Tuesday, April 26, 2011

Wownd the wugged wocks

So it may be the south of France but it's not hot and the bathing belles on the beach all have wet suits on.

We are now in Biarritz and spent a day wandering the quiet (Easter Monday) streets, enjoying stumbling across little discoveries of shops, alleys, beaches and views.

It's a great town with a lot too it and a lot nearby. The beach front is absorbing with the mix of old and new buildings, the great sandy beaches and the way the sea rolls in and bounces off the rocks. It's not been stormy but there is plenty of wave action for the surfers who range across all ages and skills. There is plenty of evidence of sea misadventures too though it's not yet been clear enough for us to climb the lighthouse. Something for the weekend sir!














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Monday, April 25, 2011

Dune du Pyla

The biggest sand dune in Europe...pretty astounding at approx 100 metres high at its peak, 500m wide and 2k long with a forest on one side and the Atlantic ocean on the other.

The dune is slowly engulfing the edge of the forest as sand is driven out of the ocean into this giant heap.













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Sunday, April 24, 2011

Checkpoint

So 12 weeks in to my change of diet I am 24 pounds lighter than my starting point. My losses lately are slow and thats ok, as long as I am losing its worth it.

However, this Saturday we left on a trip so the note above is a reminder of where I got to in case I get too far off the rails!

We are now in France and eating per diet is a) difficult with all the incredible produce, baked goods and coffee and b) a missed opportunity to savour a rich part of the countries culture. The plan is therefore to balance the two needs, not go crazy but enjoy what is on offer within reason.

After a mad morning of packing at home we hit the train, plane and automobile literally. A train to Gatwick (35 minutes), flight to Bordeaux (1 hour 15 minutes) and drove to near Arcachon (45 minutes) for an over night stay before we will move further south.

Our over night was at a Quality Suites (I can almost hear the intake of breath but check it out below). It was brand new with a restaurant attached. And wild and interesting it was too, all white plastic and purple neon.

We were too tired to stray far and so hit the hotel restaurant which was past the wine tasting cave (I kid you not) behind a silver curtain. I stress I was not on anything though I did feel I should be. We were welcomed, seated outside (in the car park patio) for a pre dinner glass of wine and gazed out at the industrial estate we had found the place in.

Once to food, the scenery mismatch continued with my enjoying foie gras (sorry Angela) for the first time and brochette de coqulet while M had white asparagus with a green asparagus coulis and then cotelette d'agneau all of which was lovely. Though pleasantly replete we couldn't resist our waiters suggestion to try the strawberries with strawberry and mint jelly and strawberry mousse/foam and needless to say it was incroyable.

All I can say is if you want quality stay at the Quality Suites in teste-la-buch...yeah I know, even the name of the town sounds like I am making this shtuff up. But look it up if you don't believe me.

Till the next time, I'm out.

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Sunday, April 17, 2011

More spring

Past their best but still quite incredible colours on a quiet Sunday morning...and yes the clock is wrong except for twice a day.





TIOT

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Noticed that...

...spring had arrived a couple of weeks ago but the blossom on the trees is amazing. Maybe I am older and so notice different things or the UK is warmer earlier but the colours are amazing. This doesn't do it justice but it's all I have got for now. More as I have it.




TIOT

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Dynamic Blog views for those interested

Blogger currently offers five dynamic views for its public blogs.

Flipcard available here
Mosaic available here
Sidebar available here
Snapshot available here
Timeslide available here

To translate for any blog use the following
Flipcard: available at [blogURL]/view/flipcard
Mosaic: available at [blogURL]/view/mosaic
Sidebar: available at [blogURL]/view/sidebar
Snapshot: available at [blogURL]/view/snapshot
Timeslide: available at [blogURL]/view/timeslide

Check them out if so inclined.