Well we are back now. Sorry for not blogging whilst there, we were a little out in the sticks and I was feeling lazy :)
The trip went really well. The first day was just a dash down to Reims which was a little dull but very easy. The following day we headed down to the Gite (close to Nevers) via the back roads rather than just flying down the autoroute and not seeing any of France. The route we chose (Click here to see) took us through the Champagne region and then through some really beautiful areas to the south of there.
Some of the roads, although only being A roads (ie single lane) were straight as a die for miles and miles. I assume this was thanks to the Romans (along with sanitation, healthcare, irrigation, etc.....), but it made for easy overtaking and navigation.
On the Saturday we went to the Mangy-Cours circuit to see the F1 qualifying. The seats we had were at the end of the straight on the left hand side, just at the end of the pitlane. This meant that we got to see the cars heading out of the pitlane and going around the first 180 right turn. Although you only get to see the cars for a few seconds it was still a really good spot to watch, and the big screen was a really help for keeping track of the positions and qually times etc. I was suprised to see how much the cars move around (ie sliding) on the long corner.
The Sunday was, obviously, spent watching the GP. It was quite an experience seeing all the cars come around the first corner together, at race speed and managing not to collide with each other. The noise was just something else. I have heard GP cars before and we saw them at full speed during the qually but when they are all together, Wow!
We were all rooting for Hamilton, especially as he started half way down the grid (due to a high speed parking menouver in Canada), so it was good to see him trying to make his way up the standings during the race. However, he was penalised during the race for having cut the corner on one chichane so he ended up losing a load of places again. It was all very exciting but it was a shame he didn't get on the podium at the end of the race. We were in a prime spot to see his menouver on Alonso as he took the inside line of the corner right infront of us.
The rest of the holiday was spent chilling out and seeing some of the area (see Hayley's blog, she's doing all those bits).
The trip down was fairly leisurely, but we had planned to do the whole trip back (from the Gite to home) in one day. It was gong to be a very long journey (about 500+ miles in total) with only really time to stop for fuel and the tunnel, but it ended up being a lot easier than we expected. The weather was fab, if a little hot, and the roads were pretty clear most of the way. However, I wouldn't have chosen to use the motorways around Paris if I'd know what they were like. That was a real experience!!
As you may know, I never knowingly miss a chance to geek out, so I thought I would GPS log our return journey through France and it seems to have worked pretty well. If you want to see the route, download the KML file (right click the link, and 'save target as'), then open it in Google Maps. You should be able to see the exact route, even the route we walked from the carpark to the eurotunnel terminal to get a cup of tea, and then the route the train went before it disappeared into the tunnel! Obviously, any odd speed reading from the logged points are due to timing inaccuracies in my phone and the GPS signal etc :)
Anyway, suffice to say, we had a fab time and really enjoyed the French experience, and having some time to spend with Simon & Charlotte.
Thursday was our last day.
The weather was pretty grey, so we decided to head home and stop off on the way to visit RHS Rosemoor. It's a beautiful garden, as you would expect from the RHS, with lots of different bits. I think we probably didn't see it at it's best, but they did have a great veggie section. These seem to be the popular at the moment, not that we are complaining.
The gardens are just a few miles down the road from Shebbear (were I was at school for a while), and I had read something in the internet about Buckland House, so we went to have a look at that. It's an old mansion house that was owned (when I was at school) by one of the pupils, and we got to have a look around a few times. It hasn't changed much, although it has shrunk, I wonder what it looks like inside now?
From there we made the journey home. It was nice to ge home to our own bed, but we had a fab few days seeing the sights in D&C. I think the visit to Riverford Organics was my favourite.
Edit - I have just found the website for Buckland House. (Click Here) It looks pretty impressive!
Today we were up early to get to Riverford Organics. So after a good breakfast at the b&b (which was fab btw) we hit the road. They had warned us that the satnav would not get us there, so we went old school and followed the directions, and it worked.
When we arrived the guide took us for a walk around some of the fields to show us the different crops and the ones they were planting for the future. We picked some rhubarb, spring onions and wet garlic to take home.
After the short walk around, he took us on a short tractor ride to see the poly tunnels they had newly put in. They were growing celery, basil and tomatos, all of which grow at an incredible rate in the heat and wet of the tunnels.
The guide explained how they try and strike a balance with the plants so that nature starts to sort out the problem of bugs and weeds, although they do go around weeding (by hand) from time to time and cut the grass back when needed. All of which means they have very little problems with weeds and pests in general. It just goes to show that it works.
Our final stop was the field kitchen for lunch (thats what the pic is). The food was amazing. Its not cheap (£15 each) but it was worth every penny and it gave us some great ideas of what to do with some of the unusual bits.
All in all it was excellent, and the guide was superb (i'm running out of superlatives!). He was very enthusiastic when we told him about the allotment and answered all of Hayley's questions about slug control. We got talking about weed control and he said he had a great way to do it, so at the end of the lunch he came back with a set of printed out information and a book he recommended. We were pretty chuffed with that.
After all that we drove to the B&B in Mevagissey, and stopped for some tea, but I'm getting bored of typing now so that will have to do for today :)
Today we set off from home on our mini-tour of Devon and Cornwall.
Our first stop was to pop into Tiverton for a spot of lunch and a visit to the tourist information office to pick up some ideas. From there we went to Sidmouth and Budleigh Salterton. Both of which are beautiful seaside towns. From there we headed for the B&B in Exmouth. Its a lovely little place which feels likes its in the middle of nowhere but its actually only a mile out of Exmouth.
The picture is of Exmouth. We stoped in a little pub on the front for dinner. We had fish & chips. It was lovely!
The weather has been perfect. We've had the top off the car all day and it think we have both caught the sun a bit.
Tomorrow we are off to visit the Riverford veg people to see how they 'make' our veg box each week. Hayley is armed with questions about how to control slugs etc.
Oh, and as usual, keep an eye on the picture library to see what we are up to.
I haven't blogged for a while, so in the absence of anything interesting to say, here is a small educational video...
This is a wiki, along the lines of Wikipedia but specialising in travels information. Kind of like a travel guide that anyone can edit and contribute to.
It's relatively new, so there is a lot of info on some places and not so much on others. Singapore seems to have a lot of info, but there is only a limited amount on Williamsburg. So, chop-chop all of you that know anything about Billburg, get editing and contribute to this source of information!
Recent Comments
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The Fitches said:
Sounds like you had a lovely time - don't think much of your pictures though! Surely the scenery was better... read more
on Le Trip de France -
Sounds great. I wonder if you remembered any of those places. (We did watch out for you in the GP... read more
on Le Trip de France