Hermes Travelbug with the red rocks of his new home.
Showing posts with label geocaching. Show all posts
Showing posts with label geocaching. Show all posts
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Monday, October 18, 2004
Weekends
Last weekend we drove down to the Esterel to deposit a geocaching travelbug into its goal cache. It was Ben's first geocaching trip. We climbed up to the top of a hill with a military lighthouse then clambered down through prikly brush and over red rocks to get back on the track of the cache. It reminded us all of Australian bushwalking. What made it French was the number of people about, the several rockclimbers in sight of the cache and the castelated tower on a little island just off the coast. We had a very pleasant dinner in the Coin de la Rue in Valbonne afterwards.
This weekend we explored Monte Carlo for the first time, taking shops including a huge fnac music and electronics shop and numerous luxury goods shops, the casino and associated cars, the harbour and boats. Back in Villeneuve Loubet we finally checked out one of our local non-Asian restaurants and ended up with a delicious orgy of seafood (mussels, calamari, prawns and whitebait) and the frites that I was craving - yum.
This weekend we explored Monte Carlo for the first time, taking shops including a huge fnac music and electronics shop and numerous luxury goods shops, the casino and associated cars, the harbour and boats. Back in Villeneuve Loubet we finally checked out one of our local non-Asian restaurants and ended up with a delicious orgy of seafood (mussels, calamari, prawns and whitebait) and the frites that I was craving - yum.
Tuesday, September 14, 2004
Rain
It is looking like we might have a whole day of rain. It feels like a refreshing change. The temperature has reduced to 24 C.
We had a very unsatisfying expedition into Italy on Sunday. After Rick regaled us with stories from their visit to Apricale restaurants we decided to try and find it and a cache at San Michele to deposit the Mini Travel Bug. Without a map we had no hope of finding Apricale in the hills above Vintimiglia. So we went to San Michele and couldn't fins the cache box. I looked for about 20 minutes under rocks and bushes but the GPS wouldn't fix. By the time we got to the next town with food (Sospel) it was too late for lunch so we drove home. The only saving grace was that I picked a handful of tasty purple figs from a tree by the road.
A couple of English soundtrack movies have been on tele recently. Am Australian effort Innocence (2000) by Paul Cox, very touching film about rekindled love with Bud Tingwell and Julia Blake. The other was Rear Window (1954), the retouched version with James Stewart and Grace Kelly. We didn't realise it was her until I mentioned it at tennis. She seemed familiar!
We had a very unsatisfying expedition into Italy on Sunday. After Rick regaled us with stories from their visit to Apricale restaurants we decided to try and find it and a cache at San Michele to deposit the Mini Travel Bug. Without a map we had no hope of finding Apricale in the hills above Vintimiglia. So we went to San Michele and couldn't fins the cache box. I looked for about 20 minutes under rocks and bushes but the GPS wouldn't fix. By the time we got to the next town with food (Sospel) it was too late for lunch so we drove home. The only saving grace was that I picked a handful of tasty purple figs from a tree by the road.
A couple of English soundtrack movies have been on tele recently. Am Australian effort Innocence (2000) by Paul Cox, very touching film about rekindled love with Bud Tingwell and Julia Blake. The other was Rear Window (1954), the retouched version with James Stewart and Grace Kelly. We didn't realise it was her until I mentioned it at tennis. She seemed familiar!
Monday, September 06, 2004
Not much to write home about
The news of the past week has been very depressing so I haven't felt like blogging. We talked about terrorism and the French religious symbols ban in state schools in French class. The topic generated quite a lively discussion, if in broken French.
Australia goes to the polls on October 9. Surely the Australian people can give my Dad a birthday present and get rid of Howard but it seems nothing is certain. It is nice not to have to endure weeks of posturing by him and the rest of the pollies although I do try to read current opinion on various news sources. I tend to read the ones pointing out Howard's propensity to lie and ignore the will of the Australian public. We'll do our postal votes for Howard's electorate via the embassy in Paris.
I'm currently watching the US open with German commentary (can't understand anything except "oh ja" and "breakchance"). We spent the day reading secondhand books bought from Heidi's English bookshop in Antibes yesterday. Very relaxing. The weather is a bit opressive, like a Sydney February.
Last week with Bruce we did a cache behind Grasse, at a ruined village called Castellaras. Pat broke the repair off his front incisor with a pain de camapagne sandwich on the way there so he looked like a snaggle-tooth. Bruce went for train trip to Menton and cycled all the way back on Monday while Pat organised a dental appointment for Wednesday. This meant a change to our vague plan of going away for an overnight trip to the Mercantour. Instead we took Bruce around to Barcelonette with the bike doing a hike to some alpine lakes from the Col de Cayolle on the way. He bivvied in a wood for the night while we drove back home over the Col de Bonnet. At 2802m the highest col in Europe. The road seemed to go on for ever through an increasingly barren landscape, a fitting setting for all the WW2 bunkers and buildings still littering the mountain tops. It took us two hours to drive home from the top. Early the following morning Bruce rode Pat's mountain bike over the col, arriving back at the house about 4 in the afternoon, some 170 kms later. Too exhausting by half! We went off to play tennis for a couple of hours and he was asleep, unsurprisingly, when we came back to go out to dinner. I saw him off at the airport for a flight to Munich the folowing morning.
Australia goes to the polls on October 9. Surely the Australian people can give my Dad a birthday present and get rid of Howard but it seems nothing is certain. It is nice not to have to endure weeks of posturing by him and the rest of the pollies although I do try to read current opinion on various news sources. I tend to read the ones pointing out Howard's propensity to lie and ignore the will of the Australian public. We'll do our postal votes for Howard's electorate via the embassy in Paris.
I'm currently watching the US open with German commentary (can't understand anything except "oh ja" and "breakchance"). We spent the day reading secondhand books bought from Heidi's English bookshop in Antibes yesterday. Very relaxing. The weather is a bit opressive, like a Sydney February.
Last week with Bruce we did a cache behind Grasse, at a ruined village called Castellaras. Pat broke the repair off his front incisor with a pain de camapagne sandwich on the way there so he looked like a snaggle-tooth. Bruce went for train trip to Menton and cycled all the way back on Monday while Pat organised a dental appointment for Wednesday. This meant a change to our vague plan of going away for an overnight trip to the Mercantour. Instead we took Bruce around to Barcelonette with the bike doing a hike to some alpine lakes from the Col de Cayolle on the way. He bivvied in a wood for the night while we drove back home over the Col de Bonnet. At 2802m the highest col in Europe. The road seemed to go on for ever through an increasingly barren landscape, a fitting setting for all the WW2 bunkers and buildings still littering the mountain tops. It took us two hours to drive home from the top. Early the following morning Bruce rode Pat's mountain bike over the col, arriving back at the house about 4 in the afternoon, some 170 kms later. Too exhausting by half! We went off to play tennis for a couple of hours and he was asleep, unsurprisingly, when we came back to go out to dinner. I saw him off at the airport for a flight to Munich the folowing morning.
Tuesday, July 20, 2004
Auvergne Trip
Pat's company closed down for French National Day (Bastille Day) and the two days between it and the weekend. We have just come back from the Auvergne area (le Massif Central)- about 500kms from home.
14/7 We parted from the A7 motorway towards Le Puy-en-Velay. The first campsite was in Gaudet, a very small village on a river, just near the start of the Loire. We walked to the only hotel restaurant and had a decent menu. We were persuaded to have marinated strawberries and cream even though we were both full, probably the best bit!
15/7 Explored the Loire valley and the Livradois-Forez area. Went into Le Puy-en-Velay.
Above Le Puy-en-Velay
The cathedral has Oriental and Byzantine influences and was built in the 12th century. We walked around the old religious centre and up to the huge red painted Notre Dame statue.
Drove through La Chaise-Dieu with another pilgrimage church. Even small villages on the St Jacques de Campostelle (Portugal) routes have large cathedrals! Campsite on small Plan d'eau (reservoir) amongst pine trees near Champagnac-le-Vieux. No dinner as Pat was still recovering from a virus that gave him a fever and aching muscles.
16/7 Tried to find a geocache in the forest off a mountain bike trail from St-Germain-l'Herm, near a cascade but had no luck after searching for 20 minutes. Also managed a short walk to a dolmen in a field near Issoire. Campsite above Chambon-sur-Lac. We found the nearby St Nectaire area, an old spa holiday town, to be a bit dead so ended up in a pizzeria by the lake. We tried Forme d'Auvergne and cantal on our pizzas. However, the tourist office in St Nectaire had earlier been helpful with brochures in English.
17/7 Interesting visit to a chateau at Cordes. Bussed up the top of the Puy de Dome after visiting the Parc de Volcans exposition on, you guessed it, volcanoes (and man, since men have been here thousands of years). Campsite above Mont Dore after taking the cable car up to near the summit of Puy de Sancy (1885m). Lovely dinner in town at a traditional Auvergnate restaurant. Lots of local cheese featured. For entree, I had a feuillette with Bleu d'Avergne then a steak with wine sauce, Pat had a porc and cabbage dish "pottée". We finished off with fromage blanc and tarte and creme brulée. The restaurant was entertained by a traditionally dressed woman with a medieval instrument, singing and playing.
I was bitten all over by tiny midges as I got undressed outside the tent in the dark. And I really mean all over - between my legs, bottom, small of my back, arms, feet, next to my eyes - ugh! I only discovered they were there when I shone the torch inside the tent and started to squash the ones I could see.
18/7 Rain began during the morning. Pouring as we left so we set off south, past Lac Pavin, a volcanic lake. From Condat we encoutered a "fun run" going up the hill in the pouring rain! Stopped in Egliseneuve d'Entraigues for the Maison de Fomage and found a market fête going on despite the rain. Stopped in St Flour for lunch and a walk around. The Tour de France had been there a couple of days before. This perched town looks better from a distance as close up it's a bit colourless. After a short stint on a free motorway we drove down the N106 through some lovely countryside and ended up in Nimes held up for twenty minutes by the end of the Tour de France road closures. Made it back home at 8pm.
Spending some time now annointing my midge spots with antihistamine cream. Also Pat has passed the feverish virus onto me so not feeling too chipper today (Tuesday 20/7).
14/7 We parted from the A7 motorway towards Le Puy-en-Velay. The first campsite was in Gaudet, a very small village on a river, just near the start of the Loire. We walked to the only hotel restaurant and had a decent menu. We were persuaded to have marinated strawberries and cream even though we were both full, probably the best bit!
15/7 Explored the Loire valley and the Livradois-Forez area. Went into Le Puy-en-Velay.
Above Le Puy-en-Velay
The cathedral has Oriental and Byzantine influences and was built in the 12th century. We walked around the old religious centre and up to the huge red painted Notre Dame statue.
Drove through La Chaise-Dieu with another pilgrimage church. Even small villages on the St Jacques de Campostelle (Portugal) routes have large cathedrals! Campsite on small Plan d'eau (reservoir) amongst pine trees near Champagnac-le-Vieux. No dinner as Pat was still recovering from a virus that gave him a fever and aching muscles.
16/7 Tried to find a geocache in the forest off a mountain bike trail from St-Germain-l'Herm, near a cascade but had no luck after searching for 20 minutes. Also managed a short walk to a dolmen in a field near Issoire. Campsite above Chambon-sur-Lac. We found the nearby St Nectaire area, an old spa holiday town, to be a bit dead so ended up in a pizzeria by the lake. We tried Forme d'Auvergne and cantal on our pizzas. However, the tourist office in St Nectaire had earlier been helpful with brochures in English.
17/7 Interesting visit to a chateau at Cordes. Bussed up the top of the Puy de Dome after visiting the Parc de Volcans exposition on, you guessed it, volcanoes (and man, since men have been here thousands of years). Campsite above Mont Dore after taking the cable car up to near the summit of Puy de Sancy (1885m). Lovely dinner in town at a traditional Auvergnate restaurant. Lots of local cheese featured. For entree, I had a feuillette with Bleu d'Avergne then a steak with wine sauce, Pat had a porc and cabbage dish "pottée". We finished off with fromage blanc and tarte and creme brulée. The restaurant was entertained by a traditionally dressed woman with a medieval instrument, singing and playing.
I was bitten all over by tiny midges as I got undressed outside the tent in the dark. And I really mean all over - between my legs, bottom, small of my back, arms, feet, next to my eyes - ugh! I only discovered they were there when I shone the torch inside the tent and started to squash the ones I could see.
18/7 Rain began during the morning. Pouring as we left so we set off south, past Lac Pavin, a volcanic lake. From Condat we encoutered a "fun run" going up the hill in the pouring rain! Stopped in Egliseneuve d'Entraigues for the Maison de Fomage and found a market fête going on despite the rain. Stopped in St Flour for lunch and a walk around. The Tour de France had been there a couple of days before. This perched town looks better from a distance as close up it's a bit colourless. After a short stint on a free motorway we drove down the N106 through some lovely countryside and ended up in Nimes held up for twenty minutes by the end of the Tour de France road closures. Made it back home at 8pm.
Spending some time now annointing my midge spots with antihistamine cream. Also Pat has passed the feverish virus onto me so not feeling too chipper today (Tuesday 20/7).
Tuesday, July 13, 2004
Geocaching
Our front patio coordinates are: N 43° 38.340 E 007° 07.414
With Pat's GPS unit, a Garmin eTrex, we have found some of the physical caches on Geocaching, two here on the Côte d'Azur and two on Corsica. The main motivation is it makes you discover places you wouldn't otherwise hear of if a cache wasn't put there.
With Pat's GPS unit, a Garmin eTrex, we have found some of the physical caches on Geocaching, two here on the Côte d'Azur and two on Corsica. The main motivation is it makes you discover places you wouldn't otherwise hear of if a cache wasn't put there.
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