Category: Daily life

The Chartreuse

Chambéry is ideally located, at the foot of the prealps. It is surrounded by mountains. They are not very high, but they are an ideal playground for whoever likes the outdoors. My favorite place is the Chartreuse, a mountain range which spreads itself between Chambéry and Grenoble. It is associated with the Carthusian monks who have their original monastery in the heart of those mountains.

The Chartreuse used to be one of my favorite playgrounds when I was younger. It is not very high, but there are difficult walks and impressive sceneries. It is not too far from the city, but still very wild and remote. The best places demand a bit of effort, and an adventurous mind.

I have started exploring it again and intend to get to know it better over the next few months. Here are a few pictures.

  
      

Brittany holiday

We spent ten days in Brittany for the spring holiday. The weather was gorgeous: warm and sunny but the cold water reminded us that it was not summer yet. We rented a cottage in Pommerit-Le-Vicomte, a few minutes drive from Guingamp. It is a lovely place, in the countryside, quiet without being too remote.

We wanted to go in ordre to keep in touch with the place and the people before they forget about us. We had not told anyone appart from some former neighbours who were going on holidays. But we managed to see them before they left.

It was good to be there. We visited some people, and each time we went out, we bumped into people we knew. I went to the football with the boys. Guingamp was playing Evian Thonon Gaillard which is our local premier league team. Strange: we drove 1000 km in order to see Guingamp meet a team that plays 40 minutes down the road from us.

We also went all the way to Quimper in order to visit a couple from the Quimper church. If you get our newsletter you may remember that the church in Quimper folded up at the beginning of November. It was sad and we wanted to see how these folks were coping.

We had a happy time. It was restful as well. It was a proper holiday at last. We’ve been back for a few days now and the children are going back to school tomorrow.

That was a long drive

We are in Carmarthen, in West Wales. When we initially thought of coming to Wales for the winter holidays, we were still living in Brittany and we didn’t imagine we would move away so soon and so quickly. But now, we live a long way from Wales. It took us the most part of 2 days to do the 1380 km journey. We travelled through France to Calais on empty motorways. After crossing the channel, we crossed the south of England to Wales on not too busy motorways. We are glad to be here though. I’ve got a few meetings to take here, and two more in North Wales next week.

Visiting older friends

Since we came back in the area, I have wanted to visit some of the older folks I have known ever since I was a child. Most of these are now very elderly, and I haven’t seen them for years. But i used to see them very often, some of them daily when I was growing up. I used to go to their farm, or to help with the grape harvest. One is a widower. Things have changed, but these folks are still around.

During the holiday, we went to see an older farmer. He used to be our landlord, and next door neighbour. We used to go and get milk daily at the farm. he retired a long time ago and his son has given up farming, but he is still there. We just turned up after going for a walk. I introduced myself and he gave us a very warm welcome. It was great to see him. As we were there, some other visitors came and went.

On Friday, I went to visit another elderly couple. I was on my own this time, and did the same as I always used to do: turn up at the door, no need to warn you are coming. These people are like that. If they are around, they will stop what they are doing and offer you a cup of coffee and biscuits. We had a good time. Again, some people turned up when I was there. One was an elderly woman who was the grandmother of some school friends.

There’s at least one more person I want to go and see before going back and see the other ones. The village has changed, most local folks are now diluted amongst the newcomers, but they are still there. you just need to know where to look.