Holiday in France

Last year, my bother asked if I would like to go on holiday with his family in France.  Having decided that 2 weeks was too long, I had to work out if I could get there or get back without too much difficulty.  This turned out to be easier (for me) than I thought it would be.  So I booked my flight in February and then there was nothing to do until I had to start packing.

The day I flew out was another early start, as I had organised a taxi to pick me up at 8.15 a.m. and I am not fast in mornings.  In fact I got there much too early.  The last place I flew from was Heathrow and that was horrible, but the airport at T was small, quiet, no queues, plenty of places to sit while waiting for the flight to be called and back like “the old days” when flying was quite a pleasant experience.  The plane was half empty, too, so I had 2 seats all to myself.  Even better, the plane arrived in Nantes early!

There was no problem with picking up my suitcase and my brother, sister-in-law and nephew 2 were there to meet me.  Nephew 2 is my youngest nephew but the only boy in my brother’s family.  “My best second nephew”.  And he had grown a lot since I last saw him at Christmas and his shoulders are broadening and voice changing and he is becoming a very good looking young man.  Am I biased?

We had lunch at the airport and then drove (about 1.5 hours?) back to the house they were renting.

The house was pretty good – verandas at the side and back, 4 double bedrooms (one with en suite), large downstairs lounge with separate dining area and reasonable kitchen area, small upstairs TV room, rooftop terrace, large garden, table-tennis table in the garage space, badminton stuff (including net), barbecue, packs of cards and other games…..

Niece number 3 and her boyfriend, P, were there so I said “Hi” to one and was introduced to the other.   Niece 3 is my brother’s second daughter and although she is my third niece she is a bit special, being the middle one, like me!  My niece had painted her first picture in oils the previous week and I  was pretty impressed by the result.  Yes, it is a copy of another picture, but fairly amazing for a first go in oils.

I was shown my room and found my Little Bear waiting on my bed, having travelled with great niece 2 to Spain and back to France with nephew 1.  A well travelled bear!

After a much needed cup of tea, my brother and I wandered down to their usual beach and eventually found my sister-in-law who had gone down earlier.  We watched the tide come in and then wandered back to the house.

My niece did the cooking that evening – amazing food – wish I could cook as well as that.  Stuffed mushrooms, then pork with apricots and chicken with beans.

This was served with a lovely salad.

The dessert was a chocolate dish with strawberries – I don’t think it turned out quite as was expected, but it was really yummy.

There was lots of time for chat and catching up over meals etc.  My father, brother and nephew 2 are all the third child of three with 2 older sisters, so there was some discussion of this and how I expect my nephew to uphold the tradition for a fourth generation and have two girls followed by a boy!  We also discussed our holidays as teenagers and my brother wondered when had been the last time we had gone on holiday with our parents.  I naturally haven’t a clue, but might be able to find out from the photo album I put together for my mother – when I am able to get to it.

The next morning I had a coffee (so I became human!) and then went with my brother in the car to Quimiac to the supermarket and to the patisserie to get croissants and pain au chocolat  that had been “ordered” for breakfast.  (There was another type, too but I never got the hang of what it was, as it was a bit sugary for me.   Pain au chocolat was my usual choice.)  We also got baguettes.

Half way through the morning most of us drove to St Lyphard, a village with a church with a pink tower/spire.  On the way we passed the salt marshes where they are extracting salt from the sea water, by evaporating the water.  In St Lyphard I bought postcards and stamps (using my best French!) and we had a coffee at a cafe.   Home for lunch and then we all drove to the Marais de Grande Briere – basically a large marsh, similar to the Norfolk Broads – where we had booked a boat trip.  There were about 15 to 20 people on the boat and we had a guide, who also punted the boat.  We were told to be silent for the first 10 minutes and he started by calling some geese, who swam towards us.

The trip was wonderfully peaceful, just punting along and enjoying the peace and scenery.

The weather was hot, so we did cook a bit!  The guide started to do some explanations, but my French is not good enough to pick up more than the odd word, so I enjoyed the scenery and the birds.

My nephew said that he got very bored – that is youngsters for you!  His French is quite a lot better than mine, too as his mother is French and speaks to him in French a lot.

I was told afterwards that the guide was mostly grumbling about the lack of care and conservation of the area and that it was now mostly kept for fishing and hunting.  There were a lot of thatched houses in the area so I assumed that the reeds for the thatch came from these marshes, but my brother says that he told them that the reeds now mostly come from the south of France or from China!

We then all had ice creams at a cafe.  This cheered up my nephew as his was an ice cream in a tall sundae  glass, which he had apparently been wanting all holiday!

On returning to the house, my brother and sister-in-law went down to the beach, I wrote postcards and read, nephew and niece watched French TV and P cooked the meal.  He did a very good job, adding little touches, such as courgette and salami pieces to the pasta which made it much more special and interesting. Not quite as good as the meal my niece made the day before, of course!

The next day started in a similar way, but both brother and sister-in-law came to the patisserie and we then went to the Pointe de Marquel and walked round it, enjoying the sea, the beaches and the boats.

Back at the house we had breakfast and later in the morning brother, sister-in-law, nephew and I went down to the beach.  The others swam, but I only paddled – the water was much too cold for me!  My nephew and I decided to build a sandcastle (no spades so used our feet) with moats to stop the tide destroying the castle.

We were so successful that we managed to stop the tide!!!

We jumped on the castle before we left as if we hadn’t, someone else would have done so and we did the work so deserved to have the fun.  We went back for lunch and as it was really a bit hot for me I stayed at the house in the afternoon, starting on the veranda and then going inside.

I read my book and the taught my nephew 3 sorts of patience and we both worked to see if we could get them out.  Between us we got out all the sorts.

In the evening we went to Piriac sur Mer and met my niece and P who had walked there.  After some discussion and looking at lots of restaurants we went to a pizza place for dinner.  There was a pianist playing and we had the pleasure of hearing him but as we were upstairs it wasn’t too loud.  He came up and let us choose some of the music, though.  More of the types of ice cream that nephew likes for dessert.

The next day was very similar, but nephew and brother came to the patisserie and we walked the opposite way round the Pointe de Merquel, starting at the Plage de Sorlock this time.  I think it was then that my little  brother told me (and my nephew) off for squabbling!  Wasn’t I invited to provide someone for my nephew to argue with who wasn’t his sister or his father?  On the walk we noticed this bird.

We had no binoculars and it was too far away to see properly.  Any idea what it was?

We needed to go to the supermarket, but it was market day in Quimiac so there was nowhere to park.  After breakfast my brother and I went to the supermarket in Piriac sur Mer to get what was needed.  When we got back my sister-in-law, brother, nephew and I again went down to the beach.  Nephew and I played beach bat and ball for a bit, but my brother took over as he is better than me and didn’t mind going into the sea to get the ball.  I had kept falling into a hole so built a channel to it and made it deeper so I had a paddling pool as the tide came in.  The trouble was that every time the pool filled with water it also filled with sand and it did drain rather fast!  The others were all swimming as I was doing my earthworks.

I headed back for lunch first but my nephew beat me to it!  The afternoon was spent in a similar way to the day before, but I set up a course for my nephew to practise dribbling his football round to get in training for the season.  I don’t think he appreciated it!  He had spent quite a lot of time playing with the footballs in the garden.  That is another area I lack the skills to join in…..

My brother cooked the evening meal that day and everyone (except me!) did their packing.

Next day everyone had to get up early as it was leaving day.  Only my brother and I went to the patisserie but I decided I would have to have both pain au chocolat and a croissant as it was our last day.  I paid for all the things we got so I could get away with it!  In fact all sorts of odd things were eaten for breakfast – turkey burger things, rice pudding….. any food that was left over I think.  Couldn’t face such things myself.

Then it was time to do the packing and cleaning – swept my room; hoovered my room, nephew’s room (after he swept it), edges of the upstairs TV room, the downstairs living and dining areas…..  My sister-in-law was doing bathrooms and packing the car and my brother the kitchen and the youngsters were doing their rooms and most of the TV room.

The owners came to do a check and we all piled in the car among all the luggage and off we went.  Actually, we stopped at a supermarket first and then went to La Turballe where we parked near the harbour and found a cafe where we could have lunch.  We also had a short stroll along the front.

Then it was back in the car and a 4 hour drive to Caen.  We did have one stop on the way to stretch our legs (mine certainly needed it), use the loos and swap drivers.  Dinner and overnight in a hotel near Caen and then up early to catch the ferry to Portsmouth.  Breakfast and lunch on the ferry and a lot of the time sitting on the outside rear deck as it was still sunny and warm and the sea was very flat.

At Portsmouth I was dropped off at the station (when we eventually found it!) and I very easily got the train home.

So did I enjoy it?  Yes!  It was nice and relaxing and fun to go and see and do different things from normal.  I enjoyed the company (especially arguing with my nephew!), but it was a pity niece 2 (eldest child of the family) was working.  I think it possible I would have got a bit bored if I had stayed longer, though.  I also put on 2 – 3 lbs – lack of exercise (partly the bad ankle) and eating too well?  If I stayed longer I might have had to go swimming in the sea or something (brrrr…)!  The journey back was not the best – car journey was a bit long for me and the car quite crowded! (Good thing niece 2 wasn’t there).  And a brother and sister squabbled a bit…..  The ferry was OK, but again a bit boring after a while.  If I did that sort of thing again I would have to get an i-pod or something, to help keep me amused as the teenagers do!  But hey, I did plane, car, boat and train on this holiday.

So many thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for inviting me.