to Pitlochery where we visited the local town and “Fish Ladder” something we had never seen before and lots of memories. Again thanks to both Romina and Scott for managing to fit us in with their schedule and spending time with us. Our last day with Nancy and Rob, we managed to have a lovely last meal, a visit to the local town of Blairgowrie to listen to the local pipe band in the park. (We just love the sound of the pipes) and for our last night we stayed over Rob and Nancy. Three and a half weeks just came to an end, far to quickly, and it was a very tearful and painful goodbye for us. While we were there we met her wonderful friends especially Liz and Jim and all we both can say is that Nancy and Robbie are living in a beautiful country (even if cold some of the year) with lovely people around them and although a disaster for us, a message from us, YOU HAVE DONE THE RIGHT THING AND WECAN ONLY WISH YOU WELL AND BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL FOR THE TIME WE SPENT WITH YOU. “THANK YOU BOTH” Just a word about the remarks about the “wine”. Our husbands never let up about the amount of wine we drank, so we made sure they had something to talk about!!! On leaving Nancy and on the way back we stopped just south of Edinburgh at the Seabird Sanctuary. Our main reason was to see the Puffin Bird but what a wonderful experience. They have remote cameras on the islands out at sea, which is like a wonderful hide and from these cameras you can beam into live images of the birds on the islands. This way you get so close to them, something that is impossible on the islands themselves due to rocks, and remote wild water islands. Jutting out from the sea 4km from North Berwick’s shore is the Bass Rock and one of Scotland’s most iconic landmarks. Described by David Attenborough as “one of the wildlife wonders of the world.” We were able to see, Puffins, Gannets, (with babies) Cormorants, Razorbills, Shag and Oyster Catchers, Great Black backed and Lesser Black backed Gulls, and a Kittiwake. (A black legged and white head and body with grey upperparts, wings tipped solid black and a yellow bill.) Most of the Puffins are seen on the Isle of May. They first arrive at the end of March and hang around the surrounding sea until there are sufficient numbers around and then go ashore en masse. They have the funniest type of flight, (with whirring wings) they greet each other by ‘billing’, moving their heads from side to side and knocking their bills together. They always stay with the same mate and breed in burrows, using the same burrow year after year. They leave once the little ones are ready for flight, about the end of July, hence the best time to visit was when we did. After being away for so many months they have to repair their burrow “almost like a spring-clean” before it is ready for nesting begins. A single egg is laid and the breeding pair takes turns incubating the egg at the end of the burrow. The live cameras show the hatching of the puffins. The hatching of the egg takes 6 weeks. After this the puffins fly in and out of the burrows with their beaks stuffed full of sand eels. Due to climate change and over fishing the puffins have been suffering from lack of food. The puffin’s fish by “flying” underwater using their wings to propel themselves to depths of up to 15m in pursuit of sand eels. We were also able to watch a film of the puffins, and hope to get a copy of the film when they are available. It was just so special. The other bird which was super to watch was the Atlantic Gannet. Gannets glide high and use their superb eyesight to spot schools of fish below the water’s surface. They then plunge down, folding their wings at the last minute and hit the surface at speeds of up to 100kmp. Their bodies are specially adapted, with sealed nostrils, protective membranes that cover the eyes and air cells that cushion the skull and body from the shock of the high speed impact. On our way back down south to the Ferry, we were very privileged to have been invited to spend a night with Sharon. Related to us by marriage, (Estelle) and met lots of times in Africa, also been our guest at Ingwelala so there are lots of memories of her time in SA, we had dinner with the rest of the family, Steven, Fiona and new to us, a lovely bubbly daughter, Amy. Hope you all still manage a visit to us in SA. Thank you All. After breakfast the next morning we went south to our journey home on the Ferry back to Rotterdam. Kilometres: 2509 plus Ferry both ways. All camping except for 3 night stay in Inverness in Caravan home and our two nights, one with Nancy and Robbie and the other with Sharon.

Next our trip to France starts on Wednesday the 14^th.July.