179. Cheese, seaplanes & San Sebastian

16th March 2012. News has just filtered through to these parts that Ossau-Iraty - a cheese made from ewe's milk in the Pays Basque - was awarded the title of the Best Cheese in the World (English version here) in November last year at the BBC Good Food Show in Birmingham (UK). To be honest, with a product like cheese that's so inherently diverse in all its forms, I fail to see how one cheese can ever be awarded the accolade of the Best Cheese in the World. I know I've often said here that as far as I'm concerned that Vacherin Mont d'Or is the tops but it's all so subjective and in the end it all comes down to personal preference. I suspect that marketing plays a huge part in this award and I'm sure that the makers of Ossau-Iraty will experience a significant upswing in sales over the next few months. It's a cheese I'm quite familiar with and I must admit that it's nice enough but, eating it, the thought has never crossed my mind that it is the World's Best Cheese. It's served here with black cherry jam. (A range of other Basque products available online here)

I came across this blog earlier and it sums up very well the author's views of food in the Pays Basque and I wouldn't argue with a word of it.

Born in the wrong decade? Charmed by old aircraft? Does the romance of pioneering aviation resonate even just a little with you? The roar of radial engines? Yes? Well there's hope for you yet.. make a note on your calendar for these dates - 17-20 May 2012. There's an International Seaplane gathering planned at Biscarrosse in Les Landes (map here).

Here's the Dornier Do 24 ATT (unfortunately with 3 turbo-props, not piston engines) that conjures up some of the magic of those early machines. 

Watching this Consolidated Catalina taxying on water reminds me of a half sunken log. I imagine a take-off in choppy water could be a little sporty!

More videos here.

Last Thursday saw the passing of one of the giants of the rugby world - Mervyn Davies aka Merv the Swerve. Remember those great Welsh rugby teams of the 70s? They played some of the best rugby ever seen anywhere - no ifs or buts. He was one of its stalwarts (& they were all stalwarts) and eventually captained the side. He was part of the only Lions side ever to win a series in New Zealand (1971). In his 46 international appearances for Wales and the Lions, Davies was on the losing side on only nine occasions. With Wales, his record was 26 wins, eight defeats and four draws; with the British and Irish Lions, five wins, one defeat and two draws. RIP Mervyn.

18th March 2012. The weather conditions were favourable for a sortie out on the lower reaches of Adour yesterday so we took a couple of VIIIs and a IV down under the bridges through town and out onto the big river. We were in a new carbon fibre VIII which was very stiff and balanced well and we set off in fine style past the outdoor Saturday market towards, onto the Adour and down river towards the sea. Unfortunately, as we approached the navigable channel, we encountered a rolling swell which in our sort of boat was not good news. So, we cut our losses and returned to the Nive which felt like a flat calm after the Adour. As it was going well, we rowed past the pontoon and continued upstream for a few km before returning home. 16km.

Well done to Wales for taking the Grand Slam in this year's 6 Nations Rugby Tournament, winning 16-9 against France yesterday in Cardiff. England finished second after a convincing 30-9 win against a depleted Irish XV while Scotland picked up the Wooden Spoon after falling victim to Italy 13-6.

To finish up with, here's the late lamented Keith Floyd having fun across the border in San Sebastian. He's absolutely spot on when he says that people here (on both sides of the border) talk about food with a rare passion. Whenever we've had friends around for dinner, the conversation inevitably turns to a discussion of what they're eating, what they have eaten or what they're going to eat. People are expected to have opinions on all the different kinds of meat, fish, poultry, cheese, wine  & bread and where best to buy it all - or where best to eat it. Anyway, don't let me keep you from the pleasure of Keith's company:

178. The mysterious Château d'Ilbarritz

12th March 2012. What a great heart-warming performance yesterday by England in beating France 24-22 in Paris in the penultimate round of this year's 6 Nations rugby tournament (the best sporting competition in the world in my view!). Watching the teams singing the national anthems in the last few minutes before the kick-off, I must admit that the republican in me is drawn to "La Marseillaise" - one of the great national anthems - whereas I have to say that England's "God Save the Queen" leaves me totally unmoved. 

However, once that whistle is blown, and the white shirts start mixing it with the blue ones, then I become a 100% fully committed supporter of England (albeit from my armchair!). I can't imagine a moment when I could think of supporting any other country. While I have nothing but total respect and admiration for Martin Johnson as a player, I'm afraid that under his guidance England stuttered badly - all too often the ball went sideways. With the benefit of hindsight I think he showed too much loyalty to the elder statesmen of the England squad. And then there were those off the pitch banana skins..

England's try scorers -
Ben Foden, Tom Croft and Manu Tuilagi 

On the other hand, his successor Stuart Lancaster, the interim coach, has picked players based on their current form and they are playing an attractive brand of attacking rugby that I, and many others, have waited many a year to see them play. The new coach has transformed a pedestrian and somewhat unimaginative England side into one with growing self-belief and the confidence to move the ball quickly with a refreshing directness from the breakdown out to the lively backs. Hopefully the England RFU will confirm his appointment in the next few days. 

France are no dummies however - they were the beaten finalists (some say unfairly) in last year's Rugby World Cup and yesterday's match was the first home defeat for them in the Six Nations since they were last beaten there 4 years ago (again by England). In the end, and with only a couple of minutes remaining, Trinh-Duc attempted a drop goal that just failed to clear the cross bar. If he'd been successful with that kick, France might have won by a point. By such narrow margins are matches like these won or lost. I think a win would have flattered France as England clearly were the better side, scoring 3 tries to a late French one. Here are the highlights:

I also think that England were unfairly penalised by the referee Alain Rolland. I think a neutral ref should have been found for this game - Mr Rolland has a French father! If the tables were turned, I can't imagine that France would have been content to accept a referee who was half English - so I think his selection by the IRFU (?) was unwise. Here's a much better quality video of the complete match:

We watched the match with some French friends in Biarritz (Madame had to keep nudging me to keep quiet!) and afterwards we all went for a blowy walk along the sea front just underneath the Château d'Ilbarritz (not far from the new Cité de l'Océan).

The Château d'Ilbarritz is a truly magnificent house located high up on a hill overlooking the sea with the kind of views out to the west across the bay to Spain that estate agents dream of. It was constructed between 1895-7 for Baron Albert de l'Espée whose family were heirs to an immense fortune founded on steel.

In the closing years of the 19th century, medical science was of the opinion that fresh sea air was the universal cure for many ailments and so Baron de l'Espée decided that there was no better place to have a house built than on the Côte Basque. So far so good! The Baron acquired a massive 60 hectares (148 acres) plot of land "unpolluted by other people" 2 kms to the south of the glamorous seaside resort of Biarritz where his new house would stand overlooking the blue Atlantic waters of the Golfe de Gascogne (Bay of Biscay). However, this would be no ordinary house. The Baron was, to say the least, something of a character and has been described elsewhere as a fabulously wealthy, mad, megalomaniac, hypochondriac, latter day Monte Cristo. Passionate about pipe organs, he had the Château designed to accommodate the largest pipe organ ever built (below) for a private client and there he would play Wagner with the loud pedal pressed to the floor and with the windows wide open! This organ is now to be found in what is probably the most photographed church in France - Sacré-Coeur in Montmartre (more here).

It's impossible to imagine the deafening impact of the "Ride of the Valkyries"  played on a large pipe organ like this in a private house - with the windows thrown wide open, the sound of the thundering surf outside, the flickering candlelight throwing wild shadows, the diapason of the mighty organ ringing out across the waves, the tormented face of the Baron in his own private moonlit ecstasy..

The Baron would surely have included this next piece in his repertoire - Wagner's "Tannhauser Overture"  played here magnificently by Jonathan Scott on a similar 4 manual instrument. Strap yourselves in and turn your volume up into the red zone for maximum effect!

And here is the Baron's celebrated organ installed at the Sacré-Coeur Basilica, Paris:  

What the locals made of all this is not recorded but the Baron may possibly have been the original inspiration for the Phantom of the Opera! There's more of the curious story of the Baron and his lady friend Biana Duhamel here (on a motorcycling web site of all places).

During WWII, the Château served as the German Headquarters on the Côte Basque. Scroll almost halfway down this link to see the Château d'Ilbarritz and other major buildings on the Côte Basque that were requisitioned by the Germans during WWII.

It appears that the Château d'Ilbarritz is for sale.

It's always interesting to see a town you're familiar with through the eyes of someone else. We'd not visited this particular stretch of coast before and so walking along the coastal path with the high spring tide just yards away was very pleasant indeed. There are a couple of restaurants here too - the Blue Cargo and La Plancha - that face directly onto the sea - it's hard to imagine that they could be any closer. Either of these look perfect for a summer's evening and we'll definitely be going there when the evenings are warmer. Having just found this link for the Blue Cargo I'll amend that to a definite maybe..

Returning to our friends' house via a tangle of narrow unmarked streets, our host (a former fighter pilot and a native Biarrot) took us on a quick guided tour of parts of Biarritz that we normally never find ourselves in - pointing out to us Serge Blanco's anonymous-looking house tucked discreetly away in a quiet area for example. Needless to say, there are some very attractive neighbourhoods there. (ker-ching!) He also pointed out that the gently curving Porte de Biarritz (left) we were on had been built on the path of the former branch line that led from the mainline station at Biarritz-La Négresse to the town centre station (above) at Biarritz-Ville (known by all here as the Gare du Midi) and thought by many to be the most beautiful and elegant of all French railway stations (now transformed into a splendid theatre). The trains would arrive at the level of the clock in the photo above and then the passengers would descend the stairs down to the road level. In the heyday of Biarritz, this is how the crowned heads of state, the titled from all over Europe and the rich and famous would arrive to take their carriages to their villas and hotels.

Following the proliferation of the railway across Europe, Biarritz became one of the destinations of choice in the 19th century. The advent of the railway made travel to the extreme south west of France a practical proposition for the first time and the rapid expansion of the European rail network had a knock-on effect on the development of the Côte Basque. What had been a quiet Basque fishing village was about to be transformed into the Biarritz that we know today. The railway opened up the region to wealthy Parisiens and others - such as the Baron de l'Espée - and the coast was never quite the same again. The English gentry also came here in droves - especially in winter - leaving a permanent mark in the form of golf, rugby (more) - and tea rooms!

13th March 2012. I was still in my dressing gown and unshaven at 9.30am on Monday morning as I was watching a repeat of Sunday's France vs England 6 Nations match on BBC to try and understand all the penalty decisions that went against England and, if I'm honest, to re-live the hard-fought and well-deserved win in Paris.

The council has decided to put all overhead wires underground and EDF (the electricity company) is taking advantage of the opportunity to rewire our mains supply. Last year it was the turn of an adjacent avenue and it took around 4 months for all the work to be completed. So it was that at 9.30am the doorbell rang and I opened the door to a young man with a camera who announced himself to me as a lawyer. He explained that he was there to talk about the work that's just about to start in the avenue. He wanted to take 'before' photographs to ensure that properties were properly restored to their former condition when the work is finally completed. If there is any damage to property resulting from their work, restorative action can be taken based on his photographic records. I must admit to being very pleasantly surprised and reassured by this initiative. Well done Bayonne!  

Nice outing this evening in a quad sculler.. did 14km. Here's a link about rowing that explains the sport well.

177. Spring in the Pays Basque

29th February 2012. As it was a warm afternoon (somewhere around 16-17C) I wheeled my bike out for the first time this year, pumped up the tyres and, after putting a few drops of oil on the chain, set off through town to ride along the bank of the river Nive south as far as Ustaritz. With it still being school holidays, there were quite a few mums out there with small children on bikes wobbling every which way and, of course, the customary roller bladers, dog walkers, joggers and other cyclists.

I was determined to do the outward leg without stopping and, to be honest, I felt OK. Returning was a different story however. Even with a gel pad on the seat, I felt every bump, cobblestone, ridge and pothole on the way back. Was I ever glad to finally pull up at the house after around 24km or so.. (I know, it's hardly Tour de France territory) That shower felt good! 

At one point, the cycle lane goes under the main A63 autoroute that runs into Spain and you would never guess from the volume of freight traffic that we're supposed to be in an economic crisis. There seemed to be a constant stream of articulated lorries spaced every 50 yards either heading towards or coming out of Spain. 

Time for some Mark Knopfler:

  

1st March 2012. I had a very pleasant stroll around Biarritz this morning - there weren't too many people  about in the bright sunshine as I explored the maze of old streets with their dazzlingly white houses above the old port. I emerged near the newly re-opened Aquarium where I stopped to take in the stunning view of the inviting blue sea as it rolled into the bay, dominated by the stately presence of the Hotel du Palais. I couldn't help thinking how lucky we'd been to find ourselves exactly where we'd always dreamt of living.

Meeting up with Madame later on, the plan was to have a lunch of grilled sardines at Casa Pedro in the Port des Pêcheurs (right) but when we got down there, it was closed due to some re-surfacing work. We thought we'd try Bar Jean up by the market but it wasn't our day - all the tables outside were taken - so we found a table inside. They have a new menu and grilled sardines are now a wallet busting 12€ - they're usually 8-9€. I wonder if the market price is up with it being early in the season.

El Presidente was in town today and the usual suspects (Militant Parti Socialiste (PS) and Basque separatists) turned up in force to give him a warm welcome - that is, if you call jeering, pushing and shoving your Head of State a warm welcome. Displays like the scenes shown on national television are not normally seen in one of the major European nations - they're of the sort usually reserved for some fly-blown Third World state. (search on YouTube for Sarkozy Bayonne if you really wish to see the Opposition's  interpretation of democracy here.) In the interests of his safety he had to take refuge in a bar* for some time. I think the response from President Sarkozy was measured, balanced and statesmanlike.
* I think I've used this same line myself in the past! 

2nd March 2012. I came across this slideshow of French villages this morning. It struck me that one of the reasons that many of us are attracted to these ancient villages is because we look at them as if we're in a living Time Machine.. They show us how we used to live a simpler, more fulfilling life before the advent of rows of identical brick houses, sodium street lights, double yellow lines painted all over our roads and all the rest of it - before we lost our sense of community.

3rd March 2012. Beautiful morning for the river - it was dry, warm and sunny and so I rode down to the club on my bike only to find that I was press-ganged into an VIII this morning rigged for rowing (as opposed to sculling). It was what could best be called a 'mixed ability' crew and unfortunately we weren't ever able to control the balance properly, despite numerous exercises designed to reveal the culprit(s)! This made for an uncomfortable sortie. Despite that, we continued up river as far as the passerelle (footbridge) at Villefranque which turned it into an 18km outing.

This afternoon I walked into town and noticed a gathering in front of the Monument aux Morts. There were military units in their kepis and maroon berets, a large turn-out of proud old soldiers with their standards and a fair number of politicians including Marc Laffineur, the Minister for Anciens Combattants. He stepped up to the microphone and made an excellent speech which even mentioned the contribution made by the Réseau Comète. A lady next to me said it was much better than the events of the other day (referring to the demo against the President while he was in Bayonne). I had to agree with her.

4th March 2012. Really looking forward to the next instalment of the Six Nations rugby this afternoon.. it's France - Ireland. This game was cancelled at the last minute in Paris a couple of weeks ago as the pitch was bone hard in the freezing conditions. (oddly, the Stade de France doesn't have undersoil heating?)

Who do I want to win? Easy!! Most people have two teams - the one that they owe their allegiance to by virtue of their nationality - and then a favourite. My second team is, and always has been, Ireland with legendary Irish players back in the day like Mike Gibson, Willie John McBride and Fergus Slattery lighting up the stage wherever they played.

Ireland's opponents today - France - weren't convincing against Scotland and they're without the injured Maxime Médard, their great full-back. Clement Poitrenaud plays at 15 and his handling is suspect under the high ball so I would expect that Ireland will use the up-and-under to try and force an error or three out of him. I've always been a big fan of William Servat, the powerful French hooker known for his bullocking runs with the ball in hand, but curiously, he starts on the bench - perhaps to be brought on with 20 minutes to go. I expect Ireland to win this one!

7th March 2012. The Irish XV gave it their best on Sunday.. I was fairly confident that they'd be able to build on their 17-6 half time lead to seal the match - but France raised their game in the second half and it finished as a 17-17 draw. I usually find draws unsatisfying but in this case I think both sides could take some positives out of this great match. I thought Ireland's Tommy Bowe had an absolutely electric game.. he was so close to scoring a couple more interception tries like the one he did score. He made that one look so easy. There aren't many others around with his speed of thought and the ability to execute. A rare talent. Here he is scoring his second.. According to a few armchair pundits, he should have done this or that - but what a try!   

On Sunday afternoon we're off to our friends in Biarritz to watch the France-England match. This promises to be a fascinating confrontation. Under the guidance of Stuart Lancaster, England's interim coach, the "Quinze de la Rose" (as the French commentators persist in calling England) are playing with some verve, dash and lack of fear for once. I thought they took mighty Wales to the wire in their last game with Wales only scoring their winning try with 5 minutes left on the clock. And France, as they showed against Ireland, are capable of great things once they decide to play. Young Owen Farrell should have a big influence on the game but I also expect France's Thierry Dusautoir (aka the Dark Destroyer) will be more than keen to make sure he doesn't. Extremely difficult to predict a result but I have to hope for an English win. 

Changing the subject completely - I finally worked out this morning how to centralise the blog title at the top of the page.. This has been bugging me on and off for months. There was no easy solution - ie, click on this or that button - nope, I had to get into the HTML code and insert a new line of code.. all very nerve-wracking in case I managed to screw things up completely.

8th March 2012. I took the dog down through the Place des Basques this morning to a couple of parks that  face the river Adour. A few council workmen were busy tidying things up after the winter here and everything was looking spruce. All the bushes, shrubs and trees had been neatly manicured in the French fashion, lawn edgings were well-defined and tree roots were covered in yellow sand. The litter bins are emptied regularly here and it is rare to see people dropping litter away in the same prolifically casual manner as is now the norm in the UK. There are dispensers of free plastic bags just about everywhere for déjections canines but I'm afraid using them appears to be beyond some people. So the motto for today is keep your dancing shoes on when out and about!

10th March 2012. Very nice sortie this morning.. it was cold first thing ~3°C.. Went out in a mecs coxless IV en pointe.. (sweep rowing) Getting in the boat I somehow managed to dip a leg (up to my knee) in a very cold river - so I had a fairly soggy outing. Did 14km and overtook an VIII on the return so came home feeling pleased with ourselves! After that, we had a very welcome apéro..

This evening on France 4 it's the Under 20s France vs England rugby as a precursor to the main event tomorrow. The faux English accents were much in evidence this morning!

Watching the rugby this afternoon - Wales v Italy followed by Ireland v Scotland - all this talk of "Crouch" .... "Touch" .... "Pause" .... "Engage" put me in mind of that old joke about Australian male foreplay - the one where he nudges his sheila in the ribs and asks "You awake?"

176. Biarritz dazzles

18th February 2012. We're gradually emerging from the icy grip of the cold spell that's affected most of Western Europe for the past few weeks. We've been more or less housebound for all that time - it having been too cold to venture out much further than the dog's usual walk. This morning it was 4°C as I left to go down to the river.. and at the riverside it felt very cold indeed. The river was low (low tide) which meant that the frost-covered ramp leading down to the pontoon sloped at a perilously steep angle. Despite the cold however, there were healthy numbers of us down there and enough turned up to be able to put 3 VIIIs out on the water plus 1 or 2 IVs and some sculling boats. I went out as stroke with a mixed crew in an VIII sculler (an octuple). This was my first outing for 2 weeks and I can still feel the after-effects late in the afternoon.. (creak, groan) Once we'd warmed up, we did some interval training - which made the time pass! In the end, we did 14km.

New apartment block

This afternoon we went for a walk around Biarritz with the dog. The sea front was blissfully free of the usual hordes and it was very fresh with a dazzling light. We weren't able to take the dog into the legendary Patisserie Confiserie Miremont so we stopped instead at the Plaza Hotel and sat outside in the sunshine. Think it was ~11-12°C. Walking down the Avenue Reine Victoria there was a gap on the buildings as though a tooth had been pulled. Sure enough, the house that had been there before has now completely vanished - the adjacent buildings were marked with the outline of its roof - and so no prizes for guessing what's going to replace it? Yes, yet another apartment block (above) is going up in its place. And, of course, the Town Hall won't have complained to the developers as the new apartment block will bring in more tax than the house it replaced. So gradually, the old buildings that give the town its identity are slowly disappearing. Just across the road, there used to be an old garage that had been there since the dawn of the automobile age. The closure signs went up last year and then a few months ago it disappeared in a cloud of dust and the huge site is being developed to take another apartment block.

20th February 2012. Went to see Meryl Streep in the "The Iron Lady" yesterday in Biarritz. What a stunning performance by her and one that will surely be marked with a well-deserved Oscar. I think it is the finest acting performance on film that I've ever seen. Despite that though, I came away from the cinema with mixed feelings. For a woman whose achievements could fill a six part series I found it strange that the filmmakers had chosen to concentrate on Baroness Thatcher's present state of health - a condition which, after all, she has no control over. In my view, the focus of the film should have been on those events that she was in control over. Of those, there is no shortage at all. To make a film during her lifetime that shows her suffering from Alzheimers is, in my view, totally disrespectful, ungallant, highly intrusive and a mean-spirited portrayal of the greatest Prime Minister of my lifetime. I don't believe any country other than Britain would portray a living former Prime Minister like this.

I had the great good fortune to hear Mrs Thatcher speak on one occasion. During the run-up to the General Election in 1979 I went to a political meeting (my first and last) as I knew she was in the area and I suspected that she might well make an appearance. Halfway through a turgid speech by the clueless local candidate (a walking cure for insomnia if ever there was one) I was contemplating slashing my wrists when I heard a commotion off to my right. All I could see was the multiple flashing of cameras in the doorway as a jostling crowd entered the hall. In the middle of all the TV lights, flashing cameras, minders & political agents there bobbed a blonde head - Mrs T was in the building! She made her up to the stage amid cheering applause and she took the microphone from the hapless stammering numpty and turned to us.

She spoke for about 10-15 minutes and she was totally electrifying. I've never forgotten the impact of her clarity of thought, the  power of her arguments and the sheer force of character and belief with which she expressed them that day. I've often been put in mind of this experience when reading about the Third Reich. Mrs Thatcher was not renowned for her great oratorial skills and yet she was able to inspire me like no other before or since. It goes some way to explain the extraordinary hold that Hitler - an acknowledged master of the spoken word - had on an entire nation.

A couple of years later I had a chance meeting with her and Denis out in the boondocks - she was charm personified. She polarised opinion - not many were neutral - and I think the British media and the political chatterati were and still are merciless in their assessment of her. She was that rarest of political animals - a conviction politician - one who actually believed in what she said and was prepared to fight for her beliefs -  the word compromise wasn't in her vocabulary. Once elected, she was a breath of fresh air after the grey men before her. A great lady and she will be remembered long after all her lily-livered detractors have been forgotten - if that hasn't already happened. This is the Margaret Thatcher I remember - not an old lady unfortunately suffering in her final declining years alone.

21st February 2012. Back to the present. I was browsing the web looking for a particular image of Basque culture (I'll get back to you with this as soon as I've found it) when I came across this photo.. it's of the Old Port of Biarritz and there's nowhere better for a quick lunch of sardines à la plancha and sangria than here.

Apparently the Duke and Duchess of Windsor selected Biarritz as their favourite holiday destination in the 40s - Wallis famously instructed her staff to "Chill the champagne, pack the pearls, and tune up the Bugatti" before setting off. We're no different! (ahem) 

I've often mentioned the quality of the light here. There's even a marked difference in intensity just between travelling the few minutes between Bayonne and Biarritz. When reading about Van Gogh's experience when he moved south from Paris to Provence, it was the brilliance of the light that made such a profound impact on him and his work. Living in England (like living inside a Tupperware container as Bill Bryson once memorably observed), I couldn't understand what he meant until we moved here. For example, when I walked into town yesterday I needed sunglasses. I think the atmosphere at this time of year is clearer than later in the year and the sun isn't as high so the sunlight is unfiltered and it slants straight into your eyes. For some reason, this factor seems magnified at the coast.

Here's something that made me smile!

We can't be too many weeks away now from those first warm days of spring when we can start living outside again - this being one of the undeniable pleasures of life down here. To whet your appetite, take a look at this video that celebrates all that's good about food in the Pays Basque:

Here's a reminder of some of the best known products here in the Pays Basque and Béarn:

Visiting with children? No problem..

If you prefer to escape the hectic life on the coast and seek out the tranquillity of the mountains, there's no shortage. Even at the height of the season, you can have a mountain or a view all to yourself.

If your knees aren't up to a close encounter with the hills, there are so many interesting towns and villages to visit - we first visited this region over twenty years ago and we still haven't seen everything - far from it! 

Basque culture.. where to start? I've kept away from this in all my previous posts, mainly because I can't identify with any aspect of it: it's impenetrable to outsiders - even to French. Have a look at this bizarre clip of Basques from across the border. I believe these customs stem from pagan times. (If you google Joaldunak there's more on this)  

Here are some more, on the other side in the Spanish Basque country:

I'm still discovering the odd musical gem from years gone by. Here's "Waterfalls" - a Paul McCartney song that somehow passed me by the first time around.

23rd February 2012. First time down at the river during the week for a few months.. There were enough of us to put a coxless IV together - the difference this time we were rowing, ie, with only 1 oar each, as this crew from the club (in 1905!) are demonstrating below.

Looking at the others, they were all competent oarsmen so I knew in advance that we should have a worthwhile sortie. We said we'd warm up during the up-river leg and after the turnaround we'd row intervals. The plan for the return leg was that we'd start with 5 'normale' strokes, followed by 5 'rapide' (in England this would be called full pressure), then 10 & 10, 15 & 15, 20 & 20 , 25 & 25, 30 & 30 (I'm getting tired again just thinking about this!) and then the same thing in reverse back down again all the way to 5 & 5. We just managed to fit all that in before we were at the pontoon again. Phew! It's a long time since I've rowed en pointe but the crew soon gelled.. and the final series of strokes were quite impressive. Another 16km and a very satisfying sortie.

The club's Olympic hopeful Perle Bouge was out on the water looking extremely tidy in her single scull. She'll be representing France at this year's Paralympics. She already won Silver at the World Championships in NZ last year. Not bad for someone who only took up sculling a couple of years ago! If her determination and dedication are anything to go by, she'll take some stopping.

25th February 2012. We were the last boat out on the water today - went off up the river in a quad sculler against a very strong current and did 14km.

If you ever find yourself in Bayonne and your cake low level warning light is indicating steady red, then my cast-iron recommendation is Lionel Raux - just at the side of the indoor market. You won't be disappointed!

175. Is this the end for the Basque beret?

27th January 2011. For countless generations, the humble beret has symbolised France. Worn by young and old, town and country, it defined a country in a way that no other item of clothing had ever done before. Count the berets being worn at this Basque wedding at St Jean de Luz in 1942..It appears though that its days might be numbered. Béatex, the last French manufacturer of the beret, has gone into receivership (English translation here). Béatex, based in Oloron-Sainte-Marie, has been making berets since 1840 but it's believed that low cost competition from abroad, coupled with some internal issues, is to blame for its demise. Berets are still a familiar sight here in Bayonne and elsewhere in the Pays Basque. Practical and convenient, they protect the wearer from the sun in summer and the rain in winter, plus they can be worn in any number of different ways according to the owner's taste. It has to be said though that most beret wearers are likely to be of the older generation. Modern youth in France (and the rest of the world) is abandoning the ubiquitous beret and is taking to the 'cool' baseball cap in droves - but do baseball caps bring the wearer as much luck as a beret..?

I've mentioned the Basque beret before here.. with a video that explains how they are made - the process is far more involved than you may have thought.

Saturday, 28th January 2012. A chilly morning down at the river today.. ~4-5°C. The club took delivery of an almost new carbon fibre VIII a few weeks ago and this morning we put a crew of mecs together to give it a blast up the river. It was cold in the shadows as we headed off upstream but soon after the first bend, we emerged into the sunshine. The welcome warmth of the low morning sun felt good, and it turned the mist rising off the cold waters of the Nive into golden steam. The new boat was a pleasure to row - extremely rigid and well-balanced as well as being light. It responded well and we gradually warmed up as we surged up-river. This morning it was no hardship to continue to the footbridge near Villefranque which is normally the furthest we row (9km from the clubhouse) and we reached it in fine style doing intervals of hard and light rowing. When we stopped to turn around, I felt fully warmed up apart from my fingertips. Coming back, I noticed an ominously heavy bank of dark cloud approaching from the west (over the Bay of Biscay) and it was a race to see if we could manage to escape yet another soaking.. Alas, with 5 minutes to go, the rain started and steadily increased in pressure until by the time we returned to the pontoon, we were thoroughly soaked.. A good sortie though.. 18km.

1st February 2012. I had a quick dash over the border yesterday for some much-needed supplies - diesel and other sundries. The price of diesel has been bouncing around lately but yesterday in Spain it was 1.29€/litre (=£1.07/litre or US$6.35/US gallon). They also had an offer I couldn't refuse on litre bottles of 12 year old Glenlivet. Today looks like being the start of a very cold few days down here in the Pays Basque. The forecast is for +5 this morning dropping to -6 (21°F) this afternoon - which puts us colder than Saskatoon (-2) in mid-Canada! And there's the possibility of some snow on the ground tomorrow. We've hardly seen any snow here since we moved here in September 2007. I think one year we had an inch or two but it had gone for the most part by lunchtime. Went into town to buy a baguette and I got one straight from the oven.. kept my hands warm all the way home!

4th February 2012. Another cold morning here (minus something - I think about -3) but decided to go down to the river all the same. The usual suspects all turned up but le responsable decreed that it was too cold to row (my hard nosed rowing master at school would have thrown a major wobbly at this!☺) and so a few of us hit the rowing machines to try and warm up. We did an hour of varied pace rowing which finally did involve an element of sweatification.. but I've never been able to approach rowing on these Concept 2 machines with the same sense of enjoyment as jumping in a boat. Tonight we're all meeting up in a bar in town for an apéro or several. Took the dog out for a walk and even he was glad to return home.

5th February 2012. Enjoyable evening out for an apéro with the rowing club last night.. once we'd found the place! The venue was called 'Tipitapa' (this will blow the rust off the cogs!) and I knew within 50m where exactly it was.. The problem was that it didn't have a sign and I was looking for a bar. So after exploring all the likely locations in Bayonne - on a bitterly cold night - and across the Nive in Petit Bayonne, we returned to the starting point at the end of the Rue d'Espagne when there was a familiar cry from on high.. One of the responsables was standing up on the ramparts shouting to us.. The location was in a group of old casemates set into the ramparts. My glasses immediately steamed up the moment we stepped inside - there was a crush of people but I managed to catch the eye of one of our mecs behind the bar and a couple of glasses of wine were passed over the heads of a packed room to us. All the old faces were in there and as I said to one of the nénettes I didn't recognise her with her clothes on! And once I'd heard the final score from Murrayfield, there was all the more reason to celebrate! There's a nature reserve that's just a 5-10 minute walk from the centre of Bayonne that we've been meaning to visit for a while.. Yet another item on our list of things to do! All it involves is a short walk* out of town along the banks of the Nive and then cross via the footbridge to the northern bank and voilà! You've just arrived at La Plaine d'Ansot..

(* or better still, a short ride on a free bike!)

By the way, our unscheduled dip in the river the other day was just a few yards downstream from the footbridge at 03:32. And in case you were wondering, it was too deep to touch the bottom.

9th February 2012. According to the news yesterday, we're experiencing the lowest February temperatures on the Côte Basque since 1956. It was -8 overnight here - and it feels much colder, perhaps due to the humidity.

12th February 2012. The Big Freeze continues. I took El Poocho into town this morning to the bakers and while it was dazzlingly bright with blue skies all around, it was also very cold - as in -1C. ("You call that cold?") I'll ignore that! There were very few people out and about.

174. River frolics

15th January 2012. I had a novel experience yesterday morning down at the river and it was one that I have absolutely no wish to repeat! It was bracingly cold - it couldn't have been much more than 5°C (I can hear howls of derisive laughter from mid Canada!) but we're spoilt here as far as weather is concerned so when it's down to 5°C it does feel cold. Anyway, where were we? Oh yes, after the usual milling about, handshakes all round for the mecs and bises for the nénettes, four of us mecs decided we'd take a coxless IV out.

The outing started fairly well with the occasional promise that we were getting somewhere. At one point we heard the sound of a boat ahead of us getting louder and louder and, as we started to overtake it, we saw it was a women's VIII. No words needed to be spoken but a sudden turbo-like surge of testosterone-fuelled power saw us shoot past them.. If you have any competitive instincts at all, this challenge was irresistible and the response was entirely understandable! (Yes!) After that, we stretched it out a bit and continued on up the river. Turning around, things started to gel a bit more and as we really settled to the task the rowing became crisper and more punchy.. As we entered the last few km, we worked up the rhythm to a hot sprint and we shot at full pelt underneath a footbridge that's only about 1½ km from home.

Suddenly, there was an almighty crash and the boat stopped dead in the water as we tangled with a part-submerged tree that we hadn't seen.. (payback for overtaking the girls!☺) The current then took charge and the boat started tipping over to the right (in ever-so-slow motion) before it turned completely over.. I always use Velcro straps to secure my feet tightly to the stretcher and as the boat went over my feet stayed firmly strapped in (which was a bit unnerving). I went under but managed to kick myself free. By now the boat was floating upside down and we were all starting to feel the cold of the water. As luck would have it, a few minutes later a club VIII came storming around the nearest bend with a coach following in a small speedboat and, on seeing us, he shot across to heave us out of the water (which was getting colder by the minute). Once aboard, we managed to retrieve our trainers which were bobbing about. Another speedboat arrived to take the upturned IV in tow back to the clubhouse while we returned to the pontoon. I had a cold and squelchy trip home!

Once there, I had a long hot shower followed by a hot chocolate with a splash of whisky in it.. That really hit the spot and I felt much better! (Note to self: must fall in more often!) We did 16km before going for an early bath. That river water was cold though.. Thinking about it afterwards, I can't remember ever falling out of a boat before - and I started rowing in 195... well, a long time ago.☺

Later. Every picture tells a story:No prizes for guessing! Mmmmm.. I've mentioned Château Bouscassé before here - a stunning Madiran that deserves wider acclaim - and I'd managed to find a bottle before Christmas. We had some friends around for dinner and I was still feeling the effects of that morning dip in the Nive (honestly!) so I thought a morale-booster was called for. It didn't disappoint.. If you like your reds on the meaty side, then see if you can find one wherever you are. (Available in the US, UK, Ireland and elsewhere). Make sure it's at room temperature when you drink it - if you have an airing cupboard leave it there for a few hours. And if you do manage to find one, let me know your thoughts on it - either via the comments or via email (link in LH margin).

17th January 2012. We've noticed that nightfall is finally starting to get a little later each evening. About time. Living here has altered my perception of the march of the seasons through the year. I used to tell myself (in England) that I enjoyed all the seasons equally, which was just as well as I had no choice! Sometimes, just to reinforce the point, we'd experience all four seasons during the same day..! But, I have to say, having now experienced the pleasures of wearing shorts for 6 months of the year (if not longer) and living outside just about every day, the return of those long days and warmer weather can't come soon enough for us both. At 8am though, as I write, it's still dark - and cold; but things are on the move. In looking for a picture of the spot where we had our 'shipwreck', I came across this atmospheric shot of a very high Nive running in front of the covered market:

Finally, if you ever feel that your life has become humdrum, and that you could do with a bit of excitement -then maybe this clip is what you've been looking for (but I doubt it!). Best in full screen:

Saturday, 22nd January. Our plan to celebrate Burns night (25th January) wi' a haggis have fallen apart.. The shop I'd found on the internet that sold haggis appears to be no more. Googling Haggis by mail order, I found a Scottish site that was charging ~£5 for a haggis and a whopping £31 to post the thing here..!! Don't let the gory details put you off - haggis is delicious - even Madame loves it!

Burns suppers are great occasions and it's customary for someone to propose a Toast to the Lassies.. Here's a Toast to the Lassies delivered by someone who's clearly enjoying himself (and feeling no pain!):

I should add that it's traditional to drink whisky throughout the meal.. well, strictly speaking, not traditional - but infinitely preferable.. Can't argue with that! Finally, here's a short clip that appeared on TF1 about a family-run hotel at Guéthary (between Biarritz & St Jean de Luz).

24th January 2012. Yesterday's lunchtime news on TF1 featured a short report on a sport I've not mentioned here much but it's one that's omnipresent throughout the Pays Basque - just about every self-respecting Basque village will have a fronton.. and it's far from unusual to see private houses with their own small fronton in the garden. What's it all about I hear you ask? The sport in question is Pelote Basque and it's a ball game that's played outdoors against a fronton (a high wall) or indoors in a Trinquet.. When played with a chistera, it becomes the fastest ball game in the world.

There was another feature on TF1 at lunchtime today about the Pays Basque - this time, a report about fishing at St Jean de Luz. I had to laugh at the fisherman at 01:40 who talks of his love for the sea and fish - as he casually rips a hook out of a fish's mouth:

173. Biarritz glitz

3rd January 2012. I suspect I'm not alone in asking where 2011 went! Back last night from a most enjoyable but all-too-short few days away over the New Year with our friends up at Tours. As it was such a sunny and relatively mild day (~15°C/59°F), we drove into Biarritz towards late afternoon to take some air and look at the Christmas light show before it finished. The palm trees outside Galeries Lafayette (known by the locals as Biarritz-Bonheur) had been covered in thousands of small LEDs and the result was magical..

(For a link that shows Biarritz in its heyday, click here and here). Here's another video that explains the history of Biarritz:

And one in Spanish (just for Ines) that shows Biarritz as it is today:

Walking along the front, the warm light from the low slanting sun threw the pounding surf into sharp relief and where was the camera when I needed it? Yes, you've guessed it.. These images approximate to how it looked but they don't really do it justice:

Unfortunately the light show had finished but here are some videos that will give you a flavour of it all:

Here's a piece by J S Bach that I heard for the first time over the holidays - it was new to me and here it is played on both the piano and the organ. It's his Choral Prelude BWV 639:

5th January 2012. Think we might just be in for a blustery wet night tonight. The forecast is only for gusts of 55kmh but it feels a lot stronger than that. I'll be going down to the river on Saturday morning for the first time since I had the injections in my knees about a month ago. It will be the first return for one of the girls too, coming back after a shoulder injury, so we might take a double sculler out for a gentle sortie up the river. Once I'm in the boat I'm usually OK - it's the getting in and out that has caused me problems in the past. 7th January 2012. I was roped in for an outing in a coxed quad sculler on this sunny morning for my first outing since having the injections in my knees in early December. We worked our way upriver against a very strong current without stopping and I was happy when we finally did stop to turn around after 8-9kms. With the current, we shot downstream and it was with thoughts of the "1st Saturday of the month" apéro that we hauled the boat out of the water. Unfortunately, it was not to be - possibly because Bayonne are playing Union Bordeaux-Bègles at 2.15pm (I think) this afternoon. My knees were OK but I picked up several blisters on my hands due to the lay-off. Nice to be back in a boat again though. The unthinkable happened this afternoon - Aviron Bayonnais lost 20-27 to Bègles..

172. St Jean de Luz out of season

16th December 2011. Yesterday Madame thought it would be a good idea if I took a break from my PC and so we drove down to St Jean de Luz in the afternoon. The car was registering a warm 17C (63F) and unlike in summer, parking at St J was a doddle. The Christmas tourists from Paris, Bordeaux or Toulouse have still to arrive so we had the town more or less to ourselves. We found the prime spot to leave the car on the sea front (normally unobtainium) and stepped up to the sea wall to look at the bay. What we saw stopped us dead in our tracks. Normalement, the bay is calmness itself and it's probably one of the safest places to bathe on the Côte Basque - but it was high tide and a raging surf was running right beneath us with rollers surging into the bay and breaking over the usually benign beaches.

Further north, there'd been a deep low pressure circulation out the Atlantic for some days and the onshore winds have been whipping up the Golfe de Gascogne (better known to us Anglos as the Bay of Biscay) with the result as described. Despite the fury of the sea, there were around 15 or so surfers out there braving the elements. Looking out beyond the breakwaters, towering grey rollers were rearing up high before breaking in a foamy turmoil - difficult to estimate how high they were but I would have said a minimum of 5 metres.. Quite a few other people were standing on the promenade - like us - transfixed by the spectacle. The normally flat horizon was jagged with these angry waves that were forming far out to sea. The breakwaters themselves were disappearing every few seconds in explosive welters of dazzling white foam. As we walked along the sea front I found myself stopping every few steps to have another look. The size and power of some of the waves out at sea beggared belief.. I'd like to have taken the car out on the Corniche (coast road) between St Jean de Luz and Hendaye to see if that celebrated wave at Belharra was running.  We took one last look before reluctantly stepping down a side street and heading down to the Place Louis XIV for a coffee. 

On days like this, St Jean de Luz was a real pleasure to be footloose & fancy free in.. There were only locals and the narrow streets were blessedly free of stop/start crowds. We selected a table at the Bar de la Marine which is, as the link says, ideally situated in the heart of the town centre for people watching. It's also right next to the inner harbour. Sitting there in the warm sunshine it was hard to believe that Christmas was only 10 days away and still not a bunga bunga party in my diary! (I jest of course!)    

While we're on the maritime theme, here's an old one from Christopher Cross: 

Haven't played Django for a while but this morning I caught this on TSF Jazz (have a listen here) - & thought you might like it. Here's the man with Hubert Rostaing on clarinet:

Right - back to work!

Later.. I've just been closing all our heavy wooden shutters at the rear of the house (that faces due west) as the forecast is for some strong winds during the night. At times like this I'm glad we had the place double-glazed. If we hadn't have had it done, it would have been one cold & draughty night here. As it is, by the time any stray gusts have found their way past the shutters (that are almost an inch thick), and past the double glazing, whatever force the wind had has been completely spent.

I don't usually comment on politics here but you would have had to have been living on another planet not to have heard about the latest spat between France and Britain.. Here's Matt's view of it all..!  

20th December 2011. If you know Bayonne, here's a short video of the town in 1900.. and it's completely recognisable from those far-off days. As you might expect, the pavement cafés spilling over into the road have gone but for the rest - well, see for yourself:

I spotted a Vacherin Mont d'Or lurking in the fridge yesterday.. ready for Christmas. Forget farmhouse cheddar, Stilton, American cheese or what have you - this is the king of cheeses. Made both in Switzerland and in France, there's everything you need to know about Vacherin (and many other cheeses) here. Here's a short video that shows how the Swiss do things:

I think I'm going to be pulling the plug here for a few days while we ingest an excessive amount of calories.. so to all of you out there in Blogistan, your correspondent wishes you a very Happy Christmas and good health in the New Year.. It's been an extremely busy few months for me with work and it looks as though the New Year will be more of the same. I'm enjoying it very much but when the warm weather returns I might be saying that through gritted teeth! So, away with you, go and wrap the dog or take your presents for a walk.. while I warm my feet by the fire we don't have.. 

Spare a thought for those who aren't as fortunate.. I'm looking for somewhere (like a childrens hospital or similar) in Bayonne to take a box of toys.. 

"Piperade Towers" is in fairly close proximity to the Court in Bayonne and the road outside the house is heavily used for parking by members of the legal profession. We (the royal we) parked on the pavement outside our house a couple of months ago and picked up a 35€ parking ticket. Curiously, when the court is in session the pavements are full of Mercs, BMWs, Audis etc parked with two wheels up on the narrow pavement - the parking gods must be smiling on them as they never seem to attract the attention of the local police. Wonder if it's got anything to do with this sticker which they all display prominently on their windscreens? Surely not..! (Thinks: how can I print one off..?)

23rd December 2011. I heard a day or two ago that Cape Verde's finest export (perhaps its only one) - Cesario Evora - had died.. I featured one of her songs a year or two ago after we'd been given one of her CDs. 

This next one is probably her best known song:

Finally, let's end on a happy note: