Episode 25

Episode 25
After spending more than 2 weeks in Arundel with Heather while David did a few jobs on the car, all of which involved a great deal of cursing and swearing at the way the French have done one thing or another in the building of the car, we finally set off for warmer climes on an absolutely brilliant Monday morning. Not a cloud in the sky though it must have been colder than it felt because there was ice on the sunroof when we left shortly before 8am. We drove to Dover via the motorways as much as possible and had a good run missing the worst of the morning rush hour fortunately.
The clear sky stayed with us to Dover where there was some cloud over the channel. The white cliffs fairly sparkled in such bright sunshine; I have never seen them look whiter. Once out into the channel we could clearly see both Dover and Calais though the cloud was getting thicker. Off the ferry at Dunkerque, this was the cheapest fare we could get, we only had around 60k’s or so to travel to reach Oostende where we were heading to visit our elderly friend Elizabeth whom we’d met on our Antarctic trip 2 years ago. Using the SatNav we were doing just fine until we came to join a main road heading east only to find the east bound entrance closed and no diversion signs. Spent the next half hour or so travelling around tiny county lanes between and around canals until we eventually reached another main road and joined that. We still managed to reach Oostende before dark then got a flat tyre in the middle of the city. All this area is very flat with many canals to drain the farmland. This area is known as Flanders and has been the site of many battles over the centuries.
That evening as we sat with Elizabeth in her lovely unit with a view over the harbour at Oostende we watched the lightening flash and fill the sky with white light: It rained a little but most of the storm went elsewhere. As we watched the lightening a small group of surfers in wet suits and clutching surfboards walked past.
Oostende is quite a pleasant small city. I had once come here back in 1970 on a ferry from Dover but now that service doesn’t run, but there is a service to Ramsgate in Kent according to Elizabeth. I had not found it when I did an internet search. The harbour entrance is being widened at present so that cruise ships can call here. The population of the city is around the 80,000 though it seems somewhat larger to me. Elizabeth had booked us into a hotel in one of the city squares and our window looked directly down upon the skating rink in the centre of the square. Market stalls were set up most of the way around the outside of the rink and all the trees have been lit with white and purple lights for Christmas and these colours were reflected in the ice from the rink. It looked really pretty. In summer the ice rink would be a shallow pool, with a band stand or something like that in the centre.
The St Peter and Paul Cathedral is very ornate, and there is a separate tower beside it too that was left standing after some siege, but I could find no history or any information what-so-ever written in English, so I can’t tell you any more about it. The church entrance faces the railway station, 200m away because the fellow who was king at the time it was constructed insisted that he must face the church when he exits the station. The railway station is located near the ferry terminal and a covered walkway links the two.
There are several small squares around the city, and some pleasant parks and gardens one with a floral clock. The beach is wide and sandy and a new promenade is still under construction along the sea front. Many blocks of smart, and mostly new apartments overlook the promenade and the beach. They are no more than 6 stories high but they do stretch was quite a long way along the coast. A race course for horse racing is also located along the seafront.
As Elizabeth has massages and therapies during the days and rests a great deal we had much time to ourselves to explore the place. Of course we had to find a garage and get the tyre replaced. The flat tyre was ruined by the time we could find a place to stop and change it. One day we drove into Bruges, a beautiful medieval city only 25k’s distant. It was a fairly wet day, but then it has rained a lot since we arrived here. Once we found a place to park the car our first stop was the Ice Sculptures Exhibition near the railway station.
This turned out to be in a specially chilled tent of all things. Naturally it was like walking into a freezer as the temperature must be kept well below freezing to prevent any of the exhibits from melting. I did think that it would be housed in some insulated building that would have been much more energy efficient than a tent. Especially seeing that also included in our entrance fee was a visit to a polar exhibition in a neighbouring tent, and this exhibition was focused towards Global warming. Not much of it was in English but it was fairly easy to follow.
The ice display was stunning: As soon as we entered we were on a narrow path that weaved around and about ice sculptures up to 3 or 4m high. Some were cut from clear ice, other from white ice and just a few coloured lights were used with subtle effect. There were oversized animals hewn in great detail. An ice cabin complete with a man at a table having a drink, all in ice. The logs of the cabin were cut from white ice whilst the door frame was clear ice. A small chapel and a grave yard with crosses was near the hall of ice mirrors, perfect reflections. An ice bar where you could buy a cold drink, I think hot chocolate would have been more the thing. The bar tender wasn’t made of ice but I expect he needed his thermal underwear to prevent himself from freezing. There was even an ice slippery slide made on a similar design to a water slide. We climbed up and went for a slide down on the little mats provided, it was fast fun.
In the city centre the two main squares are bordered by lovely old buildings many of gothic design. The squares themselves were a hive of activity with a busy market taking place and all the trees lit with silver and purple fairy lights, once the daylight started to fade it looked lovely despite the rain that was steadily falling.
The provincial government building on one of the squares was painted white with a lot of gold leaf trim, whilst another ornate building on the same square was painted in a dark colour giving a lovely contrast. An old basilica offered quite plain facade beside an ornate gothic one.
St Saviours Cathedral is a lovely old church, very plain, dating from the 1500’s with a beautiful organ and stained glass windows. The museum on one of the squares has a lovely tower and over 300 steps to the top from which there is supposedly a good view over the city, however you’d need a better day than the day we visited. Many canals wend their way about the city and in summer there are many excursion boats but they, like the summer have finished for this year. As we wandered around the streets we often came across an old house or building that stood out from its neighbours. There are many old places that have been preserved some have a small sign on them that gives a date of construction or what it might have been used for. One such place was originally a palace, it was built of small red bricks and had a round pointy roof tower. Another was a merchant’s house from the 15th century, it was 3 stories high but each storey is only about 6ft, no high ceiling like we are used to.
As we drove back to Oostende in the gathering darkness the rain bucketed down so hard we hardly see the road. David cursed the fact that there were no ‘cats eyes’ or reflective paint used for the road markings, he couldn’t see where he was supposed to go but managed to negotiate his way safely back. Wonder they don’t have a whole lot more accidents as the traffic whizzed by us as if we were standing still and throwing up sheets of water as they passed. No reflective strips on the railings separating the exit ramps from the motorway either and twice we nearly took an exit ramp when we didn’t want to. In fact in the rain and the dark the railings were next to impossible to see. Our road marking in Aussie are just so superior to these.
It was an even wetter day that we left Oostende and headed south through the Flanders countryside past fields where water lay in sheets and big stacks of beets stood beside the road. Past many crops of cauliflowers, and leeks and apple and pear orchards. Stopped at a roadside stall and got some lovely apples and pears quite cheap. We crossed from Belgium into France, though I missed the sign, with no border controls between these countries now it’s easy to miss the signs.
With some bright sunshine about we decided to spend a few hours in the old city of Chartres. Here the ancient Cathedral dominates the highest point and looks down upon all else. I could not find much information in English so I can only say that there has been a church here from around the 11th century but it could well have been long before that. It is a fairly large cathedral but nothing on the scale of Lincoln. It has two spires in front, one has a really tall ‘witches hat’ type roof, while the other is more of a tower with a steep pointed roof on top, they are both roughly the same height. High vaulted ceilings inside and a round window at each end of the transept. Quite plain architecture.
A stained glass image of the Virgin dressed in blue and known as the ‘blue virgin’ is in one of the windows and it survived a fire in the late 12th century that destroyed nearly everything else. All around the outside of the choir stalls there very good carvings that tell religious stories.
A stroll through the narrow streets with lots of small shops selling everything from fine chocolates to high fashion clothes and plenty of coffee shops, bars and restaurants, brought us to another church, St Pierre’s. It was closed. From here we walked along the canal with plenty of ducks eagerly awaiting someone to feed them, a couple of sleepy swans, and huge willow trees that most provide lovely shade in summer. Some old buildings along the canal are just about to tumble down they are in such a state of disrepair. Along the side of yet another church, St André, we could see that there had once been a large arch bridge across the canal. Just a small section remains incorporated into the wall of the church.
We read a sign about the Jews who once lived here. In the 11th century they were restricted to just one quarter of the town and in the 14th century they were expelled from the town altogether. One street is called Rue de la Massacre and a Pont (bridge) de la Massacre, and another pont says something about an ancient abattoir. There was once a tannery along the bank of the canal and a stained glass workshop. The textile industry was important here too. During our walk the sunshine gave up the battle and the rain tumbled down so that we got nicely wet.
Along the way we have passed through a great many villages. None of them are especially pretty and they don’t seem to have quite the character of the English ones. There is always a large church in the centre and usually a small square. There seems to be plenty of small shops but there doesn’t seem to be many people about. A few cars parked about but never anyone walking around the shops. Where are they all? Even when we have found a shopping centre and a supermarket there is only ever just a few people about no matter what the time of day:
Plenty of Christmas decorations around the place though. We have seen Santas outside of buildings, climbing up the walls, propped against road signs, above the streets and over the entrance to supermarkets. One we saw outside a house looked as if he was hang gliding without the hand glider.
I really should mention at this point that we have seen quite a few wind generating turbines not just today and not just in France but also up in Scotland and in Belgium. There was several along the coast from Dunkerque and up into Belgium and then we have seen several more groups of them as we travel south. Anything from 2 to 12 in a group: Up in Scotland we saw a lot too, usually only 2 to 4 in one area.
We travelled along the Loire valley from Blois to Saumur. This is supposed to be a really pretty area but I don’t suppose we are seeing it at the best time of year and the fact that it was tipping with rain didn’t help. The river though not really in flood appeared to be well above its normal level. Whether or not this is normal for this time of year I cannot say. The road we travelled along ran along the top of a levee bank so it seems that floods are expected here at some time. Beyond the narrow flood plain, a few hundred metres wide, there are low chalk cliffs. These cliffs are riddled with caves and the locals have made good use of them enclosing the mouth to make storage rooms, garages, and even homes. We saw shops, bars, restaurants and even a hotel all dug out of the cliff face.
There is a lot of bushland and trees growing along the river bank. At present some of those trees are standing in water. All are asleep but there is big clumps of mistletoe growing in them. The farm land is quite green and I have seen sheep and cattle grazing and a lot of new young crops that may be wheat or barley. There are also many fields growing another crop that I have not been able to identify. The villages we’ve passed through are just as bland as I mentioned earlier. The French don’t seen especially keen on maintenance and if something has been repaired then you can easily see where it was done..
After some thought I have finally decided that what is most lacking in these villages is paint. The buildings have been painted in earthy fauns and yellows but that was a very long time ago probably when they were built and nothing been done since. Don’t buy shares in a paint manufacturer in France: Shutters on windows that are not only falling off their hinges but falling apart too: Of course the insides of these places may be very nice I haven’t been inside any to see.
We passed a few Chateaux but none that were open to visitors from what I could see. Mostly they seemed in a similar state of disrepair as the rest of the buildings.
It was a Sunday when we came into Limoges and we intended to park the car and go for a wander about expecting the place to be quiet. Silly us! To start with it was tipping down with rain yet again, the streets in the city centre were full of parked cars and many streets were shut off because of a large market. Funny thing is we could see very few people actually walking about. We abandoned our plan and kept on going. I can’t honestly say that it looked to be an attractive city but then the rain kind of blurred things a bit too:
We have now left the flat country behind, Limoges is built on hills and from here on the hills got bigger, steeper, and the road wended it way about them. As usual we were following the smaller roads; all motorways in France are toll roads anyway so we didn’t want them. Making our way towards Tulle we passed through some large pine forests where there were large stacks of logs awaiting transport to a mill. Near Tulle we saw a lovely old railway viaduct with many arches. In summer it would have been almost completely hidden behind the foliage. Also in this vicinity we saw a new motorway bridge across a ravine. It was very high and quite long with the concrete pylons reaching down onto the floor of the ravine hundreds of metres below. Quite spectacular!
Tulle seemed quite a nice old city clustered along the river bank with high steep hills on both sides and the houses steeped back up them. The rain was tipping down yet again so we didn’t stop here either.
In one small village we crossed the upper reaches of the Dordogne River and soon came to the spectacular village of Rocamadour. This village clings to the steep high cliffs on one side of a narrow ravine. Quite suddenly you come to the top of a ravine and there, off to the right is the village built into the cliff edge. The road begins to descend soon entering a very small tunnel before doing a u-turn and heading back towards the village. We parked the car in the small car park at the entrance to the village. At this time of year there is only a few other cars here. In summer this car and bus park would only cater for a miniscule percentage of the vehicles that come here. There is a huge car park at the bottom of the ravine to accommodate the masses.
A very narrow street, one way traffic is possible, is lined with tourist shops, cafes, restaurants, etc, mostly closed today, being Sunday. This street slowly descends along the edge of the ravine for quite a way but the shops give out after a while and private houses carry on downwards. Above the shops is an old Chateau and high on the edge above everything else is the church. Steps lead right up through the Chateau to church, it’s quite a climb. There is a lift that operates part of the way, and a funicular railway that services the other part but neither of them is working now. You would wonder whatever persisted anyone to want to build a village in such a place. I expect that it started out as a monastery at some time in the dim and distant past. In summer it must be packed.
© Lynette Regan December 9th 2007