Le Pluie

It’s been raining. Lots. Our washing has been attempting to dry on the line for 4 days now. This is not what we came travelling for, but it’s definitely proving to be a very grounding experience. Today we have been pulling up onions in the drizzly rain. Our other tasks over the last week have been to weed the leeks and plant some fennel.

Not much else to report. Darren has temporarily (we hope) lost some of the use of his right foot, so we took Tuesday off for him to recuperate and we’ll work at the weekend instead. We were going to go for a walk on Sunday but that’s when the rain really started so we’ve been a bit holed up for the last few days. Hopefully we’ll get the chance to go into either La Souterraine for the market on Saturday or to walk into Lussac Les Eglises, the nearest town as the forecast is looking a bit more promising. And I might get to post the postcards I’ve been trying to send for the last two weeks!

Geneva to La Souterraine via Paris

Well we eventually arrived safely in our new abode. As our train progressed towards Paris the skies got greyer, and as our connecting train left Paris (an hour late) the rain began. When we met Mandy at La Souterraine station the heavens well and truly opened and we got drenched trying to fit our bags into the little car.
The new farm is a little more rustic than the last – Brendan and Mandy have only been here since March, and as the farm is their only income that has been their priority. We’re sleeping in a section of the barn that has been closed off, it’s nice and cosy. They have two young daughters, Bronwyn who is 3 years old and Ailish who is 14 months. They’re both very sweet, and Ailish in particular is a real character. There is also a dog and two cats.
The land is quite big, although not all of it is in use yet. Brendan and Mandy sell at quite a few markets including two evening markets – we spent our first day preparing salad for that evening in La Dorat. At both of these markets a big barbecue is set up and you buy your meat and they cook it for you. There is entertainment and it’s a wonderful atmosphere.
Brendan and Mandy evidently work very hard. I think this is going to be a good insight into what we might be letting ourselves in for if we decided to run our own farm. It’s certainly interesting to hear about how things are in France, the red tape, rules and regulations. The quiet here is very striking – in the Alps there was a lot more background noise, traffic, airplanes.
Unfortunately there’s no broadband here, so we may not be able to get many pictures up while we’re here. I’ll try to keep you updated in text though!

Smoke On The Water

Last week it rained. A lot. This meant we couldn't do too much work, which sounds great but is actually quite depressing. We did go to Annecy one day - it's the biggest town in the Haute Savoie department, and has a very pretty old town. We spent the day browsing shops, and ended with a crépe. Last week we also had proper fondue which was delicious and very good fun!

On Saturday there were the closing fireworks for the Geneva festival. As we had the day spare we went in early to watch Ratatouille at the cinema. We then struggled to find a good spot to see the fireworks but we did ok in the middle of a closed street. Most importantly it had a barrier that no-ne else was leaning on where Darren could set up his replacement camera. We couldn't see much of anything low down but the big bangs during the 45 minute display were spectacular and at times relentless!

Yesterday we went up a mountain. We took the train to Chamonix and a cable car up l'Aiguille du Midi. In two stages it takes you to 3777m, a height gain of 2800m in just 20 minutes. It's fair to say that your ears pop! We went up to the top, then took a much smaller cable car across the Vallée Blanche and Glacier du Géant to Helbronner in Italy. We had a beer there (hmm, beer and lack of oxygen, probably not a great idea!) We then came back and took a lift up to the peak of l'Aiguille du Midi, another 60m. At 3842m (12605ft) it is the highest point you can get to in Europe without putting on lots of gear and hiking! Unfortunately the cloud had drifted over us so we didn't get any view at all. On the way down we stopped at the midway point to watch the cable cars go over the edge, then headed back into Chamonix for some food.

Alpine Adventures

Sorry I've been neglecting my updating duties! What have we been doing over the last couple of weekends..?

The weekend before last we walked up Le Petit Saléve. It was a 5 hour round trip, up the smaller peak of the mountain (899 metres) and back down through the nearby village of Monnetier Mornex. The hike was mainly through woodland but the paths were good and we had a nice view of Geneva through the trees at the top. There was a wedding going on in Monnetier, and we found ourselves having a well deserved beer amongst English accents!

Last weekend we spent another Saturday in Geneva. We had to report our camera missing for the insurance company (that was fun - the policeman didn't speak English and our French hasn't improved enough yet!) We then walked right up to Jet d'Eau, then back around the lake to Jardin Botanique. despite all the signs being in French it was quite interesting, especially the rockery area whiwh had examples of plants from mountain ranges all over the world. Geneva has an annual festival which began last Saturday and finishes this Saturday - we'll be joining the family as they head into the city to watch the fireworks. After the pace and quiet of our first visit Geneva was packed and the rides and food stalls have turned Lake Geneva into an English seaside resort!

On Sunday we joined our hosts Francoise and Bernard for a hike. We thought they knew where they were going. We were wrong. It all started so well, but we then found ourselves traversing overgrown and very steep woods with no path. What with the altitude and unusual (for me) amount of exercise my breathing became difficult and it ended as quite a directionless chore just to end up where we started. Thankfully it was too late to try to re-conquer the mountain and time for a much needed beer.

We've been joined by a German girl, Sara, who is just 17 but has fantastic English and is here for her summer holidays to try to improve her French. Really, these Europeans put us to shame when it comes to languages!

We've had a bit of rain here so there have been a few indoor jobs to door - peeling apples, stoning plums, filling jars and bags of the final product. We've also had to do more back-breaking weeding as well as the harvesting - lots more flowers, plus lemon thyme and hysope. Darren has been putting his culinary skills into action with a curry (Sara's first!) and I've been roped into baking the banana bread recipe that we picked up in Cornholme. I have a feeling we'll do quite a lot of transplanting recipes from one place to another...
Darren's added a few photos that he's taken with his phone - we should have a new camera by the weekend so I'm sure there will be plenty more photos on the way!

We're in the Alps for just one more week before we head to our next WWOOF. This will be west of here near Limoges. The easiest way by train is from Geneva via Paris, and as all the discounted standard class tickets had gone it's cheaper for us to go first class. Who said that travellers have to slum it?! We'll be there for a month, then we're taking a weekend in Marseille to see Steve Hogarth before probably heading towards the Pyrenees.

What Harry Did Next...

On Saturday we went to Geneva. For two reasons - to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and to buy Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Geneva's a wonderful place when you're English!

So we didn't actually see much of Geneva. We had a brief walk through the old town and the main shopping areas to the lake. We had a very nice lunch on the lake as it was Darren's birthday. Lake Geneva has a very impressive fountain. Called Jet d'Eau, it simply spurts water 140 metres into the air and lets it drop again. Id love to show you some pictures but somehow we've "lost" the camera (I sense a host of parents' eyes rolling). Bit too much of a mystery to go into, suffice to say it looks like we're going to get the chance to discover how good our insurance company are. Typically Mont Blanc has since put in an appearance, gleaming in the sunshine...

Darren finished Harry Potter on Sunday night, I'm about halfway through. If anyone wants to borrow it, let me know and I'll post it on to you - that's one weighty item that I DO NOT want to carry around Europe for the rest of the year! The film is really good. Did you realise that people watching with subtitles actually find out more because they get a translation of all those inaudible whispers...

And so to work. I haven't told you what we've been doing here have I? So far we have harvested:

Oregano (harvest is now over and it's been mown down)
Marigold flowers
Mallow flowers
Cornflowers
Chamomile flowers
Verveine leaves. Lots of them (it's the staple green tea crop. very nice too - slightly lemony, nice with a drop of honey)
Strawberries
Rhubarb (50kg!!!)

It rained heavily last night so this morning we sorted and weighed potatoes (about 180kg) and weeded the tomatoes in the greenhouse. The weeding was fine until the sun came out and it was like working in a sauna! Good for burning off all that cheese I've been eating! I hear that summer has bypassed you all in the UK, so you can console yourself with the thought of us working in such conditions. And I have a very strange tan - standing up in the sun means my shoulders and feet are going a lovely colour but my legs are still pasty white. And my hair is going the same colour as my oldest niece's!

Je Parle Trés Peu Le Français

We seem to have landed nicely on our feet here in France. Our latest farm is a herb garden on the French / Swiss border. The people are lovely, the view is amazing, the work is enjoyable and very interesting. The family speak varying levels of English, but it's all better than our French. We're working on that though, trying to learn some new phrases and words each day.

We're on a mountain called Saléve. Apparently on a clear day you can see Mont Blanc, but it hasn't put in an appearance yet. Francoise - who owns the farm - is taking us up to the top of this mountain in a minute (so this is a short blog!). I'm sure Darren will take some good pics for you all. Our train to Geneva was good fun. We had all day to catch it and still ended up running for it!

Must go now - will elaborate a little more when I next get the chance!!!

Arrivederci!

It's our last day in Rome and we're exhausted! We've done practically all the sights, picked holes in Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, and seen Genesis for the second time in a week. I won't tell you everything we've done (I've only got 20 minutes credit left!), but here are some highlights.

The Pantheon - As is so often the case, the sights you are most indifferent about seeing are the best. This quite literally took my breath away. The shaft of light from the hole in the roof is the first thing you notice when you walk in the door, and the scale and perfection of the dome - especially considering the age of the building - is the most astounding.

The Trevi Fountain - It really is amazing. And quite bizarre that anyone would want to build a fountain quite so large!

Castel Sant'Angelo - We went here on an Angels and Demons pilgramage, but it's definitely worth a look. Hadrian's mausoleum turned Papal fortress, it's reworkings reminded me a lot of the Tower of London.

St. Peter's Basilica - it was hard work in the heat of Rome, but the climb to the top of the dome does provide the best view over the city. And the church itself is simply vast and magnificent.

Pincio - take a walk through Villa Borghese and end at Pincio, with a breathtaking southern facing view over the huge Piazza del Popolo.

Genesis - they were playing at Circo Massimo near the Forum and Colloseum. It was incredibly dusty which made breathing rather difficult, but the dust did at least diffuse the light and make the show look even better. After seeing them from so close at Twickenham, it was great to see the lightshow in all it's glory. The atmosphere was fantastic as well.

Our hotel was right near Piazza Navona, and is fantastic. Never pay full price for a hotel! There's a lovely terrace where Darren's taken some great photos from (hopefully uploaded soon, see the address on the right!)

It's been incredibly hot, but a great start to our travels. Tonight we take the sleeper train to Geneva before heading over the border into France and our next WWOOF farm.

Nearly Gone!

There's just a few more days before we leave the country! It feels a bit odd because we're coming back for Christmas, but 5 months away from ol' Blighty and of course all the friends and family is still quite a long time. We're putting our photos on Picasa, which has a nifty map feature so you can properly see where we've been. How often we get to update it (much like here) who knows. The link is on the right there ---->

We managed to get a car in time for Glastonbury. It was quite an epic experience. The rain and mud might be some kind of tradition, but it makes it all very tiring and you know you'd have a better time if it was dry and sunny. We saw nearly 40 acts in all. My most memorable moments were Carrie Tree in a really vibey little tent on the Thursday, Guy Pratt, some brilliant dance acts and chilling out on Kings Meadow on one of the rare sunny moments. I'd love to go again, I'd just love it even more if it was good weather!

In other news, I am once again a proud Auntie! Lucy Dudman just couldn't wait to see me and spend a little extra time with me, so she was born over a week early last Tuesday. Mother and baby doing really well, as are father and older sister. Aww, I'm gonna miss them two!