Happy Christmas

 Happy Christmas to all our readers. 

Thank you for loyally following us for all these years. 

 

Homemade mince pies with clementines.

 

Village Nightlife

Simon's view of the performance.

On Saturday night we ambled up the hill in the rain and met friends for an evening of great music and gourmet food. Popular local duo Franquette were playing at the Restaurant l'Image. I enjoyed a meal of seared Brussels sprouts in a soy sauce based Asian marinade, followed by beef rendang, with a dessert of five spiced apple crumble. Franquette contributed their popular ballads and to my relief the acoustics in the dining room at l'Image are good. William Knox on acoustic bass and Astrid Veigné on vocals and baritone ukelele are always a treat. Simon had booked quite early and we got a table right next to the performers. The restaurant was full and the bar was packed. It was one of those intimate events that the best villages can offer.

 

My view of the performance.

 

Further information: 

Restaurant l'Image https://restaurantimage.fr/

Franquette https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SsY4KxcVlRQ

 

The audience applauding enthusiastically at the end of the performance.

 

An Evening with Fabre

As any entomologist and many naturalists know, Jean-Henri Fabre was an extraordinary man. He worked as a teacher in the south of France in the 19th century, but his real passion was observing and recording wildlife behaviour. He wrote extensively and remarkably accessibly about the natural goings on around his home. I highly recommend reading him, either in French or in translation. You can find many of his essays and learn more about him in English on this site: http://www.efabre.net/

Not long ago my friend Richard invited me to an evening he was holding at his home. A friend of his was going to talk about Fabre and Richard knew I would be interested. I was having a busy week, with clients for chateaux walking tours every day, but I promised to make it to his evening with friends.

Boy am I glad I did! I was expecting a fairly standard, entomology conference style, lecture about Fabre the man and his legacy, or somesuch. What we were actually treated to was a performance, developed and delivered by Richard's friend, a professional actress and singer. She in turn, had been introduced to Fabre by Richard's partner, Patrick, and she had fallen in love with Fabre's writing.

Because the weather was inclement the performance was in the upstairs of Richard and Patrick's barn, a wonderfully rustic and intimate setting. We heard several of Fabre's stories, including one about a dung beetle, interspersed with the sounds of nature, and song. It was marvellous. At the end a hat was passed around for the audience to contribute as they wished.

Afterwards we all gathered around for drinks and nibbles, and discussed what other local venues would be suitable for such a performance next year.

Packed For a Picnic

Fifteen August, Assomption, fell on a Friday this year so it was a long weekend throughout France. We enjoyed the company of Simon's brother, his wife and their friend. One of the things we did was join the annual classic car meet at Lésigny. This involves meeting at the river for breakfast, then driving a 40 km circuit through rural countryside and villages, along with hundreds of other classic cars following one after another. Once back at the riverside park it was time for a picnic, then a swim.

This is Claudette's boot packed with all the essentials for a picnic and swimming.

For the picnic we served melon and dry cured ham, followed by onion and goats cheese quiche (made by Simon), lettuce, tomatoes, homemade basil vinaigrette, and homemade pickled onions. That was followed by a cheese platter, then homemade mirabelle clafoutis. The drinks served were rose, sparkling water, ginger beer, and champagne.

Through the Ages

Here are pictures of us at the Tour de France, as seen by the TV cameras.

2008

2009

2021

2023

2025

All the other times the camera has missed us, but I think we're getting better at choosing our locations.

Tour de France 2025

Yesterday the Tour de France came through Preuilly-sur-Claise. The town had decorated itself with banners, sculptures and beer tents, and was looking really festive. There was a number of costumed people, including Danes (of course) and Knights (!?). Everyone else but us was wearing free velux hats, as we obviously arrived too late.

We started the day with an early and somewhat hasty lunch at the guinguette with Niall, Antoinette and some of Niall's family. We then headed up to the abbey in time to see the caravan pass and gather some plunder. The caravan wasn't as extensive as previous years, but that means we have less tat to deal with. Having said that, I gained a really useful combination key-ring/supermarket trolley token holder. Hooray for useful tat!

After that excitement we rehydrated and had a sit down, and watched the approaching cyclists on TV. You can either participate these events or take photos. This year we participated, so no photos of caravan or cyclists. Susan had our Australian flag, and I had a message for my Dad.

Susan, flag wrangling with assistance from Olivier's grandson

Beer tents and Danes. Not coincidence, I suspect.

Once the excitement was over we headed home, arriving just in time to watch the race on ITV's +1 service. Just as the bikes reached Preuilly they went to a life long ad break, only returning as the cyclists reached Bossay. Booo!!!!

Luckily, France TV came to the rescue. You should be able to see me, but they missed Susan.

We had an ace - but 34°C - hot day. Not as hot as it was for the cyclists, who averaged over 50km an hour for the 174 km race.

(If you click on the video, then click on the little square box bottom right, you should get the video full screen)

Lamington

This is a proper sized lamington (don't worry, that's a side plate) photographed in Tenterfield, New South Wales.

As much as the idea appeals, we're not making lamingtons as snack food for watching the Tour de France tomorrow. Look for us and our Aussie flag as the Tour passes through Preuilly sur Claise.

Oysters at the Guinguette

Our guinguette (riverside summer pop up bar) Le Lavoir knows how to pull in the crowds. Recently we went down for their special oyster service. The oysters themselves were amongst the best we've ever had, and the condiments were good too. Normally I just have oysters nature (plain), but the shallot vinegar and the citrusy dressing were both excellent and both enhanced rather than overpowered. 

 

Opening oysters as fast as he can. The bowls contain condiments -- 'caviar', citrus, shallot vinegar.

The oysters came from the Ile de Ré, off the Atlantic coast, raised and served by the Dealer d'Iode (chasseur d'huitres) https://dealerdiode.com/. Guinguette Sommelier Louise was taking orders and serving a carefully chosen white wine. The oyster farmers are fifth generation and the family have been producing oysters since 1920. As ever when I've had really good oysters, they were not large. These ones had a very impressive algal fringe too.

 

 Louise taking orders, customers taking their oysters. The little bottles contain smoked vinegar.

COVID was a real turning point for the business, and they decided to develop oyster bars and host events and visits.

To keep up with the guinguette's news, follow Guinguette Le Lavoir on Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/guinguettelelavoir/

Tour de France Banner

 

Local textile artist Daniele Deletang has produced a 4 metre x 5 metre banner in patchwork to celebrate the passage of the Tour de France through Preuilly sur Claise on 13 July this year. It is hanging from the front of the gallery she and her husband curate. Very conveniently it is situated directly in front of the bridge the riders must cross, before they turn hard right around the Abbaye and head for Bossay sur Claise. 

It's in lovely bright colours and very much in the spirit of the race. I hope it gets lots of air time when the helicopters come through to do their travelogue shots.

The Nancy Wake Memorial Ride

Meeting the cyclists at the stadium in Chateauroux. Later this year this will be where a stage of the Tour de France finishes.

More than a year ago the Nancy Wake Memorial Ride came to my attention on Facebook [ https://www.facebook.com/people/Nancy-Wake-Memorial-Ride/61555790881536/ ]. Led by Australian Armed Forces veteran Liz Wheeler a group of fellow female veterans planned to recreate the epic cycle ride made by Franco-Australian Resistance heroine, Nancy Wake. Working with them was the Franco-Australian cycle tour company Velotours, based in the Pyrenees [ https://velotours.com.au/].

  

The cyclists with the Velotours support vehicle at the stadium.

Nancy is not as well known as one might think. She was an Australian living the good life in the south of France, married to a French industrialist, when the Second World War broke out. Both she and her husband were active members of the Resistance. He was captured and killed but she survived, known as the White Mouse, despite the price put on her head by the Nazis. 

 

Riding into town between Sylvie in the white car and Claudette.

As a member of SOE she participated in many acts of sabotage and hand to hand combat. Her most remarkable feat was to ride from a village in Puy de Dome, through Montlucon, Bourges and Issoudun to Chateauroux and back, a distance of nearly 500 kilometres in 72 hours, in order to get a radio message through to London.

 

Outside the public library and theatre, posing for the newspaper photo.

The Australian veterans took it a bit more leisurely, but they made stops along the way to meet locals and spread Nancy's story. Our meeting in Chateauroux was no exception. I was able to put them in touch with a local journalist and members of the local Friends of the Resistance Museum (ACRDI), including Michel Fouassier, the secretary of the association, and Jean-Louis Cirès, the Chateauroux town archivist [ https://www.helloasso.com/associations/amis-du-centre-d-histoire-et-de-memoire-de-la-resistance-et-de-la-deportation-dans-l-indre-acrdi ].

Storing the bikes in the theatre café.

Chateauroux does not in fact currently have a Resistance Museum. It is a project 'de longue haleine' as Michel put it ie it has long been in the planning, but funding has been elusive. Consequently he was very pleased to have reason to collar a journalist and get some publicity showing how interested people are in Resistance history and how important it is to keep these memories alive and honour the brave people involved.

The cyclists posing outside the building where Nancy Wake arrived hoping to meet 'Samuel' the radio operator.

The cyclists arrived spot on time and we met them at the sports stadium on the edge of town. Then Sylvie, a colleague of Michel's, led us all in convoy into the centre to town to meet the journalist outside the public library. After parking the bikes in the adjacent theatre café (closed because it was a public holiday, but Michel had a key!) we walked the short distance to the building Nancy came to meet with a radio operator code named Samuel (real name Amédée Maingard). At the time it was the Café du Cygne, now abandoned and with a name change, but the building still exists. Unfortunately for Nancy, Samuel had fled for his life the day before, and she had to move on. 

Having lunch in the Italian restaurant.

Sylvie had booked us a table at an Italian restaurant nearby, so we enjoyed a well-deserved and agreeable lunch. After lunch there was time for a bit more sightseeing and we encountered the American Army reenactors in the main square. They were offering rides in their vintage trucks and jeeps. We went to see the house where the very first radio message was sent by the Resistance to the Allies in London, and then the War Memorial and the memorial to the Righteous among Nations.

Second World War American Army re-enactors, offering free rides to the public in their vintage vehicles as part of the Victory in Europe activities on 8 May. 

After that our doughty cyclists needed a rest and a freshen up, so we parted company. They went to their hotel, we came home. It was quite a special day and we've made some great new friends, both French and Australian.

At the house where Georges Bégué sent the first radio message from the Resistance to London. All subsequent SOE radio operators were known as 'Georges', and referred to as 'pianists'.

Further reading: Article in the Nouvelle République (in French, behind paywall) https://www.lanouvellerepublique.fr/chateauroux/cinq-australiennes-dans-la-roue-de-la-resistante-nancy-wake-dans-l-indre-1746727637

Wikipedia page on Nancy Wake https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Wake

The War Memorial, which honours not just combatants, but those civilians who were deported to concentration camps.

The nearby memorial to the Righteous Among Nations, with Michel indicating his cousin's name at the bottom.

Tour de France 2025

On Friday the detailed route for the 2025 Tour de France was made public. We have known for about 6 months that it will be coming through Preuilly on the 13th of July, and we have all been making guesses as to which path through the village it will follow.

We can now stop guessing. The cyclists will arrive on the main road from la Roche Posay, cross the river and turn right at the Abbaye towards Bossay and Martizay. After that they follow the main road to Azay le Ferron, and on to Châteauroux.

Looking towards the Abbaye in the direction the bikes will be travelling

How Are 'Our' Ukrainians Getting On?

The Association d'Accueil et Accompagnement ddes Réfugiés en Sud Touraine, of which I'm a committee member, has been working with displaced Ukrainians since the beginning of the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

 

Nataliya and Anna, both of whom have moved to bigger cities where there are more opportunities.

So it is three years already since the sad exodus from Ukraine and the arrival in Preuilly sur Claise and surrounding villages of 'our' Ukrainian families.

Since April 2022 AARST has striven to accompany the Ukrainians in the different aspects of their lives here -- housing, health, administration, learning the French language, education, employment, transport and leisure.

 

Franco-Ukrainian Christmas party.

Today there are 24 Ukrainians in Preuilly, 6 in Yzeures sur Creuse, and 10 in la Roche Posay. So 40 people in all, of which 14 are children.

The children speak better and better French, and receive a mostly normal education. All of the women work -- at the retirement home, home help, local businesses, restaurants, school cantines, the town hall, and some have their own businesses (eg as couturiers). They have become independent. One family has left for Tours so their older children can continue their education. Another family has emigrated to the United States.

 

Our beautiful Ukrainian women.

Some families have had their share of bad news from Ukraine or have had to face serious illness. They all hold their heads high, despite the war that goes on and on. AARST entered 2025 knowing that the uncertainties are likely to persist. But there is always some hope that the war will end this year.

'Our' families still have numerous needs to be met by us, but our team of volunteers is wonderful, always ready to help, and we have the support of the town halls of Preuilly and Yzeures, other charitable associations and donors.

 

Ukrainian children playing at a picnic I organised.

Thank you everyone.

 

Mainly translated from Christiane Beau's annual report for AARST. She is the president and founder of AARST.

The Youngest Cyclist Ever in the Tour de France

This year, on Sunday 13 July, the Tour de France will be whizzing through Preuilly sur Claise, as it did in 1998 and 2008 [https://daysontheclaise.blogspot.com/2008/07/circus-hits-town.html]. We are very much looking forward to it, as we try to witness a stage every year, and it is nice to have it on one's doorstep (almost literally -- we'll only have to stroll about 50 metres to be in the thick of it). To get us in the mood, here is some history that you probably don't know:

In 1904 a young man named Camille Fily lined up at the start of the second Tour de France, in Montgeron, near Paris. He had just turned 17, and he was born in Preuilly sur Claise. The youngest of five children born to Henri Fily, a cutler, and Marie-Louise Bourin, an umbrella reparer, he was also the youngest competitor there has ever been in the Tour de France. His parents showcased their work at various local markets and Camille helped out. He and his brothers were mechanically minded and very interested in bicycles.

He became a father at a very young age, but nevertheless completed his obligatory military service with the 32nd Infantry Regiment. When the 1914 mobilisation order was issued, Camille, now aged 27, was sent to the Front with the 80th Infantry Regiment. He was attached as a runner to a Colonel's staff, and was regularly cited as having accomplished his mission with a remarkably cool head and was described as a brave, conscientious and energetic soldier. As a messenger he cycled from one trench to another all along the line. He was killed in Belgium, two days before his 31st birthday.

Camille started racing when his parents moved to Loches and he joined the Société vélocipédique. In 1904 he was signed up for the Tour de France, at that point a six stage race over 2428  kilometres. It was a real physical challenge, where competitors raced day and night. There were 80 riders, and they were regularly 'welcomed' with showers of stones, or nails scattered on the road.

In 1905 Camille competed for a second time in the Tour de France, which in that year was 2994 kilometres. The rules had evolved, so there was no more riding at night, and classifications were made on the basis of points, not times. The welcome in the villages had not changed though and the spectators were not happy. Amongst 60 racers Camille finished 14th, and was the first in his team, Guérin Cycles. The same year Camille came 10th in the Bordeaux-Paris. He set off at 2 am and arrived about 14 hours later, having raced the 600 kilometre course virtually non-stop.

The next year his first child was born, and he gave up racing. He was just 19 years old.

 

This post is essentially my translation of an article by Patricia Pillorger for the Centre Généalogique de Touraine. 

Further Reading: The very good entry on Fily in Cyclists in the Great War Wikia (including a photo of the dashing young Camille).

https://cyclists-in-the-great-war.fandom.com/wiki/Camille_Fily

 

Photos in this post are all from 2008, when the Tour last passed through Preuilly, from our archive. They show the peleton passing the end of our street.

Lunch in Loches With the Tractionistas

A couple of weeks ago we attended the Annual General meeting of la Traction Universelle, the Citroen classic car club that we have belonged to for 15 years. We haven't been to any meetings or events for the past couple of years, but we stay in contact with several of the members. It was lovely to be so warmly greeted when we arrived at the Best Western Hotel in Loches and we had a great time catching up with Elisabeth and Gilles, Bernadette and Jean-Pierre, Bénédicte and Jean-Marc, and Suzanne and Jean-Louis especially. I sat next to Gilles at lunch and he shared some sad family news, and some rather hair-raising stories of what had been happening at his family run print works recently.

 

 Coffee at the end of the meal.

The dessert of orange, chocolate and hazelnut.

View of the function room.

The menu. A glass of dry white sparkling local wine or a pear and apple juice to start. Then smoked trout followed by chicken.

The former courthouse, now the Best Western Hotel, in Loches.

Refugee Association Christmas Party

I'm on the committee of an association which has supported displaced Ukrainians who arrived in our village early in the war. Our skillset turned out to be perfect for the task, with a team experienced in working with immigrants, medicine, education and the arts, and we have created a formidable network of contacts in the public sector and the charity and aid sector. This was our third Christmas party and things are beginning to change. Some of our Ukrainian community are moving on, to the opportunities in bigger towns and cities. The children are all growing and developing. Most are thriving, but not all.

 

Nataliya R and Anna.

 

Maria with gifts from Pere Noel, and Marilou in a Ukrainian embroidered shirt.

 

Speechifying.

 

Teenagers Vavara and Sophia catch up. When they first arrived they went to the same school, but Varvara now lives in Tours and was just down for the day. Both girls are super smart and doing well at school.

 

Martine, who took a Ukrainian family into her home in the early days, until permanent accommodation could be found. She's always there to help with advice and practicalities, and is very close to 'her' Ukrainian family.

 

I think Nataliya P has had the most difficulty coming to terms with her new and unasked for life. One of her ways of coping is to run every day.

 

Nataliya D has established a close friendship with one of her older French neighbours. He has become uncle/grandfather figure and clearly dotes on Nataliya and her children. Recently she has been able to return the favour and help him as he recovers from a serious fall.

 

Princess Maria with her mother Vitalina. Maria arrived as a timid two year old who wouldn't leave her mother's side, and has developed into a rambunctious four year old who has no trouble demanding attention from any adult she knows.

 

Michel, our Master of Ceremonies.

 

The loaded Christmas tree. Presents were exchanged all round. I got a traditional beeswax candle in the form of a motanka (guardian doll), some Ukrainian lollies made into a wreath and a lovely card from the Ukrainians.

 

Floral table decorations made by Olena and Vitalina.