Cycling from London to Paris for Charity

Cycling from London to Paris is a popular way to raise money for charity. My friend Peter did just this over the May Day weekend. I mentioned it a few days ago and there were several comments from readers, so now I have a photo from Peter and a link to the website so you can make a donation if you wish. The charity in this case is the Shooting Star Children's Hospice, based in Surrey, which provides respite, palliative and specialist end of life care for children and their families, free of charge, and mostly funded by donations.

Peter says: '[The] Picture ... [shows the] Eiffel Tower and the gang wearing charity T shirts which we put on for the last 12 miles into Paris.

Thank you so much for the publicity. The donation site is here ( one of a number available). This should give information on the charity. It would be good if anyone kind enough to contribute could leave a message for me, to identify them from friends of Roy and I will do my best to send a thank you.

The comments are amusing and I like the stats puns. The common link between stats, bikes and guitars is of course 'cycles' as stato's study cycles in time series and cycles are a part of the wave forms which form when a stretched string is plucked.

I did make it to Paris, by Sunday, with a group of 14 other riders and John our superbly helpful van driver, generally 20 years younger and very fit and strong so I was pleased to hang in there, the pace was testing. I managed to stay on the bike which was more than many could say but no broken bones and Paris was beautiful on Monday morning.'

Peter is the chap on the far right of the photo, by the way.

Susan

Irises - Les Iris

Bearded Irises are one of the glories of Loire gardens in May. No wonder the most famous iris breeder of them all, Cayeux, is based in the Loire.

A gorgeous, almost black specimen from Coulon
in the Marais Vert near Niort.

A pretty lavender and white pair.

Rich cream and lavender, and an unusually
broad profile, at Giverny.

Everyone has these pale lavender irises,
but they are no less pretty for that.
These particular examples are opposite the Château in Preuilly.

At the Australian War Memorial near Villers-Bretonneux
the irises have fancy variegated leaves.

Susan

The Secret Valley

This place is amazing, and nobody knows about it! Well, actually, I suspect that the locals know about it, but the entrance is on a main road with dozens of travellers passing by each day. It's directly opposite a well known look out point, and people often break their journey there. But they don't venture across the road. You can't get down the track unless you are a reasonable bush track driver, and it is not signposted, so the emerald valley below is protected from the hordes so far. I don't suppose it will be very long before word gets out.

The sides of the valleys here are old growth wet Eucalyptus forest – great tall straight trees, in places logged for timber and pulp. The bottom of the valley is lined with moss covered boulders, at the base of which runs a stream. The banks are entirely clothed in huge tree ferns Dicksonia antarctica. You could not get a greener place. It looks like something out of a garden design magazine, full of special tender plants. It's part of a large and ancient forest complex. Some of it is protected as National Park and Nature Reserve, but there are also commercial logging activities.

If any of our readers are going to south-eastern New South Wales, I will tell them privately where this paradise is, but until then it can remain a secret.

Or do you think I over-egged it, and this is the reason people don't come? I dunno what their problem is...I only encountered one of the creatures on the list (leaches, if you want to know).

I did, however, encounter the biggest ant I have
ever seen – a Giant Bulldog Ant Myrmecia sp.

But some of the forest inhabitants are charming,
like this Silver Xenica Oreixenica lathoniella.

And anyway, the tree ferns are truly spectacular.

Although everything is extremely green
and it's surprisingly difficult to photograph well.

I cannot tell you what a thrill it was to see mature tree ferns in such abundance in their natural habitat. Sadly, that's another reason for being coy about where it is. My parents tell me they visited a well known tree fern valley not so long ago, and discovered that every one had been sawn off, presumably by thieves supplying the garden trade.

Susan

Tours Opera House

It is always difficult to find information about the city of Tours online - filtering out all the sites that google brings up about tours rather than Tours is REALLY difficult. The easiest way to do so is to use google maps and the aerial photos to identify the building you're interested in and then search using the street name. Then all you need to do is some link clicking until you find a page that gives some proper information. Having said that, however, I can't find anything of real substance about this building. It is quite impressive, in that very 19th century French way.

This is Tours Opera House. We didn't know this building existed until quite recently. I found it* when I was waiting for a bus on Easter Monday and had 6 hours to spend carting my bag around looking for interesting things. (The sacrifices I make for this blog.)

I do know that when I was there they were advertising a performance of Tosca - but I can't even find any information about that, either. I have a pamphlet here. Somewhere. It has probably been packed though. In the fullness of time we will unpack and I will post more info.

Talking of packing: we are getting there. Most of our books, all our paintings and photos, most of our clothes and a couple of boxes of various computer cables and bits and pieces are packed, as are most of our electrical stuff. Tomorrow I will start on packing the computers (or at least some of them), and dismantling some of the larger items of furniture. Most of my musical instruments have road cases, so it's just a case of putting them in their own case and adding to the growing heap.

Simon

*this may come as news to the good citizens of Tours, who probably didn't realise it was lost.

Fred the Shred*

We have been living in London for 12 years. Being prudent (and hasn't THAT word gained some overtones in the past couple of years!!) people we have kept all our paperwork during that time.

Now we are moving on we can't see the use for our 12 year old phone bills, bank statements and payslips, so we have bought a shredder and are busy making packing materials. This has been rather a liberating experience, especially when it comes to letters from the tax office. This has been the best part of packing to leave for France, all the rest of it is hard work and stressful and we are not enjoying spending our long weekend (and the coming week) up to our necks in cardboard boxes.


We now have 5 or 6 bags of shredded paper to cushion our valuables (as it were), and then when we are in France we can compost it all for the garden. I am quite pleased with the concept of triple recycling, so will spend the next 15 seconds in "smug" mode.

Simon

*Fred from the shed was a semi-mythical person we used to talk about in my band in Queensland. It just seemed too good an opportunity to miss.

Curing Bacon

One of the nice things about France is that you can buy good substantial pieces of pork belly in the supermarket. And one of the nice things about pork belly is that you can cure it and make bacon!

As Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall says, curing bacon is so ridiculously simple, it's a wonder more people don't do it. We've been curing our own bacon for a while now. Usually Simon does it, and it is a matter of no more than rubbing salt into the meat every day for a few days.

This time I decided to get a bit more fancy, and made up a rubbing mixture of salt, chopped bay leaves, crushed juniper berries, soft brown sugar and Ducros 5 Baies pepper. The meat was rubbed all over with a few handfuls of the salt mix every day for 10 days, then rinsed, wiped dried and cut into portions for different uses.

On the left are cubes for adding to home made baked beans. In the middle, rashers of bacon, and on the right, thick slices for petit salé aux lentilles.

If you are in France and missing pork crackling, an alternative treatment for a piece of belly is to roast it. It makes superb crackling because of all the fat under the skin, and the meat will be rich, but juicy.

Susan

Glimpses 6

This cat has been a permanent fixture of this window ledge (or sometimes the next window ledge along) ever since we have been going to Preuilly.

Simon


Note from Susan: Les Amis des Chats, who operate a trap, neuter and return programme for stray cats in south west France would be delighted if you checked out their website to learn about their work. They also visit schools and educate pupils about responsible cat ownership. Don't hesitate to get in touch with them or me if you can help in any way.

Also my jazz guitarist statistician friend Peter is cycling from London to Paris today to raise money for a children's hospital. He has promised to send photos, so I will post them when they come.

Events in and around Preuilly for May 2009

The first photo we have of our house,

taken on 29 May 2006.

Friday 1 –
May Day, a public holiday.

Saturday 2 – Tir aux Fantômes – Ghostbusters

Saturday 2 - Martizay - Foire aux Oisons
Gosling fair in Martizay, also brocante and new goods

Friday 8 – 8 mai
Victory in Europe Day Ceremony to honour the dead and celebrate the end of World War II in Europe. A public holiday.

Saturday 9 – Cinéma

Tuesday 12 – all our worldly possessions are delivered and we start our new life in France fulltime.

Saturday 16 – Repas de l'Amicale des Pompiers
Friends of the Firemen Dinner.

Saturday 16 – Concours officiel de Pétanque
Official French Bowls Competition.

Pétanque practice, May 2008

Thursday 21 – Ascension*
Ascension, a public holiday.

Thursday 21 – Ferrière-Larçon - Grande Brocante et son Marché Gourmand
Second hand market and specialist food market

Tuesday 26 – Théâtre – APE des écoles Publiques

Satruday 30 - Chaumussay - Veillée de contes, feu de St Jean
Fairy Tales - the fire of St John (?)

Market days in Preuilly are Thursdays and Saturdays. The market is held in Place des Halles in the morning.

On Saturday nights there is a pizza van in Place des Halles.

*corrected after an anonymous comment. Thank You

The Open Road

Ask any Australian, and they will tell you the received wisdom is that the roads of Europe are crammed full of traffic all going nowhere fast.

These photos were taken on a recent drive back from Preuilly to London. You could probably put them in order for yourself just by looking at the grot accumulating on the windscreen.



There is no trickery involved here - this really is how the roads are in France - IF you're not driving on the first (or last) day of the school holidays, a Sunday afternoon, or in Paris. The way to check out what the traffic conditions are likely to be is on the Bison Futé website. Not only is there a map showing problems in real time, on this page you can download a prediction for the rest of the year about how much traffic is likely to be on the roads.

Simon

Sydney

At the end of my recent visit to Australia, I had a day in Sydney. I arranged to meet a friend at the Powerhouse Museum, and we mooched around the Rocks (visiting the Craft NSW Gallery), Darling Harbour and Circular Quay and the Botanic Gardens.

At the Powerhouse I learned about the remarkable Lucien Henry, a Frenchman exiled to New Caledonia after the political upheavals of 1871, who then made his way to Australia, where he became an influential artist, designer and teacher, one of the first to encourage the use of Australian imagery.

Can you tell we are not in France?

Spot the icons.

Australian White Ibis Threskiornis molucca amble freely around Darling Harbour.

A Folly for Mrs Macquarie. Notice anything peculiar? A detail of the 'ceiling' can be seen here.

There is a large, smelly and vociferous colony of Grey-headed Flying Foxes Pteropus poliocephalus in the Botanic Gardens. Mostly they just hang around sleeping during the day, but you can usually see one or two on the wing.

Susan

La Roche Posay

The village of La Roche Posay is about 12km from Preuilly sur Claise, and sits on the bank of the Creuse river at its confluence with the Gartempe.

The name will be immediately familiar to anyone who has ever visited a cosmetics or skin care counter: the local water is high in selenium and has been used for many years for skin care. A spa was founded in the village in the 19th century to treat skin disorders, and had grown into a huge cosmetics firm by 1989, when it was sold to l'Oreal.*

The Original Etablissement Thermal

The village itself is attractive and is still a curist (health tourist) destination, with many visits paid for by the French welfare system for the treatment of various dermatological ills. Because of this it has a huge number of hotels, lodges and apartments available compared with any other French village of the same size (population 1400).

The Hotel Europa

There are a number of spas dotted around town, as well as parks, a golf course, and a good scattering of cafes and restaurants. There is also a casino and horse racing course. They hold various music festivals during the year, based around the town square, and during summer it is a very busy, bustling town.

The Town Square

During winter, however, most of the spas close (I believe that of the 3 spas in town, only one remains partially open), the hotels, cafes and restaurants take their holidays and the town reverts to being a quite little backwater.

Despite the signs forbidding it, these boulists
play most days of the year in the town square

These photos of La Roche Posay were taking at Christmas

Simon

*La Roche Posay is not to be confused with Roche Pharmaceuticals, a completely unrelated Swiss/USA company.

Note from Susan: La Roche Posay is pronounced like 'lah rosh-pozzeh' if you are Australian (the 'o's are soft, as in 'cot', not hard as in 'coat', and Roche and Posay treated as if they are one word). If you are American, La Roche Posay apparently sounds more like 'luh rush-puzzeh' though – see Ken's post on the pronounciation of another nearby town, Loches, on his blog Living the Life in St-Aignan. (See Ken's comments below if you want to know how it is really pronounced.)

Tours Station

Last year Susan and I travelled to Preuilly sur Claise to London by plane and bus, which involved spending a number of hours in Tours near the station. At the time I mentioned that the station looks sort of tropical, but really needs palm trees.

A couple of weeks ago I was in Tours again, and was surprised to see the station does have palm trees outside. I naturally took this as a sign of a growing influence of this blog , but a close observation of the photo posted shows that the station had palm trees last year too. I offer as my defence the fact they are small(ish) palm trees in Versailles planters.

Not only outside - there are palm trees in
planters inside the station, too.

The station was designed by Victor Alexandre Frederic Laloux (Tours, 15 November 1850 – Paris, 1937), a French Beaux-Arts architect best remembered for the 1900 stone façade of the Paris Gare d'Orsay, now the Musée d'Orsay. Laloux worked in a highly ornamented style and taught at the École des Beaux-Arts workshop, where his students included François-Benjamin Chaussemiche. Other work includes the Embassy of the United States in Paris (with American architect William Delano) and the Basilica of St. Martin in Tours. It was built between the years of 1896 and 1898 by Moisant-Laurent-Savey, who also built: Gymnase Jean-Jaurès, Paris, Viaduc de la métro ligne no. 2, Paris, and the Gare de Nice. They also worked on the Musée d'Orsay and the Grand Palais, in Paris.

I like Tours station, even on a very quiet Easter Monday. It is very different to any of the stations in London - the trains aren't hidden, and the building isn't full of shops - 2 newsagents, a baguette shop and an information kiosk (so no opportunity for last minute sock or tie purchases) - and that's your lot.

Simon

Boeuf Bourguignon – Beef in Burgundy

Boeuf Bourguignon – pronounced something like 'buhf boor-gee-nyawn' – is a classic French dish that everyone has heard of, and probably eaten. It is the flash cousin of the country style daube de boeuf, which is what I usually make. A daube only requires beef, red wine, sliced onions and seasonings, whereas the Burgundy style dish is enhanced with whole baby onions, lardons (cubes of bacon) and sliced flat dark mushrooms. I used the Delia recipe for my boeuf bourguignon.

It's not really necessary to be pedantic about sourcing Burgundian wine for this recipe. Most red wines will be fine. Personally, I would prefer larger pieces of meat than shown above, but I purchased it pre-cut, as that was the best buy, so made a compromise. Certainly for a daube I would use 5-10 cm cubes.

I served it with a baby leaf salad and pommes de terre boulangère ie thinly sliced potatoes, sprinkled with chopped onions, arranged in layers and cooked in stock (or half stock, half milk) in a shallow oven dish.

Boeuf Bourguignon needs to slow cook for about 3 hours, but Ken, over on Living the Life in Saint-Aignan, recently posted a recipe using meatballs, which took much less time.

Susan

Over the top….and down under

Today's post is written by Dave Lovell, who Susan met through her work a few years ago. He is a volunteer in his spare time with The War Graves Photographic Project, which is aiming to photograph every Commonwealth war grave and memorial from World War I to the current day world wide, making the images available online, and complementing the work and records of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. 25 April is ANZAC Day in Australia, a public holiday, when those killed in war are remembered. Villers-Bretonneux Commonwealth War Cemetery is the site of the Australian War Memorial in France. There is also a new website, Remembering Fromelles, for relatives of the British and Australian troops buried in some recently discovered burial pits. The aim is to exhume the bodies, identify as many as possible and create a new cemetery. Related articles can be found on This French Life.

‘The surprise attack was launched in moonlight at 10pm without preliminary bombardment; spearheading the operation were the 13th and 15th Australian Brigades, supported by the British 54th Brigade. In darkness and confusion Australian infantry, displaying dash and brutal aggression, broke the German lines and, by early morning 25th April, forced the enemy out of all but the south-eastern corner of Villers-Bretonneux.’
(© CWGC)

I got my call up on 16th April 2008. When I reached Villers-Bretonneux thankfully the Aussies I met were dashing and friendly.

From my grandfather’s collection

The Australian Memorial and Cemetery bears witness to the “dash and brutal aggression” the men of the Australian Brigade showed. These were men who clearly did not count the cost, even though the cost was heavy: 610 headstones and another 10861 names on the memorial bear testimony to that cost. The headstones give some measure of their bravery, recognised in 30 Military Medals alone.

The wind was cold, the skies were grey, the ground was wet but I was pleased to be there. It’s a relatively short drive from my home in the East of Paris and, as I throttled the hire car across the plains of Picardie, my thoughts turned to my Father and family members who had witnessed first-hand the horrors of war.

Mine however was to be a more pleasant experience but challenging in its own way. An email had come from the coordinator of the War Grave Photographic Project www.twgpp.org - could I meet an Australian film crew from the ‘Today’ TV programme and do an interview about TWGPP?

Saturday was an early start, well early for a weekend. As I travelled North my spirits went South, the skies dropped and soon the rain too. Visibility was about 500 metres on arrival, but the Brasserie in the village looked a likely point of retreat.

And then logic kicked in, the weather could get worse, 600 photos will take all day, and tomorrow might be ten times worse. So on with the boots, on with the cagoule, up with the umbrella. The afternoon quickly approached and passed equally quickly. Battery flattened I switched to my wife’s camera. Now all our memory cards were full and my joints were decidedly aching but the good news? Only twenty to go!

And then it struck me…no call from the Producer and it's 17.00 already. So a little dejectedly it’s back to Paris, meet my wife off Eurostar and dine at Chez Gudule. At 21.00 with joints feeling the benefit of lubrication from the odd beer and un verre du vin rouge or three, the phone rings - at last arrangements for the TV shoot are made.


The filming took an hour or so but it stayed on the cutting room floor! It stayed there because of course there were more moving stories to be told. Stories of men who gave their all - we will remember them!

If you’d like to help the War Grave Photographic Project visit www.twgpp.org



The photo for today's title piece was taken just after Christmas 2005 at the Villers-Bretonneux Commonwealth War Cemetery.

Glimpses 5

This windmill is in the vinyard of our nearest commercial winery, Domaine du Ris. I assume it was once used for pumping water. It isn't an Éolienne Bollée, thats for sure!

Simon

A Common Sight

As you drive around rural France you will often encounter this man and his brethren - the common cyclist - wobbling his way along the road.

He is not to be confused with the all over body condommed speed cyclist, a much more confident beast who is seen only at the weekends (although once a year the professional variety as shown here can be seen during the week, too) and usually in groups; the common cyclist can be seen on any day of the week, usually in packs of one.

Simon

Green Cape Lighthouse

The main reason for my recent visit to Australia was to attend my parents' 50th wedding anniversairy. My sister organised for me, our parents and the wedding party (all aunts and uncles) to stay the weekend in the lighthouse cottages at Green Cape, part of Ben Boyd National Park on the southern New South Wales coast. We were a party of 10, and most of those attending I had not seen for 30 years. We got on marvellously well, and a great time was had by all. A selection of photos from the weekend follows, and more photos can be seen here.

Saw Banksia Banksia serrata (the seedpods that come after these flowers are often called 'Old Man Banksia', from a character in an Australian children's book)

Black Wallaby Wallabia bicolor (known by many people as Swampies)

Lace Monitor Varanus varius. A type of goanna, this was the most magnificent specimen I have ever seen. It was about 1.5m long, and dramatically coloured. Look at those claws! These lizards have a reputation for running up the nearest vertical object when frightened, just as this one did as we stopped the car. You need to be a bit careful under these circumstances that the nearest vertical object isn't yourself!

The Green Cape Lighthouse complex, showing the modern light, the old light and the lighthouse keepers' cottages, where we stayed.

The wedding party (minus the best man, who was in hospital and couldn't make it).

Susan

Fun with French – Hoopla !

Hoopla !

Brightly pronounced 'OP-lah', this exclamation is used much more in the north than here in the Touraine. Here you might occasionally notice doting parents swinging a small child over a puddle using it in the sense of 'over we go' or 'wheee'.

In Lille though, you could hear Hoopla ! several times a day. It is especially noticeable that when waiters deliver your meal they put the plate down with an Hoopla ! Apparently, producing the dish just as we ordered it is something of a magic trick in Lille. We found this rather disconcerting at first, fully expecting the next thing to be drum rolls and coins appearing from behind our ears.

You can use Hoopla ! too when you pick up something that has been dropped and return it to the owner. It is just a slightly more ostentatious way of saying Voilà !

Along with language, the architecture
in Lille is very different to the Loire Valley

Susan

Yesterday in Preuilly sur Claise

Yesterday was Sunday, and normally in Preuilly nothing happens on a Sunday. This is quite different to the rest of the week, where it appears that nothing is happening and quite often appearances don't flatter to deceive. (Or something).

However, yesterday was different. All afternoon I kept hearing car horns parping. This is normally the preserve of Saturdays, when people are celebrating weddings. (If you're invited to a wedding, it appears traditional to drive from one place to another - possibly the mairie to wherever the reception is - leaning heavily on the car horn.) This was different though - Sunday and just the occasional, but still out of place for Preuilly on a Sunday, parp.

When I was returning from the supermarché I had noticed a piece of guard rail at the top of our street, once again unusual. When I stepped out the front door to "weed" the courtyard I noticed a small group of the local ladies standing at the bottom of our street chatting. I could also hear music, the source of which soon became evident...

As soon as I saw the ladies I grabbed my camera. A group of people standing around on a Sunday means something is happening. And I was right!!

I then realised there was a chap in dayglo at the top of the street - was it possible that I could see the cyclists twice?

It isn't the Tour de France, but it is typical Sunday afternoon activity - a course velo. Anyone who has driven any distance on a Sunday in France will have seen them - and they have right of way. We last encountered a course in May last year outside Poitiers. Streets are blockaded, diversions put in place and hundreds (or in Preuilly's case, some) people stand on the roadside to watch.

As I was typing this, I heard more parping, and hit the front door just in time for this:

It isn't all two wheeled excitement here. Yesterday morning I saw my first orchid of the year (Early Purple), but it was raining at the time, so I didn't tarry with the photos.



Simon

Our New Kitchen

Or rather, our new temporary kitchen.

We intend getting a super-duper hi-tech fitted kitchen in the house, and have started getting devis from kitchen builders. Before this can happen, we have to clear all the old kitchen stuff - the strange faux ancien range hood and the sink. Until very recently (i.e. yesterday) I was cooking on a table under the range hood. As I intend to eat most days this means I had to find a new location for the kitchen.

I decided on what we call our "small room" - not what you might think, but a little room off the end of our entry corridor that previously served as a combination bedroom/lounge, and more recently a dining room.

So until we have a permanent proper kitchen, this is our kitchen

It is more fancy than I had planned, but M. Bricolage in Chatellerault was having a special on melamine covered boards, so I treated myself to a bench top I can wipe down. The only drawback is not having running water or a sink, but I am sure we can work our way around that. When we first moved to London the house we rented had a smaller kitchen than this, so we should manage quite nicely.

Simon