Loire Valley 9/22

28/9/22.  Visited the Amboise Castle a few minutes walk from we were staying.  This has lots of interesting history and they provided a tablet and app, histopad, that showed a virtual reality of the history and other information on the people associated with the place since the 12th century.  I learnt more than yesterday because of the tablet including that Mary Queen of Scots had spent time at the castle.  We went to a shop that offered wine tastings but the women had no English and there were no tasting notes so it wasn’t as informative as the other day. 

27/9/22.  Took the train to Onzain then walked to the Chateau Chaumont.  We spent the morning looking at the gardens in their annual garden festival.  There were a few outstanding ones but most were tedious or weird.  The chateau was huge and had housed royalty.  The stables were very well made.  There were many sculptures and art works on display.  Back at Amboise I sketched this house that looked very old made by bricks and Timbers squeezed between two more usual looking houses. 

26/9/22. Went to a wine tasting in the town that we had booked for New Zealand  the guide had worked on Waiheke and was very good.  We walked to Clos Luce where Da Vinci spent his last three years.  There were many displays of his art and designs in a park and an old building.  

25/9/22.  Cathy and Denise dropped us at the railway station at 8:30 am and we caught a train to Paris. Unfortunately it was the wrong train, fortunately it was coupled to the correct train so they ended up going to Paris together. We had to change seats because we were sitting in someone else’s seat. 

When we got to Paris we had about an hour to get to another station to catch the train to Amboise. Unfortunately we tried an Uber since that had worked well in Marseille. In Paris the app crashed or the driver cancelled it. The second driver took ages to arrive, Paris traffic is slow. So we got to the station just after our train had left.  We had to reschedule and get a later train that got us into Amboise 2 hours late.  The accommodation was good.  

This was not a good day for me. 

Provence 9/22

24/9/23.  Drove to Les-Baux-de-Provence.  This is a village on the top of a limestone outcrop.

It is hilly and easily defended. The outcrop was occupied in prehistoric times and has been built on many times subsequently.  It takes the best part of a day to walk around the ruins and visit the shops that cater to the enormous tourist trade.  It was quite today and a rewarding visit. We had lunch there then walked to a light show it a underground quarry https://www.carrieres-lumieres.com/

23/9/22. My birthday. Drove to the market in the village.

Then went to a local winery and had lunch at the Chapelle Saint Sixte.  We relaxed at the farmhouse around the pool, but I did not have a swim, then had dinner in the village.  

22/9/22. We had breakfast in our favourite cafe  and said goodbye to Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer.

 We drove to Arles where we spent a few hours walking around the town.  There are Roman ruins and many shops, including several photography shops. 

We drove to the Abbey-de-Montmajour which Van Gogh drew and where the film ‘A lion in Winter’ was filmed. We had lunch there but didn’t go in.  

We drove to our accommodation which is in the country and very beautiful.  It is five minutes drive to town. 

21/9/22.  Took a boat up the little Rhone to the ferry crossing.

Two fabulous flamingoes with cameras.  The pink colour is said to come from eating shrimps!

It was very windy but not unpleasant.  Went to see the runnings of the bulls in the arena at Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer this was very exciting and the 9 men razeteurs attempt to get the single bull in a circular arena to charge them so they can grab a cord tied to an antler before they leap oven a 1.5 m fence and up to a higher ledge around the seating.  This is necessary because occasionally the bull jumps the fence after them and they would not want to be in the way!  After the 8 bulls have had a go 6 white horses and riders come into the arena and they have a really fast stampede along barricaded town streets to somewhere. Exciting. 

Had a swim and dinner.  

20/9/22.  Drove to the Parc Ornitholoques where we saw many flamingos and a beaver.

 There were other birds and many plants I found interesting.  We drove via a ferry across the little Rhone to a town called Aigues-Mortes  This is a medieval fortified town within a well preserved town wall.  There were many high quality shops and we bought a colourful table cloth and a small bowl for the table.

19/9/22.  Walked around the old port in the morning.  There is an enormous museum inside a very old fortress and a modern building.  The marina was packed with boats, many classic  types and no huge luxury boats I could see.  We had breakfast coffee and croissants .  

We took an Uber to the airport where we got a rental.  Denise drove to Martigues where we had lunch , three king prawns with saffron rice and salad. 

We drove to the salt pans via a ferry across the Rhone near its mouth.  We drove to Saintes-Maries-de-la-mer. We had dinner at a restaurant Sue and I ordered something on the specials board which turned out to be stuffed squid ( it was not called Calamari anything).  It was rich and not quite what we were expecting.  

18/9/22  We took a train from Bath to Gatwick Airport via Reading.  We had to run for the train at Reading to avoid waiting an hour for the next one because the Bath train was late.  We met Cathy and Denise at the airport.  The flight to Marseille was late and we arrived there after 9pm. Cathy had arranged a taxi to our accommodation in the old port area.  There was very heavy security there which makes you wonder! 

Bath 9/22

18/9/22.  We had coffee in the Diana Cafe by the railway station and got some sandwiches to eat on the train.  This had many lovely tiles from Tunisia and Morocco on the walls and was run by a family from the Middle East.  We got two trains to Gatwick airport.  

17/9/22.  Walked around the city centre and liked the look of the 18C buildings.  Went to the museum inside on of the Royal Cresent.  

Met Sue’s cousins Tim and Lucy who she had not seen for 30 years.  Had lunch with them and Tim’s wife Joanna and son Oly and Lucy’s son Henry. Lovely people!  Walked with them an Barney the fox terrier in an adjacent park,  Then went to the Jane Austen experience for an hour. Had a pizza and then home.

16/9/22.  Drove 4.5 hours from St Ives to Bath on motorways mainly. This was very tiring for me. Sue managed to direct us through the backstreets of Bath to drop off the car. Then we walked along the canal towpath to a pub to wait till the accommodation was ready. By the time we got there at 3pm I was exhausted but we had to go to the Roman Baths where we had a timed entry booking  

The baths are worth visiting for their history (50AD) and their archeology.  It was quite crowded and I think Bath is a popular tourist town.  

We had Thai for dinner which was more interesting than most of the food we have been eating lately.

St Ives 9/22

15/9/22.  Drove to Mousehole.  Lovely village with an enclosed harbour. Had a crab sandwich for lunch.  We walked up to the start of the South West walking track towards Lands End.  

In the evening we went to a concert with Dan Walsh on banjo and Brooks Williams on resonator and acoustic,  both were very talented players and singers.

 Dan played a piece in tribute to  DEBASHISH BHATTACHARYA  the originator of “Calcutta slide guitar”, a very virtuosic piece which sounded most unlike a banjo.  I sketched the Barbara Hepworth outside the Guildhall.  For me this work epitomises the strong theme of art that seems central to St Ives  

14/9/22. Walked down town.  Took the train to Carbis Bay where we had lunch. Then took the train on to St Erth and straight back to St Ives.  Walked around the town again revisiting some galleries.  

In the evening we went to a concert by Rick Chappell and Barry Hunt. An entertaining evening with a mixture originals and covers. The waves were crashing against the seawall below the concert venue and breaking over the pathways. The building, made of stone, shook with crashing waves.

13/9/22. Drove to a dealer gallery sculpture garden we had found on line; entrance by appointment only.  Some bronze, bronze resin and stone.  Mostly smaller than a person and very traditional , so nothing innovative like the waiheke Headland biennial or brick bay sculpture trail.  It was raining so after viewing the offerings indoors the elegant Georgian country house we went out and got our shoes very wet!  We had got there via 3 miles of the famous single lane road where we had to reverse once to let another car through.  

We left and drove to Tintagel village and had lunch of half a pint and a pasty in a cold cafe.  We walked to the Tintagel headland and saw the 6th century and 13th century ruins. The landscape of plunging cliffs, barren rocks and the swirling sea was worth coming all the way for. Also it stopped raining and our shoes dried out and we bought some fudge to eat. The signage around the site was good and had us imagining ourselves as past of the action in the castle.

The legend is that King Arthur was conceived at Tintagel. That seems like too much information, especially since he probably didn’t even exist!  Richard the second, not THE Richard the second of England but of Cornwall built a castle here in the 13th century and played on the myth to give his reign more credibility.   Sue and Richard had been here 40 years ago, she noticed some changes like a lovely double cantilevered bridge.  

Drove back via Tescos where we got the ingredients for a stir fry. The traffic was better than yesterdays. We were going to see Padstow but ran out of time.  

12/9/22. Drove to the Eden Project.  This was started in 1999.  I was surprised by its size, the Rainforest Domes have huge trees and these can be seen from the top by climbing up to a platform.  The trees are well labelled and the gardeners helpful and friendly. Most of the species I have never seen before, like a mahogany tree.  One, Barringtonia, I had identified in Fiji a couple of months ago and I hadn’t expected to see it again so soon.  I would love to live close enough to visit every month  They are, however, planning a garden in Christchurch and in Victoria so I might get to see those on day.

The domes are a very impressive feat of engineering.  They are covered with hexagons made up of three layers of plastic inflated to provide insulation.  It took almost 2 hours to get there but it was worth it.  They have a 8.5 metre tall ceramic sculpture of a Cyanobacteria that shoots out smoke rings of fog in the shape of an “O” representing oxygen  Childrem were having fun trying to grab these.  This was stunning!

Had dinner in the local pub  Sue ordered a starter of whitebait on bread. When they arrived they were the size of small sprats and deep fried in a crumb; nothing like whitebait fried in butter like at home. I don’t think the food was up to much, the couple next to us with the bulldog complained about their food and left without paying. I got a tummy bug.  Will not be going back there.  

11/9/22.  Drove to Falmouth and visited the Maritime museum.  I was not in a happy mood having had to stop and find a toilet on the way.  I found a village Ponsanooth where I thought there might be a cafe where we could have a cafe and a pee. No such luck. But I peed in a public playground in a patch of prostrate plants possibly periwinkles on the perimeter in private. I got my feet wet on the grass.  On the way back to the car and saw the village had a prominently displayed defibrillator but NO PUBLIC TOILET !

The museum was underwhelming, nothing much about the wars for example, but good loos!  The little red boat I sketched is called “Fathers Day” and had an interesting story.  It has two mainsails off the same mast as the boom cannot go across without decapitating the sailer. 

The museum did not seem to have vessels for tours as we have in Auckland Maritime Museum . It did however have something I haven’t heard off before. There was a tank with eight RC yachts and a laminar flow wind setup across the tank. The boats were fairly responsive to the tiller and hauling in. This might the the beginnings of a career in sailing for some kid. They had Ben Ainslie’s Olympic sailing dinghy on display. 

We had a look at some galleries and saw some classic yachts racing on the harbours.  I might have enjoyed Falmouth more if the weather had been better and my socks drier.  I did buy some reasonably price Richter shoes. I brought a pair many years ago in Auckland and they lasted a long time. 

People take boat tours up and down the river but these did not seem to be plying their trade today.  

10/9/22. Visited the Barbara Hepworth museum and sculpture garden.  This was a beautiful quiet place with her home, workshop and works and is there because she set up a trust to display the many pieces and her home before she died.  I wondered what John would have thought of it. 

We went on to Tate St Ives gallery where there was a Rothko and a Pollock to see. More of Barbara’s work too. It is a great building built on the site of an old gasworks which was right on the edge of a beautiful beach! There was an exhibition by Ad Minoliti on gender issues   He had lots of original and low print run “zines” with personal and personal statements on gender issues.   There is something special for me about holding a small book that someone has made by hand and put out there. I wonder if ever I will be brave enough to do that. 

I have just discovered why there are so many NZ plants in St Ives They were collected and planted in the Scilly Islands off the coast by Arthur Dorrien-Smith in the 20th century.  He was a philanthropist and innovator.  

We walked down to the water amongst the marooned boats. There is a street festival on.  We had a drink at the Western Hotel where I sketched  these performers.  There must have been two dozen performers taking their turns. The duo below did “The Letter” Bill Withers and “Only living boy in NY” Paul Simons. One singer started up and after a few versus others would join in accompanying and harmonising.  I saw a weathered hoarding announcing Chris Smithers had been here in June.  That was a concert I would have loved to have been at!

We had dinner in the Cornish Deli which is the third best in St Ives according to TripAdviser.

In the evening we caught a indie folk duo called “Our Atlantic Roots”

. They played in the parish church St Ia. We hoped to be able to catch a bus up the hill after but there was no bus apparent so we walked for about 50 minutes. Fortunately it was not raining. 

 9/9/22  Went to St Michael’s Mount, an island accessible only at low tide by a causeway  We got over and back without getting our feet wet. After we returned the tide went over the causeway and stopped people passing, they had to take a boat.  

The castle was great and there are many rooms and the chapel that can be seen. The garden was full of subtropical as like agapanthus, wild ginger and other plants that are weeds in NZ. There are, oddly, lots of NZ native plants in St Ives and more in the castle gardens. I noticed lots of cabbage trees and flax in every second garden.  The castle had as well, Chatham Is Forget me not, toetoe, Griselinia, Olearia, Pachystegia, Coprosma, Parsonia, Corokia and perhaps others   

We had a crab lunch at Marazion where we had parked the car.  We drove to Penzance and saw the Admiral Benbow Inn which May have influenced Robert Louis Stephenson‘s Treasure island but did not go in.  

8/9/22. Raining this morning and we walked down to the

town between showers. We stopped at the Leech Pottery where Len Castle spent a year and took his learning back to NZ. We went around some of the many galleries. I was admiring some powerful line drawings and the artist, John Higgins, talked to me. 

We had dinner in “The Golden Lion” where the TV had the news of the Queens failing health did not seem too worried.

It seems every 2nd garden here has a cabbage tree or a flax or both. Seems out of place.  

Exeter 9/22

7/9/22. We took a bus to the car hire. We drove to Hayton Rocks which were a 30 min walk to great views over Dartmoor. It felt more like autumn weather than summer. Went in to Widecombe a village known for its annual fair and had a pub lunch  then off to Grimspound a Bronze Age settlement with a wall and several houses made from granite boulders.  This was on a single lane road that had worried me but was not too bad as there was not much traffic on it. There were however sheep, cattle and ponies roaming and even laying on the road which we had to drive around! We drove back via Dartmeet a picturesque spot on the Dart river  There was a two hour drive to St Ives mostly on motorways  I had looked at the last part of the journey on google street view and so did not miss a turning

6/9/22. We took a free “Red Coat” tour around the quayside  Exeter was a busy port due to the Wool trade  Very large ships came up the canal that was dug in the 16th century   We walked home via the catacombs and got wet in the rain  

5/9/22.We walked up the town to Exeter University. This is fairlymodern. We looked at the Bill Douglas Cinema Museum. This has early pre cinematic devices that showed moving images without the use of projectors. Douglas was a producer and director and some of his films include these devices. There was a sculptor trail including two Barbara Hepworth bronzes I sketched. We had a cheap chicken lunch at the University cafe. In the afternoon we visited the cathedral which has the longest continuous roof of its type anywhere. 

 4/9/22. We took a boat from the quay to Double Locks and had a pub lunch. I had roast beef which was a Sunday only choice. Very good. We travelled back. The trip involves two swing bridges opened by the two hands on board. We visited the local museum which was much more manageable than the huge museums in London  

 3/9/22. We took a train from Paddington to Exeter, about 2 hours. We walked to our accommodation close to the city centre. We walked around the shops then got a Cornish pasty (two for the price of one) for dinner.