We had set yesterday aside for visiting the Camargue - with one goal in mind:
and here they are.
Because we were lucky and achieved our goal early we decided to properly visit Roman Arles.
After a siesta we visited Arles again, concentrating on the Van Gogh things.
Yesterday was our Roman day. These sites may be discussed in detail later.
Pont du Gard. Somewhere I had almost accepted I would never see
Abbey of Saint Michel de Frigolet
Glanum. By this time it was getting seriously hot, so we cut our day slightly shorter than planned
A long day, yesterday:
We started with a sunrise swim in the Mediterranean
then drove to Turbie to visit the Trophy of Augustus
and look at Monaco (it was foggy)
before driving along the Var river valley
to look at some lavendar (idiots trampling crops to get a photo not shown)
These are a couple of photos from yesterday - usual story: you'll get more when we've processed what we've seen.
You'll never notice once we get the wallpaper on
Sanremo and the Ligurian sea from Hanbury Gardens
We had a quiet day yesterday.
I was going to post a video of wild boar taken from our outside dining area but YouTube and blogger - despite both being part of Google - no longer appear to work together. Here goes though
If you really want to see it here's the link.
These are a couple of photos from yesterday - details will follow when we have time.
Arezzo
Bravo, Poggio alla Croce
These are a couple of photos from yesterday - details will follow when we have time.
After attending to some admin issues on the hire car...
These are a couple of photos from yesterday - details will follow when we have time.
Him
Her
Them
Just one photo today, the view of "our" swimming pool and the Arno Valley
These are a couple of photos from yesterday - details will follow when we have time.
Parmesan cheese being matured
These are a couple of photos from yesterday - details will follow when we have time.
The Hautes-Alpes
Almost in Italy
We're on holiday. These are a couple of photos from yesterday - details will follow when we have time.
The painted Chapelle des moines de Berzé-la-Ville
The French 241 P17 steam locomotive is a magnificent piece of engineering that harkens back to a bygone era of rail travel. Built in the 1940s, this iconic locomotive was designed for high-speed passenger service on the French railway network. With its sleek and streamlined appearance, the 241 P17 exudes power and elegance.Featuring a 4-8-2 wheel arrangement, the 241 P17 was capable of reaching speeds of up to 120 kilometers per hour, making it one of the fastest steam locomotives of its time. Its robust construction and advanced engineering allowed it to conquer challenging terrain and pull heavy loads effortlessly.Beyond its impressive performance, the 241 P17 also boasted luxurious accommodations for its passengers. The interior of the locomotive featured plush seating, polished wood paneling, and exquisite detailing, providing a truly opulent travel experience.Today, the 241 P17 is revered as a symbol of France's rich railway heritage. Preserved examples can still be seen at various railway museums, captivating enthusiasts and reminding us of the golden age of steam travel.
...which is kind of true, with some over elaborations. It's too school essay'y for my liking, factually wrong in a couple of places, and reads like it's been padded out.
Here's my version:
This 241P class steam locomotive was built in 1949 by Schneider, of Le Creusot. It's a "mountain" style locomotive, with 4 driven axels. In European notation that's a 241 (they count the axels), in British notation it's a 482 (they count the wheels). Producing 4000 horsepower and capable of 170km/h, it usually ran in service at a maximum of 120 km/h.
Number 17 of this class was withdrawn from service in 1969 having travelled 1,741,865 km. It underwent a 13 year rebuild, and returned to service in 2006.
This scene must have been played out many times 70 years ago.
This house in Sainte Maure de Touraine is interesting. At first glance it appears to be a well maintained medieval timber framed house. But when you look closely it is evident that there are some modern touches masquerading as medieval. Some details are better than others. The carvings on the main beam across the facade are particularly good and well integrated into the genuinely old wood of the beam. I would say the house was renovated about 20 years ago.
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Earlier in the year my Ukrainian dipterist contact Valery Korneyev put out a call for help in collecting specimens of Common Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica that had the galls of a Myopites sp fly on them. I offered try and find the plants, but wasn't really familiar with the species so I called for help in my turn. Valérie Lagny, an independent botanist working in the Brenne, came to my aid. She was surveying the Etang Purais on Friday 2 June and said I could tag along. She would show me the plant, which is abundant on the site.
Etang Purais from the south.
The Etang Purais is near Lingé, about 20 minutes from Preuilly. It's part of the Chérine Nature Reserve, run by the Ligue pour la Protection des Oiseaux (LPO). When I arrived I was a bit surprised to see a coach parked at the entrance to the hide. It turned out that there was a school visit and the hide at Purais is the only one on the Reserve large enough to accommodate a bus load of kids. I hoped the real birdwatchers in the carpark were not too put out.
Valérie L and Thibault walking through the site.
Valérie L was waiting for me in the carpark, munching on a banana. She suggested we move on to a small farm on the other side of the étang, where the public is not allowed to go. Then her colleague Thibault, one of the Reserve ecologists, turned up and we set off through the long grass to count orchids, check rare species of flora and familiarise me with fleabane. It took us 3 hours to do 3 kilometres.
Cretan Soldier Bug Spilostethus saxatilis (Fr. Punaise rouge à damier) on Cytisus lotoides (Fr. Cytise couché), a rare plant that favours calcareous soil.
There was lots of fleabane, but no sign of the flies I was looking for, nor the galls they make. It was clearly too early in the season, so I will have to ask permission to go back in late July or early August, when the plants are flowering and the flies are on the wing.
Common Fleabane Pulicaria dysenterica (Fr. Pulicaire dysentérique).
Professor Valery K is the Head of Entomology at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the
National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv, but currently living as a displaced person in Berlin. I have never met him in person, but we've known each other online for nigh on two decades and we are the same age. He and his project to review the genus Myopites are being supported by the Humboldt Foundation Researchers at Risk fund. The Myopites fly is tiny, just a few millimetres long, and the galls they make even tinier.
The largest European Buckthorn Rhamnus cathartica (Fr. Nerprun purgatif) I have ever seen. Normally they are just a bush, not a small tree.
This very cute 1967-71 Fiat 500L went past the market in Loches the other day, just as I was about to cross the road.
This house in Loches has two roses trained across the front. This year is a particularly good year for roses and they are looking lovely.
In the servants dining room at the Chateau de Chenonceau there is a beautiful copper water fountain and hand basin (Fr. lavabo) on the wall. Washing your hands before a meal in France has always been important, since Gallo-Roman times and probably beyond, despite modern misconceptions about the levels of personal hygiene in the past.
Handwashing facilities like this would have been found in all chateaux in the 19th century. They are hand made, with brass taps and decorative lines. They were not connected to the plumbing. You can see the tank must have been filled up with jugs of water periodically, and the basin unhooked from the wall, taken away and emptied down a drain or out the window.
Friends of ours, who are the third generation of their family to live in a small chateau near Amboise, have an almost identical set up by their back door. And no, I don't know why theirs is full of golf balls...
On Saturday 27 May I led an outing for the Association de botanique et de mycologie de Sainte Maure de Touraine to La Cabane, Bossay sur Claise. This outing was scheduled for last year, but it was so hot and dry at the time I cancelled the outing. I was quite worried that no one would turn up, but in the end there were 15 people, which was perfect. Luckily they included expert botanist Dominique, and good all round naturalist Corinne. Neither of them had been to the site before, so they were very keen to see what was there, and why it has recently been declared as a Zone d'Interet Ecologique, Faunistique et Floristique (ZNIEFF).
La Cabane is the only site in Indre et Loire where Tongue Orchids Serapias lingua (Fr. Sérapias langue) are present. There are hundreds, if not thousands on the site.
Tongue orchids.
Greater Butterfly Orchid Platanthera chlorantha (Fr. Platanthère à fleurs verdâtres).
Sulphur Clover Trifolium ochroleucon (Fr. Trèfle jaunâtre).
The habitat at La Cabane.
Drone Fly Eristalis tenax (Fr. Eristale gluante), male, on Oxeye Daisy Leucanthemum vulgare (Fr. Marguerite). You can see the bands of hairs on his eyes.
Peletaria iavana, a parasitic fly, on Oxeye Daisy. You can see the 'Peletaria bristles' on its cheek and the middle antennae segment is 'yellow' which is the diagnostic for this species.
Azure Damselfly Coenagrion puella (Fr. Agrion jouvencelle).
The sawfly Macrophya montana (Fr. Mouche-à-scie à trois bandes jaunes) on Corky Fruited Water Dropwort Oenanthe pimpinelloides (Fr. Œnanthe faux boucage).
A tiny male dance fly Empis sp in a Narrow-leaved Flax Linum tenuifolium (Fr. Lin à feuilles étroites).
Naturalists at work.
