arrivals

Monday - the arrival of Young Lordship. But not until the evening. We decided to spend the waiting hours down in the Montagnette - a lovely little range of hills south of Avignon. Sort of mini Alpilles. There are a couple of really nice villages there, Barbentane and Boulbon. We'd been to the former last year so meandered our way to Boulbon via the other side of the Rhône, arriving fortuitously in time for lunch! There was a table of Chinese people next to us tucking into the entrecôte and chips - or rather into the entrecôte. None of them so much as touched a chip! Do they not eat them in China?




Boulbon is a charming place - all paved streets and solid stone houses, one of which has its very own Monument Historique attached to the wall. Wonder if it goes with the house when sold? At the top there is a huge ruined fort, not currently accessible. On the way up past it I noticed a large dark chestnut coloured goat standing on the very edge and for a moment thought it was one of those metal sculptures. Then it moved.

A fine sight. And there are walks going into the hills from the top. We had plenty of time so embarked on one that lead up through limestone paths and aromatic shrubs.There were some lovely flowers along the way and birdsong and it were all reet graidley.

Typical French sign. Extolling the loveliness of nature and the dear little partridges. Then underneath -  the hunting days!














We passed the remaining hours getting lost round Maillane (birthplace of Mistral) and eventually got to Vallabrègues - holder of the annual basketmaking festival. Then we parked up alongside the Rhône with a view of the TGV bridge to await the arrival. Blessed thing was 30 mins late due to slow running at Pierrelatte. We'd noticed the slow moving TGVs from the heights of La Garde Adhémar a few weeks ago as we looked down on the line from the ramparts.

Tuesday - it's hot! Just had sandwiches at the bar en famille which is great. Then a lazy afternoon on the terrace.