Blow the wind southerly

oh well. Not so good today but at least the wind is coming from the south. We stretched our legs up the hillside overlooking Sablet. Here is a view back with a corner of our roof!

There are new vines and terracing up top, maybe to make up for the grubbing up for building plots lower down? The last day of April and the cherries on this feral tree are ripening nicely. Will the birds get them before we do!

And more stands of glorious blue iris, still going strong in a sheltered spot. But we notice that in Yorkshire the daffs are still flowering. Yes, you guessed it...watching the Tour de Yorkshire on telly. Probably the nearest I will get to Godzown.

Normal service

has heen resumed. Yesterday was a repeat of Thursday. Bright blue sky and armour piercing north wind. Undeterred we put on coats and went up into the vines and forest trails behind Séguret where it was more sheltered. Two hours later we emerged and braved the bar behind a hedge for a sandwich. Then back to icy conditions and central heating!
Today...sun, warmth, no wind. The market was buzzing and full of bank holiday delights. We sat in the sun with coffees as usual then returned via the back roads of Cairanne.

It really is amazing how quickly things grow at this time of year. Vines that were mere stumps three weeks ago are now in full leaf and flower. Everyone's roses are blooming, iris almost over. Pretty grasses and poppies along every verge.

Down one lane we came across this derelict cabane, overgrown with exotic plants and shaded by an enormous fig tree laden with fruit. Not ripe yet - bother.

The terrace is warm and the flowers are gradually rcovering from the onslaught of wind and cold. Had to move the garlics outside as the room was starting to niff a bit.

chilly !

cripes, freezing cold this morning. People scuttling by in boots and padded jackets. I went up for bread and that's all. Rest of the morning spent vacuuming and swabbing floors in between trying to sort out various IT issues. At three we just had to get out and go for a march round the vines. And of course at that point the sun came out and we were overdressed!

This evening we tried a pizzeria in Gigondas, recommended by Linda. It was indeed very nice. Simple and basic interior with odd sayings chalked on slates. Bit dear but then it usually is when there is no set menu and you have salads and puds. Might go again when it's warm enough for the terrasse.

A lovely sunset behind the Alpilles in the distance. And a clear sky, so no surprise that the Maison des Vins thermometer was reading 7° as we passed. Heating is on!

Tart up your villes !

It rained hard last night and this morning was chill and greyish. We have no great plans to venture far and only needed milk and coffee. So...good old Malaucène again, where there is a decent town centre SuperU and market.





En route by our Mairie, we see that beautification is taking place in the form of stone-facing the façade.

And not just Sablet...as we walked up the main street of Malaucène, instead of gaily coloured awnings, all we could see were yellow tar laying trucks and men with wheelbarrows and hole drillers. There did seem to be some sort of market farther up but these chaps were not letting that get in the way of civic improvement.

You turn your back for a week and look what happens! New pergolas, wooden seats, pavements. And even our regular down at heel bar has got a modern canopy. We compared regrets with the waitress - all of us agreeing the previous incarnation had more charm. But she said the works had involved removing the tree by their terrace and thus the old canopy too.

There was still a market going on, though without the clothes traders. We got some giant new season garlic...

...but eschewd the delicious-looking asparagus because Adrian says he is tired of it. I ask you!
There were some of the curious thick curly spears here too. We've seen them on various markets from Uzès to Ste Cécile, and here.

The sun has peeked out again this afternoon and there is much banging from the street to fill a newly discovered disused chimney hole on our roadside!
There was an iron plate covering it that no one knew why. It came off, and with it a deluge of soot and scorched bits of newspaper.

Fortunately Paul has come to repair it professionally!

Bar crawl

It might be the last nice day for a while. Rain forecast for this evening and the next couple of days so that will put a stop to activities! So this morning I accepted an invitation from American friends to go to Beaumes de Venise where there's a small but jolly market on Tuesdays. Mostly spent with coffee and pâtisseries in the Café du Siècle.

Strawberries were obtained, just so I could take something home, and we spotted some pretty ceramics in the Tourist Office that I might drag Adrian to see.








Then a spur of the moment decision for lunch at Roaix. Very pleasant in the watery sun but clouds are drifting in from the east and now it is uniformly grey.

I heard from Deb that the Sablet results weren't quite so awful as feared so I dared to look. Here they are.

The first cuckoo

Off early to the lavender fields near Sault. A lovely drive along our favourite Toulourenc Valley where the autumn colours are so exciting. At this time of the year the landscape is muted in grey green, beige and white.

The road is high above and looking down is like looking into a magic landscape. We'll be back for the walk another day!

At the end of the valley is a little clifftop village called Aurel where there is an inviting looking café that we always mean to go to but somehow it is never lunchtime when we pass. Today we did have a walk around though. The arms...cut out silhouette in front of a striped awning. Has to be a wolf doesn't it?
There seemed to be a cuckoo in the distance.

And then, finally, the lavender fields. Obviously not purple yet. Still glaucous grey-green tuffets in rythmic rows following the contours of the hills. As soon as we left the car we definitely heard it. Cuckoo! And so it continued along the whole two hour walk - intermingled with teasing nightingales that sing in your ear in every bush,
yet can never be spotted.

Down in a dip in front of the lavender distillary is a grassy patch with a sluice type thing. A notice proclaims this to be the Source of the Nesque - a river running way down almost to Avignon with spectacular gorges just beyond Sault.

Sore of knee but glad of heart we drove back to Buis, just too late for lunch naturally! But a coffee and beer did us fine and we supplemented these with glaces artisanales in Crestet before retreating to our flowery terrace.

Now for the real world. Just in case you don't believe we live in Front National Land, here are the results from the Vaucluse Jury!

Sunny Saturday

Fairly quiet on Ste C. market but lots of goodies were obtained. And we sat in the sun enjoying our coffee.

Jolly smart bins they have in this complex! No excuse for getting your recycling wrong here.






Just been for a stroll up to the boules pitch cum basketball court to see if doudou lapin was still there. He is gone, so hopefully to his rightful distraught owner. If not, at least another deserving one. Whilst there I think I heard the nightingales in the trees. About time.

And later we went out again for a tour d'inspection of the construction sites. Well really just to get some exercise and be out in the sun. No sooner had we'd crossed our street when a clattering of claws was heard and Le Chien du Village was at our heels. Now a word about said hound. First it is a she, but La Chienne du Village sounds a bit dubious. Second, she roams at will and is known by all and has a big collar with her address on it.




She comes from the Domaine du Chamfort over beyond the old railway tracks and is obsessed by water. Frequently seen leaping in and out of the lavoir, and that is where she'd just been when she spotted us. We were obviously out for a walk and so was she, so she politely agreed to accompany us and show us all the best snuffling spots!
From time to time she'd dart off into a field or garden and occasionally returned dripping wet - obviously has a regular network of water sources and cisterns. She looks left and right when crossing roads. Eventually, having done a complete round of the vines and village she trotted homewards and we escaped up a side alley. But she knows where we live...

Le cabanon

Vineyards all over the country are dotted with cabanons - tiny two storey stone buildings used by the workers. Sometimes with a well, often restored but frequently just overgrown with ivy. This one sits in the vines across from us - we can just see it from the terrace - and recently it has been relieved of plant growth and had all its surrounding land cleared, trees pruned, ditches unblocked. Ominous. Suggests habitation.

Today was unexpectedly warm still and sunny so armed with camera, we set out to document our little ruin before it gets tarted up. As you can see, it isn't completely original. Part of it has been rebuilt with breeze block!

But it has lovely old doors and four blue cartwheels inside. Plus that typical Provençal ceiling.

There's an album on flickr (le Cabanon) with more.

At one end of the plot there's a mystery. A large deep circular stone structure with a round stone pillar in the centre. We can only imagine it was
an olive press though it looks far too large and deep.

There is a small outlet channel on one side through which the oil could have poured.

Calming down

The wind is a bit less fierce but it is still a chilly one. Today's brief escape was round the back of Vaison between Puyméras and Villedieu. There it was sunny and still. There's a radio mast up there, not too much of a slog through vines, olives and apricots. Here is a baby abricot enjoying the spring sun.
Great views over to the Rhone and back to Ventoux.




Last night I got a phone call from Emmanuel Macron - really! Well, only on the answer machine. That was nice of him!

Election Fever

P.94....wednesday continued

Such excitement then my pretties. Elections here there and everywhere. We thought it appropriate to go and bring you the faces of the forthcoming French Presidential hopefuls. There are 11 of them and rows of their visages shine down from every Mairie or Salle des Fêtes in the land. Well that's the theory. This is Séguret where there are just about 11 but one has been torn.

On to Rasteau where a select number are featured.

And Macron has been stuck on top of Mélenchon.

But here in Sablet, all pretence of balance is removed. Only two posters appear on the vast empty hoarding. Marine Le Pen and Mr. Frexit, whose name is appropriately burlesque - Asselineau! How Right do you want to be? This is its heartland.

We needed fresh air so drove out to a secret valley on the edge of the village, told to us by Gérard, where you are in the lee of the hills and the wind. A lovely walk through flowers and butterflies, in the sun. This telegraph pole is weeping creosote tears of pleasure!

Hooray for the Mayor

just seen this thanks to a Facebook fan!

Mairie Sablet

9 hrs · 

Vous l'avez certainement tous remarqué, un panneau pirate MC DONALD a été installé à l'entrée de Sablet. J'ai immédiatement saisi la Préfecture pour faire supprimer ce panneau. Je rappelle aux contrevenants que ce type de publicité sans mon accord est strictement interdit.
JPL

See Translation

Blown away

The terrace doors are heaving inwards beneath the full force of Mistral, pansies and marguerites bravely tossing their heads. So we decided that Le Pontet was for us and threw ourselves into the maelstrom for a buffeting drive. The sky is pin sharp though and bright bright sun.

Still pix give no real sense of the gusts but believe me that pulley wheel is swaying and rolling!










Left Berlingo rocking precariously in  IKEA parking - where all flags had been lowered and tethered to the bases of their poles. A new lightweight feather and down duvet was purchased for those who feel the heat.

Then ho for Leroy Merlin across the way in Le Pontet Profond,  to obtain a handrail for the upper stairwell. Amazingly we found one.
Then what do I see as I log onto BBC News on ipad on our return? La May has announced a general election! followed by a flurry of emails telling me the same thing. Turbulence! Oh well, at least the pound has gone up.
And now for a hiatus while Adrian addresses the installation... more later.
Oh God...he's singing.

Ta Da !

Easter Bunny

Paul popped in this morning so it was almost midday be the time we got organized to do anything. Then much faffing about the possibility of installing a rope hand rail on the second floor. In the end I dragged us into the sun and wind for a stiff constitutional along the ridge.

Well...first of all we took a closer look at the planning application up the lane. Not for one but FIVE houses with road and turning space. So gaze your last on these vines. They are doomed. It's a worry. I saw on the Sablet website that the maire wants to reduce the amount of constructable  land and the number of new building permissions so maybe the rot will stop.

We proceeded, only to come upon this saddest of sights - a lost doudou lapin, lying spreadeagled on the grass. I tenderly placed it on the edge of the boules terrain and weighted it down with a stone. Maybe the owners will come looking. I feel for the parents. Goodness me, it brought back memories of traipsing round woods and lakes in the Loire Valley searching for a 'lost' doudou. It was found in the owner's pocket!

Then on up along the lower ridge and into unknown territory as we tried what looked like a road down to the village. Not. We passed two delicious stone houses with good views but then a private notice. So we scrambled up the side of a vineyard and found another track where a couple of families were having a picnic then took a shortcut, as we thought. Ha! It lead us precipitously down a rain gulley track through the woods- obviously used by hunters by the looks of some hides - and dumped us in another vineyard with ruined cabanon. But we were within sight of recognised tracks so we skirted yet another vineyard and big house and were back. At no time was Sablet out of sight but you just never know when a trail will peter out on a cliff edge! We deserved a drink at the bar. Coffee for me and pression for him. We'd missed the Easter lunch of asparagus followed by gigot, flageolets and pommes de terre!

Still blowy but bearable and the terrace sunshine beckons. Invited to Americans for nibbles at 5 but they face East so not so good.

Easter Sunday

I have no pictures worth showing. It is sunny but very windy and today we plodded round Vaison Brocante just for a look. There were some nice things on offer and also some interesting pieces but money is tight and we have no need of anything really.
We had hopes of an ice cream in Séguret on the way home but the tea shoppee was firmly closed despite the tourists.
But the terrace room is cosy and bright so we read and supped and watched our poor marguerites flap about outside. At 4 it was really quite warm so we marched round the vines tutting at the building plots and marvelling at the amount of growth the vines have put on in two weeks. They grow an inch a day at this time of the year. Some already have flower clusters.
Then The Archers. Well, harrumph what a let down. We were hoping and expecting the odious Pip to get the mother of all hairdryer blasts from David and Ruth ON AIR. We wanted rage and calumny, vitriol at mega volume. Even physical pummelling. But no...just a frosty lunch and vague references to how horrid they'd been to the little liar. Sigh.

Easter

Last night the northern nations gathered on the Kaisers' terrace to enjoy chat, apéros and a glorious sunset. And the screeching of swifts. Hooray. This morning the wind is back so although the thermometer says 22 it doesn't feel like it. A brief market trip where, amongst other things, additional fleurs were purchased - Bizzie Lizzies this time.  (This little one was left over from the window boxes.) And then home. En route we spotted a sign of the times...a hoarding advertising McDo Vaison. Interestingly when I mentioned this to American friend over coffee in the Bar de l'Union, she did not understand the word Hoarding. And yet...we English do understand Billboard. Discuss.

Just walked up to Gravillas for a bidon of Sablet rouge - Côtes du Rhône Villages Sablet for 3.70 a litre. Can't be bad. Adrian has just decanted it into bottles. I was gratified to discover that my loyalty has earned me a free bottle. This time I chose a rosé. Looks like our bumble bee approves!

Looking for a sign

Good Friday but not a public holiday except in Moselle, Bas Rhin and Haut Rhin. And only there if they have both protestant and catholic congregations! Muse on that as you scoff the hot cross buns. Another lovely day so a walk was called for. But we are idle folk who don't want to trek far and long. The goal decided on was therefore outside Vacqueyras, on the hillside.

There is on either side of the village a huge sign in mega letters proclaiming the wines. We've done the southern ones but not the north.

A drive-by identified a likely route up and we left Berlingo, somewhat precariously to my mind, parked on the hard shoulder and started climbing. It was not far, maybe 15 minutes, through wooded scrub with wild orchids and broom. Then out onto the ledge with the white letters and the plain below and beyond.

No wind up here either even though down on the road it was quite brisk. The track probably went on to Gigondas but the trouble is you'd have to retrace your steps back to the car. Returning along the main road wouldn't be much fun. So, it being 12.30 and the Café du Cours but a two minute drive away, we opted for a plat du jour under the plane trees. And jolly nice too.