Firstly I need to remark on my dramatic recovery.  It would seem that I’ve found the antidote to malaria and it is a nightnurse tablet and a good sleep!  On reflection maybe it was just a cold but I did feel really unwell, I even turned down wine!  Im much better today and feeling ready to take on the world again!

The day started with a short cycle to Amalie Plage where there is a small bakers selling THE MOST amazing pastries and bread.  We got a selection…. Stew had “been meaning to try” bordeaux cakes, which are basically little apple cakes covered in a caramel coating.  The phrase when used by Stew usually applies to crisps, and so I thought he deserved a treat!  We had our heathy pastries, bread and chocolate spread (have I mentioned that I have always said I hate chocolate spread… this is in fact a lie and I have deprived myself of it for the last 23 years… its lovely! who knew?!).  I made some rolls for lunch and we set off on our bikes. 

We are staying in the municipal site at Amalie Plage, about 2.5 miles from the centre Soulac, but like everywhere around here the cycle paths are amazing and so it was a nice ride into the town.  We had a look in all the shops, had a look at the church and then stopped for a coffee.  We headed back to the beach and had our picnic whilst Stew fixed a puncture on my bike!

The Children played on the sand but the sea was too rough for swimming and the lifeguards weren’t letting anyone in.  We headed back along the cycle paths to Amalie and headed to the beach.  Swimming was very much the order of the day here and we spent a happy few hours playing in the sea, playing bat and ball and collecting pretty stones and snake tusks (fraser found them… they just looked like sticks to me!)

Back at the campsite we had a bbq, and the children played with some french children, and I had a gin and tonic… in the background we could hear the waves on the beach and the sun was shining…. perfect.

After dinner the children did the washing up! (thats not even made up!) and then Fraser and Stewart headed to the beach with a fishing rod, whilst Penny and I redid our nails and soaked our feet! (and I had another gin!).  The boys returned minus the fish, with Stew having sneaked out a cold beer and fraser stripped off naked for a splash in the sea as the attraction of playing in the waves was too much!  A quick shower and they settled down for bed…. with Penny sleeping in the tent for the first time.

Bonjour mes amis, C’est Stewart ici……….Sarah is poorly!

We woke this morning to a thunder storm – welcome you might think after the really hot days we had had the past few days, however, we had done a full load of washing last night and it was out on the line drying…….or getting wetter!!!!

So, morning time in Freckle showed a worsening for Sarah’s cold, she spent quite a bit of time coughing, sniffing and sneezing in the night, she really was quite ill. There had been suspicion that her cold like symptoms could have been Malaria from the many mosquito bites she had……she thought the disease may have travelled from Africa from the immigrant launches which made it from North Africa to France, then flew north! A few day/night nurse tablets were quickly consumed to alleviate the “Malaria” symptoms (though she really is actually quite poorly though, poor Sarah).

By this time the sun was again shining and the washing was rearranged on every bit of upright equipment we had and moved across the road, into the sunshine to try and dry the washing. We then started the pack up for a move to Soulac.

We managed to bribe the children to doing some of the packing up jobs with a swim before we went. All went well and we paced up nicely and I popped on my budgie smugglers (ready to whoo the ladies by the pool) and we headed off to the pool. They missed out, no one there, we had the pool to ourselves!!!!!

A quick change and we were off, through the roads once again of the Bordeaux (Medoc) region. Just so many Chateau’s with vines as far as you can see, it is lovely. They are all so uniform in their planting, straight rows of nice neat plants, beautiful.

We arrived at Soulac-sur-mer mid afternoon and found the site easily. Really empty here with loads of pitches not being used……yet…….we are lucky to be away now and before the main school hols. Sarah had a quick lay down to fight off the Malaria and the rest of us chilled – me trying to finish a book……..yep a real book!

Early evening was Oysters and nibbles time – we had stopped on the way to Soulac. We had a dozen Oysters, some olives, anchovies, peanuts and of course french bread! All of course with little vin!

After a few nights a bit away from everywhere, tonight was dinner out night. We popped on the bikes and cycled to a little “plage”, L’amelie. A lovely little row of shops and restaurants, not far from camp, right next to the beach and the crashing waves of the Atlantic. Sarah and I had Moules (of course) and the children had another good kids meal. I followed up by being a fat boy with a cafe gourmand – the best pudding ever FACT (another thanks to Andy and Emilie Heissig on that one)!!!!!! Luckily (not really) I had two willing small people who wanted to share my four small beautiful puddings!

So end of the day, small people asleep. Fraser is in the tent on his own again, with Penny in the van with a whole bed to herself (she really has it cracked there). We are sitting out with less bugs, listening to some Europop (from a beach party we seemed to have not been invited to)! Sarah is willing herself through her “Malaria” and hopes to be back tomorrow to stave off the boredom of my updates

Bon Nuit tout les monde!

Another blisteringly hot morning. Stew took the children for a swim after a hearty breakfast of Eggy Bread and the french version of bacon (France you are good at many things but milky coffee and bacon are not them!).

I was well into my third book and decided my time was better spent nursing my sore throat and having a read. I got the Freckle ready for a quick get away when the Scamps were done swimming. I had done some research and decided that a vine yard tour was essential, and I had found a place that offered a tour in english.

Chateau Larose Trintaudon offered a tour, and as one of the largest vineyards in France and the largest in the Medoc we had to pop along. We pulled into the impressive gates opposite the chateau and parked in around the back…. As we approached the front doors with some trepidation we weren’t sure what to expect. a few years ago we had tried with no success to have at tour of a vine yard and do some wine tasting. We approached the counter, and were greeted by Pacal who spoke great English and offered us a personal tour starting immediately. The building was vast and air conditioned and he suggested given the heat that we stopped past the vines and had a look at the grapes and he would fill us in on the history of the Chateau when we were in the tank room.

I was intrigued by the fact that the vine yard was owned by Alliance and we were told that a number of vine yards are being bough by financianal and insurance institutions. I guess its a safe bet!

The history of the chateau was interesting too… during the late 20’s it was a bad time for growing wine, so a Russian Tzar bought the chateau, ripped out all of the vines and decided to graze cows on the land instead. As we had discussed a day or two earlier that you didn’t see many cows around these parts, it was explained to us that the land is very poor for grazing animals and is much better suited to vines. I have since read that the whole area was a tropical sea around 50 million years ago, and the sediment that remains is what gives the bordeaux wine its unique teroir, and the soil its sandyness!

They grew 3 grape varieties on the site, with the predominance being Cabernet Sauvignon grapes, with less Merlot and Petit Verdot. I was interesting in whether they water the vines as it had been super hot for a number of days. The mark of Bordeaux wine is AOP, i think its like champagne having to come from champagne… if they water the grapes they cannot have their AOP certificate if the vines are older than 3 years. Pascal was telling us that the head wine man has to make a decision if the crop looks like it will be ruined, as to whether they loose the mark for that year. The same he said applies to the organic wines of the region, as due to times of large rainfall (such as France experienced in June) the crops can get mildew and they have to decide to loose the crop or use pesticide on it. At this particular site they had 165 Hectares of vines. They also had 2 other chateau in the region. Here at Larose Trintaudon they picked the vines using machines and sorted the grapes in a similar way. At their other sites they did it by hand, and reading between the lines it created a more premium product. They picked each of the grape varieties on a set day, and then processed each grape type separately. Once it was fermented and bashed up a bit, they recirculated the wine through the pulp and tannins so it was all very well mixed before draining the liquid into barrels. They then pressed the pulp which was super strong and concentrated and also stored in the same way. Once it was appropriately aged ( for their signature wine it spent 12-14 months in the oak barrels) it went back into the tank room to be blended. This was when they mixed the 3 grape varieties together and then added the concentrated stuff if it was needed. That was where they made it taste like wine!

We left the tank room and headed over to the barrel room. It was huge, with 3400 barrels of wine each barrel containing about 300 bottles. The children though it smelt horrid but we thought it smelt great! The barrels were mainly new or had been used once before so they looked lovely. Then it was time for the tasting.

We tasted the white wines which they trade, though don’t make and then moved onto tasting the reds. We noticed that the best recent years were 2010 ad 2009… the year Fraser was born. We were interested to know if this wine would keep for Fraser to drink when he was old enough. Pascal advised us due to it being a good year that it should be good for another 10-15 years if stored well. The children had found the visit really interesting and were really engaged with it so it felt great when we found a box of 2 wines, one from 2009 and the other from 2007, Penny’s birth year. We have bought them and will put them away for another day to reread this blog in a few years time and drink the wine with them!

Whilst we were tasting the wines the scamps had a sniff and had their own glasses of water to taste! There was also a corner full of toys for them to play with which meant when it was time to go they were as disappointed as we were.

We also bought the Christmas wine! In what is becoming an annual tradition for us to find a magnum of wine we love from our holiday for Christmas day. We went for the 2009 again as it did taste lovely!

A fab experience we all enjoyed and I would highly recommend visiting if you are ever in the area.

When popped into the supermarket for supplies and ice creams, before heading back for a swim and cool off. A BBQ for tea before my bug bites got bug bites in the evening!

After a super long sleep we woke up and enjoyed the delicious pastries the site had on offer. The Scamps went over to the bar to get the bread and asked using only their french which has improved hugely over the last year.

We had plans for an outing but by the time we were up and dressed the temperature had risen and the children favoured heading to the pool. Its been a good day for my target of reading 4 books this holiday! We headed to the pool and the kids had it almost to themselves for about 2 hours. Numerous goes up and down the slide left me with ample time for the book reading…. though i was sat in the shade! I must confess that i joined the party slightly later than the rest of team adamson due to an appointment with a double expresso first!

After the pool we had a spot of lunch and really did need to head into the local town to buy some more defences against the Mosquito! Last night was an all time high for getting bitten! The children weren’t drinking enough so stew devised a fireman game to encourage them! He filled all our glasses to the brim… and if you spilt a drop you had to get the rest tipped over your head! it resulted in much amusement and cooled us all down a bit.

We headed out the back of the campsite down a “short cut” which clearly it wasn’t but did steer us through some truly beautiful vine yards. I read on a website that they pull back all the leaves that over the grapes at this time of year to get most sun so that the grapes ripen in time for the harvest and this was clear to see. I’ve emailed a couple of vine yeards to see if we can visit tomorrow for tasting and tour… as id love to see this famous regions wine first hand (and maybe have a little taste!) Eventually we found the supermarket and bought some emergancy candles, bug spray, ice cream and pastries! along with a fan for the van! A brief look at the weather shows it will be over 30 for the next week or so with a 0% chance of rain, and the van is just a heat trap with it not being possible to leave the door or windows oped due to mosquitos, so we thought it best to prepare! The gingers are faring well with no sunburn to report to date.

Back from the shop we had to cycle down the main road… picture the A3!!! and the children did a super job, even though fraser took cycling along the white line to the letter slightly more than i was comfortable with.. Back at camp we hit the pool again, giving me chance to finish my second book. Penny made friends with a group of french girls who clearly had limited english. It was so great to watch her confidence grow as she tried to speak their language and they tried hers. I was thrilled they arranged to meet in the disco this evening…. no really!! we returned from the pool around 7 to have our dinner (steak and pork chops) before heading to the bar for possibly the worst duo playing country music in broken english! the kids enjoyed playing and we sat and watched!

A cold shower and they are deposited into their beds now, counting their bug bites and trying to recall all the french words they have learnt today.

After the heat of the day yesterday we were braced for another hot one today. The site we travelled to today we knew was much quieter and was well timed. Only 90 mins up the road we headed via decathlon for another football for Fraser, and some more towels.

As a side note I’m going to say that towels are always the thing that drives me mad camping, they take up so much space. I always think you need one each for showers and one each for pool and beach. So this holiday we invested in 4 Decathlons towels which don’t make your hands feel horrible like most light weight towels do for the pool earlier in the holiday. They are so compact and dry super quick. We have been so impressed we went and got an additional 4 for the shower today as they were on offer.

We did a supermarket sweep of the shops as they were shutting soon and got essentials in a haphazard way before pushing on up the road. We drove through the beautifully manicured vineyards of the Medoc region and we knew we were arriving in our destination. Less than 30 mins from arrival to complete set up we hit the pool. We visited this site a few years ago and the children loved the pool they spent 3 hours this afternoon up and down the sldes and generally playing and having a great time. The heat finally finished them off tonight and thankfully they headed to bed early to catch up on some of the sleep they were missing, not before eating huge ice creams!

We have somehow lost the bug candles, so are being eaten alive outside whilst P and F have a fab sleep and are recharged for another top day tomorrow.

So day 9 started hot and got hotter.  This is the one big downside to living in a tin box, particularly with a number of ginger housemates.  We had started the day late enough that the shop had run out of bread  so a quick bowl of cereal started us off.  We hit the pool early and the kids had a fab time.  Around lunch we headed back to the van and headed for shade.  Luckily we have a bag of entertainment for such events and a bit of lego and a pack of domino’s fitted the bill… especially as trying to set up a domino rally on a wonkey table will never be a quick job!

Truthfully the children were very tired and for the first time in a week a bit too hot and bothered.  We packed the bikes and headed out for a cycle to a different beach towards the plage de plya (name to be confirmed!) and this was a much nicer beach than we had previously been to.  We played in the water for hours, watched a windsurfer get rescued from a very angry tide, some naughty boys that were tomb stoning get told off by the water police and had a team challenge of 10 consecutive hits around our group with the bat and ball to win an ice-cream!! with 2 tired children, a steep back and a coordinationally challenged mummy this prove more challenging that you might think!

We dried off and headed for our ice-cream,  There is nothing cheap about Archachon, including the icecream but boy did it taste good!! (15 quid for 4 ice creams!!!!!! ) needless to say the glass of wine I thought that I might fancy with my ice-cream rapidly became some warm wine back at camp!! We had a little walk around the town which had a beautiful church and then headed back.  A quick dunk in the pool was well timed after our ride back up a huge hill and we cooled off.  We had some pasta as the children were getting restless and then started to settle them for bed.  They were total monkeys but we all went to sleep eventually!  It was so so hot in our van that even our fan did little to move the air around.  Stew and I sleep in the top and slept all night with the sides open for air.

The site at Archachon was a hive of activity…. not the nicest site we have stayed at but its certainly a must see place in this area of France.

Tonight is a short blog, we have been busy having fun!

Last night we sat with sleeping tired children feeling a little sad that we hadn’t made it down to the town to watch the bastille celebrations….. we knew the fireworks would be awesome.  with 2 late nights in a row it was too much!  We listened to them and they sounded great, and then we read the news this morning and it was all a little close to home.  How so many families who were having fun yesterday and enjoying their time together, could have their lives changed forever is quite incredible to contemplate.  Though Nice is across the other side of the country, it was still a sunny day, in France with families spending time together. It could have been any city in France, on a special day for the country.

So today we had a nice time…. we went swimming, read books, chilled out, cycled miles, swam some more, and had a fab dinner with all of our favourite things….. oysters, anchovies, crab and steak because life is too short.

Je suis Nice

After possibly the longest lie in of Fraser ever (10am) we finally woke up…. and Stew and I went for a run… again!  There must have been something funny in the air!

The children went to the shop and came back with 3 pain au chocolate that we hadn’t ordered (they need to be pre ordered the day before!!) now I think that Fraser probably just tried his luck and asked for some!  (you have to pay on collection Sarah B in case you think that have fallen to your levels of theft!!) but after a run, however long, the addition to breakfast was most welcome.

We packed up our camp, and I made eggy bread for breakfast.  This is one of my France tips: I learnt from Gemma H!  I keep the little bits of bread that get left over at then end of the day for a day or two and then make eggy bread with them… they were totally yummy!  I even managed to put on a load of washing before we moved off the pitch and went for a swim.

We left the camp and filled up with fuel… not because we needed to, but because the fuel gauge on freckle is broken and we know we are good for 200 miles from full!   I hopped into the supermarket to grab some supplies, and we were ready for the off!

We decided that due to road speeds we were no better off going the motor way.  Apart from being a more expensive and less scenic option, freckle simply can’t go fast enough to make the extra distance we need to travel in the time that is advised!  She is 60 MPH max! 

We headed along the road and about an hour into our journey we seemed to pick up a roll as the tail rider in a cycling road race!  The pack passed us and we had to follow them around the route!  Everyone was please to see freckle as usual and we waved to our fans!!  We even got stopped going out of the campsite by a man who has a T1 in Germany and wanted to show us his business card with a photo on.  Parked in a car park today a man bought his SLR camera and sat in a camping chair for about half an hour telling his little boy about the vans and taking photos.

Eventually we arrived in Archachon after travelling for 9 miles along the bumpiest road in france!  Seriously…. expectant mothers should know about this road.  The pitch is quirky and the sun is shining.  We are set up, the kids have made themselves a space camp (who knows?!) and Colin the BBQ is cooking us all up a fest!  A chilled evening in the Archachon sunshine ahead.  I keep having flash backs to the last time we were here every time the golf buggy man drives past Hargraves!!!  It makes me shudder each time!

Bon Soir mes Amis!

The day started slowly with breakfast and and making plans for the day.  The scamps chose that we went to the beach in the morning and the lake in the afternoon… who were we to argue?

We cycled along a sandy track to Messange beach.  The track goes past a large fishing lake and eventually meets a main road, but there is a cycle path behind bollards so it was a really safe route.  We headed over the sand dune and got our first glimspe of the sea.  It was fairly changeable weather wise and the sea was looking quite stormy.  The children took the opportunity to play on the edge of the waves but my surf report reports the waves were very powerful but messy! Stew had visited the shop in the morning and came back with a second sent of bat and ball so that we could play doubles, so we filled an hour with a game.

We left the beach as the clouds were getting a bit dark… and then it brightened up so we headed on to the lake.  When we arrived we had our picnic, and sat in the sun for a bit, whilst the children played in the water.  We had to go to the lake because the big child was desperate to spend his holiday money on a pedalo with a slide.  I tried to convince him that 30 minutes would be adequate but Stew was adamant that we needed an hour!  Reluctantly I did the deal, and we headed off into the middle of the lake.  Remember those clouds?  Suddenly they reappeared! We sat in the middle of the lake and the heavens opened, a torrential, thundery shower followed, and there was literally nothing we could do to shelter from it.  Oh how I laughed!  Penny just kept on going up and down the slide whilst Stew giggled and Fraser and I shivered!  It soon brightened up and we went over to the island – I resisted the urge to take the boat back and leave Stew on the island.  The children loved swimming along side the boat, like a couple of seals.

We left the beach and took a different cycle path back to the campsite.  Luckily we ended up coming out on the wrong road and ending up beside the local winery.  It would have been rude not to have had just a little taste!  After buying a bottle of white wine to go with the seafood we are planning on our next stop, we headed back.  We hit the swimming pool and cooled off before getting ready to head back into the town.  We had noticed that the local course Landais (see info here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Course_landaise) was on.  Basically a local tradition of “bull fighting” except, they are cows not bulls, they don’t kill them, they show them off and look after them and there is a band and much enthusiasm.  We had spoken about it after the Torro piscine and the children were really keen to watch.  I can remember going as a child and Stew was curious.  We had dinner in our favourite restaurant again, and then got to the ring in the town centre, we arrived just as it was starting and ended up sitting beside the bass drum of the band, it became clear why those seats in the front row were available once the band struck up…  we were quite happy though as it made the atmosphere fab and we didn’t have a clue what the enthusiastic commentator was talking about.  Penny loved the acrobatics, Fraser loved it all and Stew and I were most amused that when every trick up their sleeve to get the bull to go away failed they got it away by bringing out a lady cow and parading her around the ring so immediately the bull followed in!  The whole evening was bizarre especially the bit where they bought a metal bull into the ring on someones head and used it as a base for a fireworks display whist still attached to the man underneath.

A very late night for all of us, but in Frasers words it was “extremely good”

Well… today started with a run for stew and I! I know!  Im sure it won’t last but its flat, beautiful and not too hot!  The children went and bought the bread and we had the usual breakfast.  I washed up whilst Stew took the children to the pool and then I joined them for the last few mins.

We headed back and packed for heading to the lake.  Amusingly Stew had to put the new inflatable dinghy into the body board back pack… which try as he might to get on to his bike seat was just too low!  We rode to the lake eventually and set up the boat, after a close call with a missing pump tube.  It was the most eagerly anticipated part of the holiday for the scamps…. we decided that we would row over to an island in the middle of the lake… luckily I had made a picnic, and taken the precaution of adding a couple of cold beers into the cool bag.  We took them over with us and for ages were the only people on the island.  We had our picnic and the children played in and out of the water.  We thought it would be good to have a walk around the island, and around half way we saw some teenagers being dumped on the island with a pizza by their parents… inspired!!  We also found a star fish.

We rowed back, more easily than we had rowed out there…. however at a slight handicap.  We only had one and a half oars…. I could see it coming.  I knew that stew would get in the inflatable Discovery 400 and think that he was in the Oxford and Cambridge rowing race… he rowed with all his mite and snapped one of the oars!  Luckily we managed to grab it before it drifted off.

Once back on the mainland we watched the children play in the boat for ages… there was some kind of race, involving Mo Farrah and them and it involved a sprint on the beach and some splashing!

We dried off and packed away and headed to the beach bar for some refreshment…  The children chose to go on this bouncy castle thing instead of an ice-cream and we had a quick drink whilst they did so.  A short cycle back to camp and the kids chilled out for half an hour whilst we did the same.  I had a quick shower… in the mens showers by mistake (i was in there thinking how cheeky all the men were being in the ladies!) before heading to the best restaurant in the world!  Its perfect… plastic tables and chairs and moules out of casserole dishes.  Totally delicious.  Penny had a pizza in the shape of mickey mouse.  There was a stage set up close by so whilst I enjoyed a cafe Gourmand, i had my own display of acrobatics from penny with some cool moves from fraser.

We headed back and were lucky enough to bump into the local group of people dressed in sheepskin on stilts… Dad if you are reading this, be prepared for request’s to make the scamps stilts!! Its called something landaise… i cant find the info online… but it was cool and had we not been at the bull fight last night we would have gone and had a look!

So we headed back to get the smalls in bed and sit outside in the darkest dark, had a glass of wine and chat about what a fab time we are having, and how our slightly surnburnt bodies are a little pink!