honest, this is the last day....as we're home

but on the way, we went to a National Trust property, Tatteshall Castle in Lincolnshire - original Tudor castle, complete with original fireplaces .... and a huge church next door, fantastic!


The tapestries weren't in the house originally....

Calais Port

an uneventful drive up through france, thank goodness - even getting through paris was relatively pain free (no traffic jams!)

Here's a photo of the beach at Calais - it's next to the Ferry terminal so you see them come in and out as well

last day

of our holiday was spent washing cleaning etc, as you do - at least I won't have to go home and immediately start the washing machine up! partner went for a walk ....the one we got lost on the other day, to find the bit we missed!

apparently this is a deer...

brantome 2nd visit

with huge number of photos and some video here. Enjoy.

Brantome is on an island formed by 2 rivers and is very photogenic. We also took a boat trip, thus the video.

the town started life prior to arrival of monks, but the monks arrived and set up in the caves in the 8th century! they were followed by the benedictines who built an abbey out from the rocks. all that is left of the Abbey is the church, and part of a later residence now housing the Mairie and the Tourist Information Office.

tomorrow is our last full day here and we set off home on Monday. :-(

brantome

where i went today, on my own - picking partner up from perigeuex station at 1720, decided to go to brantome - called the venice of the dordogne - on an island, lots of bridges, very pretty.

loads of photos but all on the phone, but we're going back tomorrow - i didn't do the museums and stuff and partner will love it! so photos tomorrow

hot

we went round the chateau at jumilhac again today, this time with our friends who hadn't been before, and got a tour of the garden. no photos, as partner has taken camera with her to bordeaux.

the offending tooth fell out all by itself this morning so i was able to cancel the dental appointment, thank goodness. so good to be able to eat without pain!


the library here is excellent, Balisek, Gerd Heuschman, De Kunffy, and so on....

company

our friends from bordeaux (american wife, french husband) came up to see us today, so nothing to report save that it was a scorcher.....and we enjoyed dinner!

dead mouse....

found in my walking boot as i went to put it on - it had to have been there since before we left home, euch! think partner had been catching simba's mice in my boots again..

the plan was a walk. down to jumilhac and then up and round and back home.

got to jumilhac and there was an antiques fair/flea market going on, so some time pootling round that.

then we got lost, so had to go back on ourselves a good way and all of this wasted about 1 1/2 hours or so ....and the going back involved going up. i really didn't think i could do the rest, but managed it, then turned the horses out and sat down for 2 hours with some tea and painkillers. my left knee, my right hip, then my left hip, then my shins, and i developed a blister i haven't looked at yet. 12 km, not including the extra bits.....

churches, rain and wildlife

not necessarily in that order...

being Sunday, not much open. we decided to go to Jumilhac, the nearest village, which has a chateau - owned by the family that began it, pretty well - they repurchased it in 1927 and have had to do it up big style (with help from the state, I gather).

the Church next door originates probably in the 11th century (that's the 10's...)

then we went to Saint Yvrieux a few miles away for a rather posh lunch - could have gone home, but didn't really want to despite being hungry!

got wet. after lunch, another church! then back to the ranch and I groomed the horses and we read and then went for a late walk

the view from our walk
and a sample of the local wildlife...

Tomorrow is Bastille Day - all France is on holiday. we thought we'd go for a longer walk (there's a circular one starting pretty much here) - hope i survive it! lots of hills.

and I MUST find a dentist when they open on Tuesday, that's if the tooth doesn't fall out before then!

spanish walk

i rode spanish walk today. WOW. and everyone's right, the horses do enjoy it.

I asked partner to video, which she did.

unfortunately, camera was held in such a way that the video comes up horizontal, and i can't find any method of rotating it the right way up. plus, not sure she's actually got the spanish walk.

sorted out some balance issues (mine ....) halt rein back, circles smaller & larger and in hand work done in a way that won't kill my back!

here's the teacher:

kings and queens of england

the abbaye de fontevraux - the burial places of Henry 2, Eleanor of Aquitaine, richard the Lionheart, and Isabella (wife of King John Lackland).

a very imposing abbey!

and now I'm at Trudy's in the Dordogne....

The Cadre Noir, troglodytes & new tack...

The Cadre Noir - last year the thursday presentation was cancelled as they were away, this year it went ahead.

They said, no filming. lots of people took photos....oops.

Interesting - the longlining/two rein lunging, however you want to call it, was done the same way Max showed me - this horse could jump! and a bit of a lightbulb moment re the longlining generally....



Troglodytes - the area is known for people living underground, having dug the rock out (it's not hard), some people still are - so we're not talking archeological, we're talking relatively recent.

and new tack - lunging roller with turrets (a birthday present for me from partner); leather lunging cavesson; lunging roller with turrets for stephanie.


Steph, your's is the stripey one...
t

alencon

fountaincould not resist this unusually coloured cat!
this is where the tourist office is
oops, sorry, should have rotated this - the gate to the Duke's castle, still used as a prison to this day.
15th century building - of which there are more than a few! - it was just after this that we dropped the camera
more photos on the phone, but i left the cable & software at home. happily, we have another camera, and a camcorder.....

a little accident in alencon

i thought partner had hold of her camera. she thought i still did (she'd asked me to pass it to her). result - we dropped it. it appears to be dead, in that the lens won't retract fully and it won't focus on anything when out. ouch. we are not amused!

in the meantime, we had a nice afternoon in alencon on the way down to saumur, and are now in saumur.

i can be online, or i can load pictures ... will post the pictures later! the wi fi workaround involved plugging in an external network adapter and whilst there is a spare usb port, the adapter is too wide and i can't get the card reader plugged in!

Calais

we made REALLY good time down to Folkestone - we were booked on the 1950 train, and got on the 16.50 train (eurotunnel let you on an earlier one if they're not busy!). I'd expected a horrid journey, but the forecast weather didn't materialise, there were no hold ups of any consequence, only the odd 50mph through roadworks.

so we're in France, hurray! and the hotel has free wifi, great, we're in the same chain's hotel in saumur the next 2 nights so hoping they also have wifi

no photos yet as nothing to photo LOL

ireland, May 2008

I decided a holiday blog was a better idea, i shall use this for holidays, away days, that sort of thing, and leave molly's blog for molly stuff.

So first post on this, is the Ireland trip we've just done.

19^th April

Sailed from Stranraer at 0430 (was supposed to be 0500, but they sailed early - presumably all the people who had booked had arrived so no point waiting) - arrived Belfast 0700.

This is sunrise over Scotland, behind us!

Set off for Glengariff a 7 hour drive without stops, but of course we had to stop.

Irish Motorways - there are NO service areas AT ALL so if you need the loo or whatever you have to go off the motorway to a village - even when signposted for services, you’ve no idea where they are.

Ended up at Skerries, north of Dublin - a mill. Partner had it in her head that Skerries Mills was was of those designer outlet thingys - in fact, it was a restored wind and water mill!

Never mind, toilets & tea and a snoozle in the car!

Then just kept on going, save for a refuelling stop and change driver (let partner drive for 2 hours whilst I gave my eyes a rest…)

Then on down to Glengariff, which is 1 ½ hours from Cork over in the far west of the county beyond Bantry.

Now, I have a satnav, you’d think that would make life very easy. I can of course have no problem with a satnav that is not updated for new motorways etc, that’s fair enough. But to not know where Bantry is? Or even, not know where Glengariff is? Barking. I am NOT happy - it’s as if, for tomtom, Ireland doesn’t exist outside of the major roads. When we were in Skerries, it had NO idea at all, no roads shown, nothing.

Granted I haven’t updated my maps, but even so, these places are not new towns! Bantry Bay, for example, was the site of many sailings to the US (including of the SS Great Britain …)

Arrived at our destination about 1830, had tea, down to village for dinner, early night. But I am full of red bull so need to wind down some even though I’m tired.

Loads of horses being taken about the place. One poor couple had a tyre on their trailer shred on the motorway, grey horse in back of trailer! Hope they got it sorted.

Photos of the place in tomorrow’s entry - fantastic!

Tuesday 20^th May

Kinsale. Partner decided we ought to go there, so we went. Very pretty, and there was a farmer’s market on so some nice food available for lunch (well, there would have been nice food anyway, Kinsale is apparently a foodie’s paradise) on the market. But not a lot to do so we came back again.

Bantry = we decided to potter around there - it’s just along from Glengariff and of course gives its name to Bantry Bay. Nice place; a waterwheel outside the library, apparently there used to be a mill there anyway one time, so now they’ve replaced it with this new one:

And then stopped on the road between Bantry & Glengarriff to take photos of the bay:

Enquired about riding, and was given a scrappy black and white flyer from some people who apparently do trekking and stuff, but don’t put a name and address on so you can go find them and see what you think. Person in tourist office said, just ring them up and pre book - but I’m not inclined to pre book a place I can’t visit….

So I don’t suppose we’ll ride at all (partner did bring her kit, but hasn’t ridden for about 6 years so ….)

Everyone is watching Eurovision song contest heats .. Euch.

Wednesday 21^st May

It rained. And rained. And rained.

We went to Killarney and got very wet! A cathedral, a saddlers (didn’t buy anything, but not for want of trying - pair of sticky bum riding trousers, very nice, didn’t fit…) and then to Muckross House (a house & estate given to the Irish State back in the 1930’s) and saw the house then had a jaunting car ride out to some waterfalls and back -

the jaunting car is basically a horse drawn trap - the rain had nearly stopped when we set off, but started again with a vengeance on the return run.

An Interesting drive over a narrow road and two very high passes with a tunnel (unlit) and scary - speed limit 100 kph/60 mph, but mad to go more than 60 kph/40 mph on a good day - and this wasn’t a good day!

So a slow run, but scenic. At least we didn’t meet any coaches coming the other way, only got stuck behind the odd one!

Thursday 22^nd May

Sheep’s head and Mizen Head

These are peninsulas on the south west coast of Cork. Sheep’s head forms the southern shore of Bantry Bay, and Mizen Head is next south again, the most south westerly point in Ireland with a lighthouse at the end which you can visit.

Perfect weather!

And adventurous travelling - this road was a 10mph job!

From Mizen Head you can see the Fastnet Rock - a very clear day today, so we could see it, it’s 9 km away - a lighthouse built on a rock in the sea, basically

It’s a hazy blur in the distance with this picture - I don’t have that good a lens! But it really was fastnet.

And on the way to Mizen head we went to Crookharbour, fantastically peaceful,

and the sandy beaches have to be seen to be believed - who needs the Med when you’ve got this?

On the way back from there, found a riding establishment - but too late for this holiday

Friday 23^rd - the wedding

First we went to garnish Island, not far off the coast, a 15 minute ferry ride - it’s an island that was bought by a Victorian Scottish MP, transformed with hods of money into a fantastic garden, and then left to the State by his son in 1953.

Fantastic garden.

And seals on the way!

I have no recollection of seeing wild seals before, which partner finds amazing, but is true. (unless I saw some when I was too young to remember, in which case I’m still right! For these purposes, seals in zoos don’t count!)

Then the wedding. The bride, of course, was radiant,

everyone had a good day and the weather was kind! Thank goodness, after Wednesday’s downpour.