The High Alps

Les Haute Alpes

This year's main holiday was a week away in the High Alps in France with my OH, sister and her OH.

We took the Eurostar to Paris and then the TGV to Grenoble, where we collected the hire car to drive to Vallouise. The trains were so clean and efficient with great views of the passing french countryside and it only took 3.5 hours on the TGV!

Clover

The mountains are breathtaking and full of meadows of wildflowers with waterfalls and clean, clear air. We walked high up to 6,000 feet and looked down on the valleys. The cattle wear bells and the sound carries up to the top of the mountains. We saw lots of flora and fauna and even a marmot!

Marmot at Chambran

We stayed in a huge chalet house belonging to our friend and she took us on a few mountain walks, including the village where her ancestors come from, Auillard. We ate at the local restaurant, dining on potato pie and salad.

Les Rhodedondrens

Aside from walking, we also drove to the nearest town, Briancon,  which is a walled medieval ville complete with church, boutique shops and lovely restaurants.  I love the ochre and pink buildings of Briancon that glow in the sun.

Briancon

The end of June is the ideal time to visit Les Haute Alpes because the tourist season hasn't begun but the weather is warm enough to enjoy being outside. We saw lots of people kayaking and serious climbers in the mountains yet Vallouise is a pleasant, sheltered valley. We sat out on our balcony watching a dramatic storm over toward L'Argentiere that never reached us. The torrent of the l'Onde was a constant backdrop of sound, alongside birdsong.

The Balcony

We really enjoyed our vacances and we were sad to leave at the end of the week, although the drive back to Grenoble was quite spectacular. Meanwhile, I have enough photographs and sketches to begin making art based on my holiday in The Alps. I hope to go back again.

You can see more of my photographs by clicking HERE.

Vive La Difference (again)

This year's french vacation was to Brossac, in the Charente region of France. We went san enfants this time, instead we accompanied my eldest sister and her husband for a week of R & R.


We stayed at a beautiful 18 century manoir with bags of character, totally unspoiled, plenty of wildlife and, if a car drove past, this seemed to be an event! The boulangerie was a couple of miles down the road in Brossac and there was a fabulous restaurant overlooking the lake nearby.



Early in the morning and early evening was the best time of the day to see the wildlife. It seemed to get very hot from 11am to 8pm but, once the temperature had cooled slightly, the buzzards came wheeling overhead, searching for carrion. At dusk we saw bats swooping and there were plenty of swifts too. During the day we saw the occasional hen harrier and we had a friendly swift who would sit in the tree every day, chirruping and clicking.



The views across the Charente countryside are fabulous with woodland, corn fields and rolling hills.

Vive La Difference!

So we went to La Belle France for our holiday this year. Three weeks in beautiful, sunny, unspoilt countryside went too quickly and we returned to miserable, damp, dank England. This year's french destination was Brittany near the town of Lamballe. The gite was really comfortable (details here) and the isolation was wonderful.
There are lots of positives about being in France - mostly the weather - and I have been pondering the differences between France and the UK. Here are of 3 things that the french do well and 3 things that they do not-so-well.
1. Food - of course. The supermarkets stock mostly local produce and the fruit and vegetables are seasonal. Buying local produce at the market is even better - we ate wonderful strawberries, apricots and peaches. We bought cheese, bread, local pate, crepes and, my favourite - mussels.
2. Roads - sounds odd, I know, but french roads are in so much better condition than roads in the UK. OK, so the french population per square kilometre is smaller than the UK, therefore less traffic, but driving is fairly stress-free. (Map reading is another story). Apart from the peripherque around Paris, I find driving in France rather relaxing except - why do we always get lost in Nantes when we go to The Vendee?
3. Flowers - it must be the climate but french flowers are always so much brighter and bigger than in the UK. I don't grow hortensias (hydrangeas) because they look washed out but in France they are bigger and brighter.

The not-so-wells.
1. Electricity - yikes! Why haven't they all electrocuted themselves? We stopped off at a pension in Avranches on our way to down to Lamballe for the night and the light switch was just outside the shower curtain. There was also an electric socket beside the sink.
2. Dogs - I love dogs but I don't love dog poo. NOBODY picks it up and I had a few strong words with a local who let his dog defecate outside our gate before casually walking on. My french is not good but I think I made myself understood. (He kept tapping his head and then pointing at me - what could he mean)?? The french love their dogs and go in for the strangest of pooches, we always have a competition to see who can spot the ugliest mutt. Also, the Dogs Prohibited signs in restaurants and supermarkets are mostly treated by the french as merely a suggestion. It's so funny to see a dog in a supermarket trolley or sitting at the table with a napkin round its neck.
3. Music - The french don't do popular music well, everything has a eurovision sound to it. And who told Johnny Hallyday that leather trousers were sexy????? I rest my case.

Here's a picture of "Meerkat" - she was such a sweetie and came to see us every day.

Guess where we are going for our vacation next year? and I'm going to get Jackson a pet passport so he can come too. Vive la difference!

Check out all my holiday photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/glassprimitif/