Celebrating the Irish in Le Grand-Pressigny

Went along with friends to 'Chez L' last night to help celebrate St. Patrick's day (Sunday). Lisa provided an Irish themed meal and 'Celtiqua' provided the music, a very good combination!

Back to reality...and business.

Had to miss out walking today with our friends at the randonnee club this afternoon as had a lot of administrative things to do which meant a trip to Loches. We visited the tax office,tourist office, the water authority offices, the Orange shop plus a new computer repair shop in the town. Oh and our insurance office in Le Grand-Pressigny.  

We did manage to fit in lunch - in the restaurant of the George Sand hotel that overlooks the river Indre, somewhere we had not,in all the years of visiting this fine town, eaten in. It was busy but the service and staff were good plus our table was in a perfect location and although the food wasn't bad it will not have us rushing back.

Bit of a busman's holiday in Provence but still great

On our way back from Menton we stopped in on my brother's place in the village of Monmoiron which sits just below Mony Venteaux in Provence.

The plan was to catch up with Richard and Francoise (and on this occasion Estelle) before heading back home to the Loire Valley. My visits here have in the past included a little bit of help in the DIY department and this visit wasn't to prove any different.

Richard had had a delivery of wood for the construction of an extension to the pool-house (on the right of the house above) but it was grossly over estimated in size by the supplier. The upright supports, for what was ultimately going to be a bike shed, were 25cm square, even lifting them would have been a challenge. So it was a trip to the supplier to sort out more manageable sizes - no problem to exchange but delivery unfortunately would be a couple of weeks. Now it would have been no real hardship to have stayed but we had to get back as we have three houses to prepare for the coming season. 

  

There is however always something to do so, as Pauline, Francoise and Estelle went on an interesting trip to nearby Avignon and Richard was back up at his vines I took on the job of giving their substantial gates their first coat of paint. I was able to assist in another couple of areas which included using my engineering experience to repair a fairly vital piece of agricultural equipment that Richard needed to tend his vines...was glad to be of assistance.

Monte-Carlo or bust part III...busted

After our visit up to the chateau at  Roquebrune-Cap-Martin we continued our trek towards Monte-Carlo. We headed down some steep steps to take us off the hillside of the village to try and access the low road to take us there. 

This proved a lot more difficult than we thought as the steps lead us onto a road with no pavement. We spent a fair bit of time avoiding the traffic as we wound around bend after bend.

The only escape was to climb the few narrow 'chemins' (lanes) that presented themselves but these inevitably took us uphill rather than down!

This was the last of them appropriately enough named for us...

We had now been on our feet for 4 hours and decided that enough was enough as walking along the roads was getting more and more treacherous! It seems no one walks around here, mainly drive expensive cars!

A bit bizarrely we had noticed a bus stop earlier in a cut by the side of one of the roads we had been on at a spot where you would have thought it impossible to stop without causing an accident. 

We were pleased to see our little bus stop...this is the view from the bus stop and as near as we got to our destination.

Monte-Carlo or bust part II...taking in the chateau and its views...

We are back in Touraine after our fun road-trip to Italy and the Cote d'Azur, before finishing the story of our walk to Monte-Carlo thought I should show more of the chateau at  Roquebrune-Cap-Martin and the great views it offers over Monaco.

You read about the detail of the chateau here

   

Italians know how to do churches...Nice cathedral

This Sunday I give you the Roman Catholic cathedral in Nice which we had to pop into while visiting the city last zeek. The main part of the current cathedral was started in 1650 and finished in 1685. Inside, with its Italian Baroque features,(Nice has only been part of France since 1860) is quite stunning!

Monte-Carlo or bust part 1...via Roquebrune-Cap-Martin

Last Sunday we decided to walk from Menton to Monte-Carlo 'Google maps' said it would be around 2 hours, so seemed like a good idea. Following an online conversion with our friend Caroline in Barrou we added a visit to the interesting nearby village of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin as her grandmother had actually lived there!

After walking along the seafront on the recommend route we took a detour off up the steep hillside towards the village.Pauline found the steep incline tough going but valiantly strode on.

We didn't use the available medical equipment at the end of the climb but understood why it was there!

  

  

  

The little streets and coloured houses that lead to the village 'square' were a delight.

To took advantage of a seat in a little bar/restaurant plus a well earned refreshment before venturing back out to explore more narrow streets leading up to the old castle nestling above us.

  

  

The views back down to the village and over towards Monaco were great.

We spotted the road above with signs leading to Monaco so made our way back downhill to reach it and the next part of our walk.