I’ve been very busy…
Bon Soir, mon amies…it’s been a while…..have been a tad busy….so apologies in advance for length of this missive.
What can I say about Bordeaux..? Well, there was actually a park that was a) open, b) allowed me in, and c) I was allowed to make furry friends with another furry! My only regret is that I didn’t get a picture of, wait for this, Puncture Repair Kit! Yes, that was his name! Legend! We did lots of walking in this beautiful, multi-cultural city, and so earned my delicious steak dinner at “Entrecôte”.My Mums kept looking up and exclaiming at the beauty of the “amazing buildings” and finding statues by someone called Gormley, or Gormless or something like that – I kept my head down for the amazing smells!

Mirror fountain

Saint Pierre church

Me succeeding where Mr Rick Stein failed at L’Entrecôte

La Flèche, or bell tower of St Michel

I was a bit miffed not to be let in to the Cité du Vin, but to be honest, MJ&MN don’t need any encouragement! We stayed in an edgy suburb called Nansouty, some 25 mins stroll from the centre of the city. I say edgy, as most days I had to tip toe past the Alsatian who lived at the bar on the corner of our Rue – think he thought I was an hors d’oeuvre! We also managed to deploy our small BBQ at our little house, which is always a favourite of mine…lamb from the Marché du Capuchins, one evening….yum! They had salad…I didn’t.
And then, all too quickly, we had to say au revoir to this wonderful city and headed to the Dune du Pilat. I had never seen so much sand,and took it upon myself to try and dig in most of it. It was simply amazing. Top marks for ball playing and swimming!

Pitch with a view

Parapenting or Ball??

We were camping amongst the pine trees and had a red squirrel doing his best to drop pine cone fragments from up high, into our dinner one night, which gave more time for ball and sunset gazing until he had finished his tea. And then Les HandB.A.Gs turned up (Bibi, Aggie & Gerti -the loulou pomeranians, one of which I had met before, and the other two who were new to me.) It passed off without incident, despite them having a lot to say for themselves. My Mums enjoyed seeing my Uncles from Poole and we all had good fun walking along the beach, drinking cocktails, walking along the beach, drinking champagne.

What sunset? There’s digging to be done!

We visited lovely Arcachon and even went on a boat trip around the Basin – it made for a nice kip, as I couldn’t understand a word from the French Skipper! During our stay at the fabulously positioned Panorama camp-site, I met a French West Highland White Terrier,called Cesar (seriously!) and made good friends with Rudi, who was travelling with his Dad. Rudi let me stay in his campervan, whilst my Mums had to pack the tent up, in the rain…you can imagine the expletives..!

Refuge with Rudi

It was then time to hit the road again,and head to Montbron. My Mums had messaged ahead so that the welcoming committee of x5 Flat Coat Retrievers were well briefed,and then I found out that Kickstart, the Jack Russell, was lodging there, too (you have to agree they have great names over here!!!) –

Willow, Sky, Frankie, Louis, Summer (not necessarily in that order) and Kickstart!

As well as Keira and Oscar, who live with Madame Pauline in the annexe! Despite all the K9s, we all rubbed along very well – handy, as most of the time my Mums and our wonderful hosts were “slightly” inebriated! My Mums did have one sobering visit to Oradour sur Glane, whilst I stayed at home. This village was massacred by the Nazis on 10/06/44, with 642 losing their lives. It was decided to keep the village in the same way as it was found , as a memorial..Lest we forget.

Oradour

Man’s inhumanity to man

I also met Coco, the resident horse,and lodgers Vee and Monty. We went to watch Miss Darcie’s riding lesson,and there I met Mr.Bones and Maple. Mr.Bones is a young upstart who has not yet had the necessary operation…and so wanted to get fruity…what followed is easier to show in pictures…!!!

Really?

Okay, but is this right?

Butter wouldn’t melt

Montbron was great and by the end of our stay I understood why the local waifs and strays find their way to Bernie and Rob’s. Can’t thank them enough – especially for the dentastixs!
And so we have made our way, via the Millau viaduct, to Menton.

New Top Gear presenter?

After the civilised stunning bridge the drive entailed hairpin bends aplenty and MN kept telling the other drivers to move over to their side of the road. I kept my head down pretending to sleep! We arrived safely after a wrong turn or three (read unnecessary trip back up the mountain!) and have a lovely apartment. Yesterday was a low key stroll through Menton, then dinner with MJ&MN in a fish restaurant (I like clam pasta – who knew??) Today was a 19km hike to Monaco and back along an amazing coastal path but,alas, no ball as too steep and craggy.

Amazing coastal walk from Menton to Monaco and back

Good night Monaco

And so to sleep now I go, as tomorrow we are off to Bologna for 10 days. Apparently I have a surprise to look forward to – something to do with Keelies visiting…. Like Lego, let’s stay connected! X