The Genoa Pub

We stopped at Genoa on our way up to my "Uncle" Rick's house in southern NSW. It was too soon to call into the pub as we had only just had breakfast (and I assumed - wrongly - that the pub was no longer). We were looking for the public toilets which were clean and in good condition, and the other side of the old road bridge, which is now part of a pedestrian route. Luckily the highway was re-routed before the Genoa Bridge fell down. (I am sure we blogged about the bridge - but I can't find it. One day...)

Being a proper pedestrian route there are information boards, and the one for the pub reads "The building was originally a two storey pise (rammed earth walled) structure. Unfortunately fire destroyed the top storey in 1933. Genoa's first liquor license circa 1897 was held at the Maramingo Hotel (across the river) this was transferred to Alexander's boarding house (Bass Street) circa 1913 until it was finally transferred to the Genoa Hotel."

This is the kind of pub I used to seek out when I was a young bloke and often travelling. The food was generally nothing spectacular, the beers were industrial, but if you wanted to know what was going on they were the place to be. It's also the kind of pub I spent many year in, playing music.

They're a dying breed, unfortunately, replaced by lookalike chain places, ginormo "clubs", and try too hard coffee shops.

A Swiss Heritage Train Ride

Over a year ago now (can you believe it?) I wrote about the Davos-Klosters Card, and metioned a heritage train ride.

Here is it:

The ride is about 30 minutes each way, from Davos to Filsur and return, and is brilliant. I may have become slightly enthusiastic (Susan would say embarrasingly so), but you would have to have a heart of stone not to be amazed. Of course, the vidoe doesn't do it justice, but this video will give you a real taste.

Nocturne

In the Loire Valley, and probably in other parts of France, there is a tradition of 'nocturnes'. These are community street theatre performances held after dark in the summer. Our local one is performed twice, once in July and once in August, and is attended by three or four hundred people a performance. We went to the August one.

It tells the story of Preuilly by visiting significant sites and presenting various characters who talk about themselves, the site and their period of history. All the characters are played by local people and the action moves from site to site, with the audience following along.

The performance began in the Abbey, with very atmospheric music.

More music on the steps of the monks' dormitory.

Gérald H as Dom Isembaud de l'Etoile, the 12C Abbot.

The musicians perform once again, by the watermill (moulin banal). The mill was owned by the Abbey and everyone was obliged to use it (and pay the Abbey for the privilege).

Dominique R as Dame Griselda, the 14C miller.

The crowd at the bottom rue des pavillons.

Ginette G as the innkeeper Mother Fern.
Her performance was hilarious, and she basically played herself.

This house has been home to a nationally famous comedian and a famous artist.  Skits by Jacques Grello were projected and Jean Dufy's former housekeeper lip synced to a video made earlier.

Roger P playing the Black Prince, delivering his lines in both French and English. Roger was cast after I sent a call out to local native English speakers. Here is his account of performing.

Guy B as du Guesclin, Constable of France.

The cast take a bow.

The Nocturne is organised by the local history club, known as the SAP, and raises money for activities such as the restoration of the Chapelle de tous les saints. Here is a link to Fabrice's SAP blog post on the August Nocturne.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Life on a Parsnip

Wild Parsnip Pastinaca sativa (Fr. Panais cultivé) grows everywhere in the Loire Valley and is very attractive to a range of nectaring insects. These photos were taken in our garden and orchard.

Cheilosia sp hover fly.

Tapered Drone Fly Eristalis pertinax (Fr. L'éristale opiniâtre).

Mediterranean Striped Bug Graphosoma italicum (Fr. Punaise arlequin).

The longhorn beetle Phytoecia icterica mating. Wild Parsnip is their larval host plant.

A parasitic tachinid fly.

Female European Paper Wasp Polistes cf dominula.

The very large Hornet Mimic hover fly Volucella zonaria (Fr. la Volucelle zonée), a female.

An ichneumon.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Flat

On Saturday, for the first time in ages (ten years), one of the Tractions had a flat tyre. We had only just picked the clients up, and got a few kilometres down the road. Simon pulled up on a garage forecourt (they were on holiday so couldn't help). He got the tools and spare wheel out of the boot and set about changing the wheel, without fuss or drama. The clients took it in good spirit and treated it as part of the adventure -- even helping! (He was an engineer who was keen to get hands on with some mechanicals, and she took pictures to send to the kids to show what their father was really up to.) Twenty minutes later we were on our way again.

While I was with the clients visiting Cheverny, Simon took the flat to a nearby garage to have our spare inner tube fitted and the wheel reinstated. Despite being packed with cars waiting for repairs and super holiday period busy, the garage owner, an older guy, directed one of his staff to drop what he was doing and sort Claudette out immediately. There turned out to be a tiny pinhole in the inner tube, and he was most impressed that we were carrying a spare inner tube.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

July News From Preuilly sur Claise

The latest news from Preuilly, as gleaned from the July municipal council minutes.

Local Products in School Canteen

We have a new municipal councillor, Pascal Mijoule. He takes the place of Marie-Christine Auger, who resigned, citing issues with lack of support for the retirement home employees and the disturbing hate campaign against the former school canteen worker. The mayor assured the meeting that the latter issue had been resolved, through a combination of dialogue with parents and new supplier contracts. The school will now provide meals made from local products from the delicatessen, butcher, grocery store and organic vegetables from the Jardins-Vergers de La Rabaudière. The current canteen manager's contract of 22 hours a week has been renewed until Christmas.

A menu from the Preuilly public primary school, posted on the school gate for parents to review.

Second Stage of the Chapel Restoration

It was announced that the architect has reduced his fees, from €11 944 to €10 929. The mayor reminded everyone of the estimated funding for this stage of the restoration. The total of €159 655 is expected to come from DRAC (Regional Department for Arts and Culture) €63 862; Sauvegarde de l'art Francaise €15 000; Fondation du Patrimoine €13 000; public subscription €20,000; local history society €12 000; Sites and Monuments €10,000; Crédit Agricole €2000; Municipality €10,000; Patrons €13,793.

A detail of the rare danse macabre wall paintings in the Chapelle de tous les saints. 

The conservation of these paintings is the second stage of the complete restoration.

Insurance

An insurance sub-committee has been created to look into the choices available from different companies.

Canteen tariffs

The school canteen tariffs have been set for 2019-20, remaining exactly the same as last year. For children who eat at the canteen regularly it is €3.30 per meal, for children who only eat there occasionally it is €3.40 per meal, and €5.70 for adults. To help fund the summer holiday activities for kids the council has asked for a €2.50 per meal contribution from the Communauté des Communes (usually referred to as the ComCom) and salary for a staff member.

Housing

Val Touraine Habitat (the county public housing authority) has asked for agreement to sell nine single person apartments in rue Saint Nicolas. The mayor commented that Preuilly lacks rental accommodation and this sale would be regrettable. The council voted against agreeing to the sale in the hope that the apartments will therefore be offered as rentals.

A new terrace has been created to enhance and protect the Hotel Restaurant Esperance.

Traffic Jams in the Grande Rue

The mayor has met with the county council (conseil départemental) president to discuss the increasing numbers of heavier and heavier trucks that cross town. A proposal to install chicanes and a roundabout at the Abbey end of the Grande Rue was passed by 7 votes to 4 (with 3 abstentions). The work will be done in the autumn.

Last year a temporary roundabout was set up to test the practicality.

Acquisition of a Bus

The municipality owns an 18 seater bus already, but it is 20 years old and in need of a lot of work. The municipality of Bossay sur Claise is going to buy a new bus, and sell their existing 23 seater, with 180 000 kilometres on the clock. Preuilly is going to offer €10 000 to buy this bus.

Grant for Special Needs Child

A child from Preuilly has been sent to a special class in Loches. The mayor of Loches is requesting financial assistance of €467 for tuition fees. The mayor of Preuilly offered a grant of €300. The proposal was adopted, with 12 votes in favour and 2 abstentions.

Miscellaneous

A painting by Pascal Joubert de la Motte from 1937 has deteriorated. A donor has offered to pay for restoration costing €3300. The municipality will restore a painting of du Guesclin which hangs in the council room. 

The painting of du Guesclin, Constable of France, which will be conserved.

Nougat de Tours

Nougat de Tours is a tart with a sweet pastry base, topped with an almond meringue called a macaronade, and filled with candied fruit and apricot jam. It is a traditional recipe from the Touraine and there is a confrérie ('brotherhood') of professional bakers and pastry chefs dedicated to preserving the recipe and promoting it.

The original Renaissance era recipe used a mixture of candied citron (one of the ancestors of all modern citrus) and jam made from a now forgotten stone fruit called an alberge, which was somewhere between an apricot and a peach, with slightly fuzzy fruit with a pale yellow skin and red flushed yellowish white flesh, ripe in mid-August. Curiously, today's enthusiasts for this tart have opted for using peach or apricot jam plus tiny dice of multicoloured candied papaya, making something which for my taste is rather sickly. I would recommend using a mixture of either good quality candied peel, or a good tart marmalade combined with an equal quantity of either peach or apricot jam. Make sure your marmalade has a good quantity of peel because you want to be able to detect the peel by texture as well as taste, but not have it crunchy (the papaya is distinctly crunchy, which is just weird texturally in this tart).

The note on top is to prevent pantry trolls causing evaporation before I've made the tart.

Ingredients
Pastry
150 g flour
25 g sugar
A pinch of salt
70 g butter
1 egg, beaten
Filling
150 g candied peel or marmalade
150 g peach or apricot jam
Macaronade
75 g almond meal
3 egg whites
75 g sugar
2 tbsp icing sugar

Method

1. Pastry -- cream butter, sugar and salt then add the egg. Mix in the flour until a dough ball forms, then refrigerate for 15 minutes.
2. Roll out the pastry and put in a 20 cm loose based sponge tin, without trimming. Put back in the fridge for 15 minutes.
3. Heat the oven to 200C.
4. Macaronade -- mix the sugar and almond meal together. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold in the almond meal and sugar.
5. Filling -- spread the jam on the pastry base then distribute the peel evenly over the base.
6. Pile the macaronade on top of the tart, using a spatula to spread it right to the edges and rough it up a bit to create attractive peaks.
7. Sift icing sugar over the macaronade and let the tart sit at room temperature for 15 minutes.
8. Sift more icing sugar over the tart then bake for 30 minutes.
9. Remove from oven and cool on a rack. Once cool remove from the tin. Serves 6.

The peach and apricot jam I used came from Noz. Quite by coincidence I had been planning to make Nougat de Tours, so the perfect jam's appearance in the overstock and liquidations store was obviously Fate calling me. 

Certain local aficionados of the Nougat de Tours use jam made from locally grown pêches de vigne, which I must say I think is very appropriate.

Yum

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

The Gloomy Octopus.

Otherwise known as the Common Sydney Octopus (Octopus tetricus), this small specimen was photographed off the same jetty where we saw the Toadfish and the Porcupine Fish. It's a small one - probably 50 cm or so across. Fully grown they can reach two metres.

I must admit I was surprised to see an octopus so close to the surface - the water was less than a metre deep.

(I assume it's a gloomy octopus - these are the best photos we managed.)

A Mountain

I can't remember which moutain this is - it may be the mountain named after the suncreen - Piz Buin. It's not a sight we're used to in the Touraine, which is why we have to travel.

Life with Classic Cars

Life has been interesting lately - Claudette (born 1956) has had a serious issue with cutting out and restarting - quite violently at times. Of course, being intermittant it means that when she has visited the garagiste she has behaved impeccably - so much so that sometimes I think Alexandre thinks I am losing my marbles.

So far we have replaced all the filters (fuel, air) and spark plugs, checked the fuel lines, tested the spark plug leads and distributor, rebuilt the carburetor and given her a good tune-up. We also used an octane improver (expensive) to counter any effects of ethanol laced fuel.

This has had an effect, but not completely cured the problem.

Meanwhile, Célestine (born 1953) has had brake issues. They shuddered and juddered, and sometimes didn't release properly. This was caused by dust from the brake shoes: they must have been a particularly soft set we used last year. We have put harder shoes on which should wear less, and the brakes are now as smooth as you could wish. Hopefully they should wear less, and the problems go away.

Both cars have also visited the carroserie (pamel beaters) to have some little rust issues addressed.

Célestine and Claudette together last week. It doesn't happen often

Célestine had her two yearly Controle Technique (government roadworthy test) yesterday. She was rated as "impeccable" by the mechanic, which is always a relief. That's both cars done now, with no issues to be sorted.

Except for the next issue...

Reminders of a Bygone Age

This may look like one of the world's most boring photos, but it tells an interesting story.

Between 1824 and 1828 a channel connecting the Cher to the Loire was dug, a distance of about 2.5km. It had  two locks (one at each end) and a port located at its northern end, close to the Loire. It replaced an earlier canal which followed the flood plain west of Tours (now the site of the botanical gardens).

The port can still be seen as it was in the mid-19th century (minus the water). The canal was abandoned due to the damage caused by bombing in 1940 and filled in piecemeal during the following years. In 1971, the A10 motorway followed the same route as the canal.

Which brings us to the above photo.

The boring stone wall you can see is one of the dykes of the canal, which can be seen in these two old postcards. The photo in the bottom postcard was taken from about the same place as our top photo, (although probably not at 90kmh)

Geoportail has an amazing page where you can compare maps. This is a comparison between a mid 19th century map and the recent IGN offering. Anyone driving the A10 Autoroute today might be forgiven for complaining about boring 1970's roadsides. Next time you pass that way you'll know better.

(Tim B asked about the canal when we wrote about Point Zero.)

Toughening up Language Laws

... but this advert leaves me somewhat baffled.

If the idea is to be all trendy and anglo, why not use real english? And why the strange franglais mix and baffling translations? At least it gave us a laugh when we were in Paris for Retromobile a couple of years ago.

Because of this strange melange of almost english and french the french government has declared it will take action and toughen the laws which govern advertising. Currently the laws say that advertising must be in French, but it is a law only observed in the breaking. This isn't one of those "french language purity" things, it's making sure that cosumers understand the adverts.

The End of the Sunflowers.

It hasn't quite happened yet, but there are now more fields full of drying sunflowers than there are fields of sunflowers in full bloom. It feels early, but probably isn't. As usual, there will be one or two fields flowering into September, but these are a definite minority.

Onion Tart

Simon made a delicious onion tart for the last Claise ConneXion and people wanted the recipe. It's kind of cross a between Alsatian Onion Tart, which is a sort of onion quiche, and pissaladière, which is a sort of Provencal onion pizza. He didn't really use a recipe, but for the record, has written one out for us.

Ingredients
20 onions
Knob of butter
Splash of oil
1 tsp sugar
Salt
Pepper

3 eggs

250g flour
125g butter
1 tsp salt
100ml of water

Grated cheese

Method

1. Peel and slice onions. Not too finely. Put in a bowl, sprinkle with sugar and stir.
2. Put butter and oil in large frying pan, add onions, salt and pepper and cook (with lid on) very slowly for 45 minutes (or the longer the better), trying not to brown. Stir occasionally. I did this the night before.
3. In a bowl, mix the flour, salt and butter cut into pieces. Drizzle in the some of the water. Knead until you have a ball of dough. Shape into a ball, roll into cling film and put in the fridge for 1 hour.
4. Turn oven to 180C.
5. Roll pastry big enough to line a 12 inch flan dish, and using baking beans (or coins) blind bake for 25 minutes or so.
6. Beat the 3 eggs, add to onion mixture and pour into the pastry case. Sprinkle with cheese.
7. Bake for 30-45 minutes (until set).

Yum

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos. 

Porcupine Fish

Last week I posted a photo of a Toadfish, taken at Narooma.

Whilst we were standing on the jetty we saw one or two other fish (and a beastie). The photo of the beastie will come later, but in the meantime, this is a Porcupine Fish, or Globefish (Diodon nichthemerus) - as far as I can work out.

Don't be taken in by its cuteness: this fish is even more toxic than the toadfish. This article will give you an idea of its capabilities.

A Year Ago Today

It is a year since we returned from Switzerland, which seems unbelieveable. We were planning to go again this year, but stuff got in the way. Next year though...

I would love to drive a Traction Avant on these roads.

Claise ConneXion July 2019

I organised a Sunday evening picnic for the Claise ConneXion on 28 July. Thirty or so Dutch, French, English, Australians and Americans came, chatted, ate, drank and explored the lovely picnic grounds on the Claise River at Chaumussay. Several new friendships were forged and Mambo the Rhodesian Ridgeback was much admired. As usual I failed to take any photos, so these are courtesy of André Jousset.

I made apricot clafoutis for the picnic.

Mambo the Rhodesian Ridgeback.

Mothers and daughters, Dutch and French, making friends.

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For details of our private guided tours of chateaux, gardens, wineries, markets and more please visit the Loire Valley Time Travel website. We would be delighted to design a tour for you.

We are also on Instagram, so check us out to see a regularly updated selection of our very best photos.