Funky Friday - at last

Funky Friday returns with an extended long weekend - Yes, Good Friday, the weekend and Monday make for four days rest, but wait - that's not all as the man on the commercial said, "do you want steak knives with that?"
What is he talking about do I hear you say - well here in Australia we also have ANZAC Day falling within Easter and that means we get Tuesday off as well.
Seeing that for some reason our workload has become very busy lately and we should feel grateful that we are busy, I thought that this little clip might give an indication of why I can use a looooong weekend.

Here's wishing you a happy and safe Easter with family and friends.

A little something about ANZAC Day as well.

Leaving Cordes-sur-Ciel we travelled the twisty back roads towards our 2 night stay in Vers, not far from Cahor in the Lot.
Our next stop before reaching Vers from Cordes was Saint-Antonin-Noble-Val which sits on the banks of the Aveyron River. I’m not sure if we planned to stop here, maybe we did, but it was worth sacrificing the fast trip up the motorway to discover this lovely village. We approached Saint Antonin from the south and crossed the river but not before taking a photo of the “Stairs of the Promenade des Moines”.


The Stairs of the Promenade des Moines taken from the south of the Aveyron River.

We drove up the main road and parked the car so that we could enjoy a bite to eat. Not knowing much about the village we decided to walk the back streets and follow our noses. You might miss some sights that way but you discover others. Wandering the narrow lane ways, crossing small walkways over narrow streams, we discovered an open square with a large covered Halle. It wasn’t market day so we had the whole square almost to ourselves – it was time to enjoy a light snack while enjoying the spring early afternoon.


Sue wanders the lane ways of Saint Antonin - Yes Sue I'm still here but I need to take another photo.

This small waterway, surrounded by greenery appeared to my left down a narrow pathway.

She's smiling but she's really saying, "It's lunch time, order food and buy a bottle of Rose."
And that's a very cute 2CV in the background with the covered market. OK, so is Sue, cute I mean.



Back to the car to reach our destination of Vers, it was difficult to leave Saint Antonin Noble Val, but that's the way of travelling to your next destination.
In reflection, isn't a bonus by staying off the motorways?

Time was running away from us and we were only halfway to Vers and allowing our GPS, (Tommy) to take us without motorways, we found ourselves zig-zagging our way from Saint Antonin to Caussade and then to Limogne (not to be confused by Limoges, that comes later) on the D911.
We finally reached Vers late afternoon and as we parked the car there happened to be a Peugeot 307 with an MG Racing sticker. Being both the owner of a 307 and an MG Car Club Melbourne member, I couldn’t let an opportunity to go by without a chat to the owner. I introduced myself to discover he and his wife were from Belgium and on holiday for a few days. We also discovered that he was an actor of some sort and had a role in a Belgium Soapy as a barman. Maybe some of our European readers can tell us what that might be.

Vers had very little to offer in the way of restaurants and so we decided to walk across the road to a small café bar for dinner. Think we had pizza and a glass of wine before have an early night. It was fun as once again we had an opportunity to have a chat with locals. I think I might take after my Dad who chats up anyone in talking distance.

With a two night stay, I was looking forward to taking the bike out of the car to explore the surrounding area of Vers on the Lot.

Relaxing after a long drive from Albi, via Cordes and Saint Antonin. Check out Sue's smile.
The product of a very wonderful day's experience.

And I felt the same - More wonderful sights and experiences were still in front of us.

Sue speaking: All lovely...how romantic. Yeah, sure. I specifically booked our room with the mini waterfall right outside our window. And as we had our glass of wine in the afternoon, I congratulated myself on a wonderful idea.  BUT....it kept on during the night and we both had to get up and go to the toilet about a million times!  Slight exaggeration...I'm just saying..
Thanks Sue - Toooo much information Dear.

A No Cycling Weekend

That's right - can you believe it, no cycling this weekend. I had projects on my list for this weekend and what a perfect weekend for it.
It was one of those autumn weekends with cloudless skies, probably in the low 20s but with a cool morning around the 12s.
Just as compensation for a no cycling weekend, we started the Friday night with a gathering of the faithful to watch a re-run of the Paris to Roubaix cycling classic. It's always been a favorite of mine since discovering the sport in my early teens. I remember reading about it several months later when the English cycling magazine, "Sporting Cyclist" arrived in my local bike shop. Newsagents never stocked it.


The Hell of the North, the road to Roubaix.



We enjoyed a Guinness and just a few glasses of red, (that would be Leon, I drank bubbles) so it was with a heavy head that I started on my list of weekend jobs. The first was to clear the driveway of accumulated rubbish that needed to go to the local tip.

After thirty years in the same house, you do collect a lot of useless things, plus my son occasionally will bring something home such as a couch or two found on the hard rubbish collection. It usually finds itself back on the nature strip for the next hard rubbish collection.

Due to the friendship of two fellow cyclists, I was able to borrow a trailer and two extra hands to load and dispose of the rubbish at the local tip. My friend Bob is a hoarder. He has every possession from childhood to this very day - well he has one more thing. While unloading the rubbish, Bob spied an old very large luggage case about the size of a coffee table, and that is what it will probably become in its new life.
Before returning we filled the trailer with mulch - this was the second thing on my list. The garden needed weeding and mulching but that was for Sunday.

Sue must have been very impressed  with (or sorry for) me as she was cooking up a storm for a Saturday night dinner. She said she had a cooking Mojo happening.



Thank you Sue

It was a Jamie Oliver  6 hour slow cooked shoulder of pork which ends up meltingly soft with really crispy crackling and a rich gravy from the vegies it sits on.  Served it with a 2 hour braised red cabbage and apple with spices and such, and celeriac mash. Was very nice. Followed with some Gorgonzola (it was on special!) with muscatels, some Corella pear and amaretto biscuits. Very nice again.

Sunday morning and the bike clothes were on the chair but that's where they stayed - it was time to do the garden weeding and mulching. There's something to be proud of when the garden is in order. Sunday was another perfect autumn day with a cloudless sky, not even a puff of fluffy white in the sky.


Autumn is here and leaves are falling but look at that clear blue sky.
Taken at 5.30 in the afternoon.



Sue doesn't like straight so I do wavy. (Correct)



No more weeds - or out of place grass.



Although its Autumn, there's still some brilliant colour in our garden.

So now the back and front gardens have been mulched, and as I type this, I notice little spots of white paint on my hands. That was the third item on the list. Two weeks ago, I replaced some more rotting timber window frames and they needed undercoating. I can see the list growing for next weekend but I hope I can get a ride or two in first..... 

Mission accomplished this weekend - time to get back on the bike.

Vika and Linda Bull - Saturday Song

Vika and Linda Bull are from Tonga - It's not far from Australia and so we claim them for us on today's Saturday Song. They started as back up singers with the Black Sorrows, and then progessed on to solo, well duo singers really.
.

 Paul Kelly writes great lyrics - this is one of his songs.

 And finally a Gospel Song - it suits their voices, don't you think?

Cordes-sur-Ciel

Cordes sits in the sky and on the day we arrived it certainly gave that impression. It was a spring morning when we left Albi as we drove out along the bridge over the Tarn river. Sue wanted to visit Cordes after reading about it in our DK Eye Witness Guide of France. I have to say that our guide book has become a little tattered after four trips since 2006. Pages are highlighted in various colors of fluro pen and notes which remind us of the places we have been so fortunate to have experienced.


Cordes above the clouds. (from the Internet)

 Cordes-sur-Ciel is one of those places that will always remain in our memory as a special visit.
During the 13th century wars against the Cathars, Cordes was excommunicated. The plague devastated the existing population and the hilltop village fell into disrepair. It wasn't until the 1940s that restoration brought the village back to the wonderful experience that we had the good fortune to enjoy.

We rolled in at about mid-morning looking forward to a good strong espresso which we found in the village square. We were the only ones to enjoy the slightly chilly, yet sunny morning. Our waiter was chatty and while there were no other customers he took time to ask us about Australia and what it was like to live there. Happy to tell them about "Our Home on the Bay", but when travelling we prefer to hear the life of the locals.
Cordes has some wonderful architecture of the Gothic 14th century period . You almost feel you are back there, especially with no other tourists being there. You can imagine the fear that the inhabitants may have had during the Cathar persecution and the devastation of the plague. Our DK guide stated, "Everything is beautiful there, even regret" which was written by Albert Camus in the 1950s.


The only way to Cordes is through narrow ports - a truly protected fortress.



Sue enjoys the grand Le Halle of Cordes while we waited for our mid-morning espresso

 

The Port at the other end of the village. Check out the groove in the arch. A gate would drop down, blocking the entrance to the village.



I discovered this derelict building just outside the village walls.
I hope someone will bring it back to life someday. Maybe that will happen before we revisit one day.



Sue haggled over a purchase here, can't remember what it was but she made a connection with the lovely shop owner. I decided to wander off to take more photos while Sue chatted on.....



It's spring in France as I write this and it brings back the memory of Wisteria everywhere.



Spring in Cordes-sur-Ciel, the place to be as Sue looks down from the village in the sky.

Leaving Cordes-sur-Ciel was difficult as we could have spent a full day enjoying the atmosphere of this delightful village but we needed to make our next stop in daylight for a two night stay in Vers, not far from Cahor.