The first of many.

The full story of the rise, fall and rise of our motorhome is one I will save for another day. The result of that fiasco, however, is that the poor soul (yes, motorhomes have souls, in exactly the same way that we do) has been in temporary retirement for quite a few years. Now, refurbished, it lives again, and last weekend saw a trial run to check that it was all hunky dory. It performed magnificently.

This was also meant to be the first of very many trips of my retirement. However, due to the bank, solicitors and, well, the bank’s solicitors, my retirement was once more delayed. After producing out of a hat a completely new, never before seen, unreadable and unsignable document at midday on the day of completion (nice try bank) my retirement was delayed another week. (I’m finally there!)

Our trip was to the beautiful Dordogne:

We stayed the weekend in a campsite in Sarlat…

…with friends Ian and Mifa.

I love wandering around old towns, and Sarlat-Le-Canéda is no exception. Rich with architecture and history. From grand edifices…

…to the quaint but slightly surreal.

As is usual, there is the obligatory market…

…thankfully offset by the obligatory cafés…

I love the stonework…

…the detail…

…the flowers and, er, geese….

…and cognac!

After a couple of days we headed back south making a few stops en route.

First stop Beynac, a riverside village where Ian once lived a while in tax exile…

No, not actually in that actual castle dominating the skyline however, but among the lower streets where the peasants lived…

…where they could look up at their lords and masters…

Well, the trip worked out extremely well, with our home on wheels performing well, although the new gps seemed to be intent on leading us astray.

We are now readying ourselves for the next trip, to Puy Du Fou, further into northern French territory. We’re meeting there with Annick’s siblings to enjoy the attractions. Should be interesting. I’m told it is more theatrical and adult than a normal theme park. My hopes are high for some adult entertainment. Nudge nudge, wink wink…

Anyway, I’ll leave you with some random photos of Sarlat, starting with the Lanterns of the Dead…

Enjoy!

Leaving Limbo

After several months of negotiation, documentation and frustration, the day has finally arrived where my long term experiment turned business has been safely put into the hands of my successors, taking me out of a long state of limbo, finally putting me into retirement.

Yay!

It has been a very long journey, with oh so many highs and a disproportionate amount of lows, from this old terraced house in south London…

…through various vet clinics to the first vet emergency clinic in the uk…

….to my final resting place.

From this…

…to this…

Oh dear.

Seasons End

You might think that the weather is a tad unpredictable in the good old Disunited Kingdom, but that does not hold a candle to the Pyrénées.

This winter in the mountains has had lots of rain, wind and sun, but precious little snow. Winter in the mountains and no snow. How weird is that?

Well, it has finally arrived.

The clouds have held back their burden of snow until right to the end of the season. Instead of the usual slush and rocks, our brave troup found a fresh coating of sugary snow, making the slopes almost off-piste instead of the alternative…

Our fellowship was seven; three generations. Let me introduce the players on this stage.

First there is, of course, yours truly:

One of them is me.

Then my beloved, here, as usual, hiding from my intrusive lens behind a passing elf.

Next up, my youngest son, Luke…

…with his elvish sidekick, Marta, you may have noticed her sneaking into a previous photo, as elves are wont.

Luke’s attempts at snowboarding were heroic, although did not always end well.

On the other hand, this was made up for in their culinary skills.

and more than this, their sense of fun…

Here are the remaining three adventurers.

Made up of Lisa…

…the Evil Christian…

…not to mention, our surprise guest, Sienna

Christian achieved his lifetime ambition by turning 180 degrees on a jump. He tells me it was on purpose.

Needless to say, much time was spent inside bars…

Or yodelling

And so it is time to bid farewell to the valley for the last time this season.

It was a good week, a great week, missing only the rest of our little family.

Maybe next year?

Intermission

Film intermissions (remember them?) give you time for a quick pee and a cup of tea, to gather yourself for the second half. We are now on our Pyrénéan intermission, a two week break in the farmhouse between trips skiing or, in my case limping, with friends and family. Except, maybe coffee for me instead of tea and, well, I guess the pees are obligatory.

In between the coffees and pees, we’ve had plenty of opportunity to keep ourselves busy. Not least has been many happy hours (joke) doing paperwork (more about this potential life-changing bureaucracy in a future blog coming to you soon, I hope). Visiting us has been family in the form of Domitille et al helping to return some of my will to live…

Although Louis’ oft smiling face sometimes faltered…

…as it is overwhelmed by Oriane’s glass shattering scream.

To escape further tinnitus, I scooted over to the green green fields of home (well, one of ‘em) to say hi to my granddaughter number two.

Thanks for the appreciative applause.

More importantly, the rugby 6-nations continues to test my patriotism. Do I support Wales, England or France? Next week, the crunch match which always seems to bring out the worst nationalist bigotry in some; England versus Wales.

It does not have to be so. The following proves that peace and beauty can reign when Wales meets England; the Wye valley….

And so, having nearly finished 'gathering’ myself like some long lost flock of hapless sheep, I can now batten down the hatches and mix metaphors in readiness for the approaching hoard.

It’s nearly the end of the ski season, and yet we finally have snow in greater quantities that all the preceding winter months. The outlook is good, the outlook is white. Yay! More photos of white stuff to come!