111. La France profonde

22nd January 2011. Very cold out on the river this morning in a double sculler with a very strong downstream current.. the temperature must have been hovering around freezing. I came back with hands like a bunch of bananas! We did 10km and that was enough to be honest. (Running total 392km) Note to self: don't forget the gloves next time!

In writing this blog I've made the odd reference here and there to La France profonde (deep France). I think it's worth explaining a little more about this idea before it slowly disappears, submerged by the relentless tide of progress from modern Europe. I exchanged a flurry of emails yesterday with C from Tiens, a new start-up online magazine about SW France. I soon recognised that she and her husband P are a couple of kindred spirits in that what attracts us to this blessèd corner of France is not the glitz of the coast or the bright lights of the ski slopes but rather the timeless appeal of la France profonde. 

What is la France profonde I hear you ask..? It's difficult to pin down exactly but you'll know it when you see it. It's that moment that stops you in your tracks when you realise that you're seeing something that's been done the same way for generations and that the chances of seeing it anywhere else in western Europe are pretty slim. You could say it was contact with the real France. Or maybe it's the France of our imagination - as we'd like it all to be without it being a pastiche of the France of Robert Doisneau. Certainly in England, the baby was thrown out with the bathwater a very long time ago and a kind of mindless banalisation of life has the country in its thrall. There are two very different connotations to being described as a peasant depending upon which country you are in - France or the UK.

Perhaps a few examples of la France profonde. During a long-ago visit to France (~1970) I stopped for petrol at midday in a sleepy little village in the department of the Ardèche.. I stepped out of the car into a wall of heat, and all was silence apart from the chirruping of the cicadas. An old lady well into her 80s appeared and she proceeded to untangle a strange (to my eyes) contraption which was the petrol pump. It was old and tall with a graduated glass cylinder sitting atop it.  She started pumping a long handle to and fro and petrol appeared in the cylinder and began rising up it. When the level reached 10 litres, she inserted a long rubber hose into my petrol tank, turned a tap, and petrol flowed, as if by magic, into my car. Simple, bomb-proof and effective. While she repeated this process enough times to fill my tank, we had a chat about where I was from etc and in the course of this she revealed that she'd never seen the sea and, what's more, she'd never been out of her department of the Ardèche! That was my first encounter with la France profonde.

Another was the time when Madame and I were en route to the Pays Basque one summer and somewhere in the region around Poitiers we pulled off the autoroute for lunch. We found a small village where there was just the one restaurant and we were the first customers. Sitting down, we chose the 3 course set lunch menu which was ~£11 or so. Things started happening in that wonderfully pre-ordained way that lets you know you are back in France. Everything was comme il faut (as it should be). A generous serving of rabbit with prunes in a rich red wine sauce (I remember it well!) and a couple of glasses of red put smiles on our faces again. While we were sitting there, two young lads in their early teens came in and sat at a nearby table. It transpired that one was the waiter's son. The two of them sat there and ordered their 3 course lunch from the main menu - no sausage, beans and chips from the children's menu for them or whinging with curled up lips that they didn't like this or that.. No, they just sat there and worked their way  through all 3 courses. I remember thinking that there are two Frenchmen in the making there.

Then, when we arrived here in 2007, we took the car for its Contrôle Technique (MOT for British readers) at a garage out in the sticks. While waiting for the car to get through its examination, I spotted a flyer pinned on the wall advertising a Bingo night. What caught my eye and made me smile was the second prize: half a pig!


Le porc Pie Noir
du Pays Basque

This (left) is the Iberian pig that's to be found in the Pyrenees and northern Spain. Very hardy, somewhat picky about his food, the pig is remarkably well adapted to an outdoor life in the mountains. Its lean meat is a feature of the celebrated Basque ham from the valley of Les Aldudes. Since 1991, a regional chain was established with a quality approach to obtain an Appellation d'Origine Contrôlée (AOC).

M and Mme D in the gîte also contributed with their very traditional custom of keeping a couple of pigs for fattening up on corn and killing them (txarriboda) in the winter months. The annual slaughtering and butchering is an occasion for friends and neighbours to pitch in and help and the whole process of converting a large 200+kg porker into sausages, hams, joints, trotters, fillets, boudins noirs (black pudding) takes around three days. If you have no idea what a 200kg pig looks like, this picture (right) will give you an idea!

Madame's Tante S and her (now late) husband live in the Jura (close to the Swiss border) and it was their 50th wedding anniversary one summer in the mid 90s. They'd decided to have a celebratory dinner and had invited a representative from each part of the extended family (to keep the numbers down to a manageable level) and so we came to be invited. We'd planned our annual visit to the Pays Basque such that at the end of it we could drive up & across to the Jura to arrive in time..

We wanted to avoid the boredom of the autoroutes so we thought we'd simply "straight-line it" across France - going by the Départmentale roads - thus seeing a bit more of the country. After driving all day on lonely roads through mountains, forests and villages we stopped overnight at a village called Bourganeuf  (between Limoges and Clermont-Ferrand) which is as near as dammit in the centre of France. We quickly dropped our bags in a 2* "Logis" hotel in the centre and then went out for a swift leg stretch before dinner. 

We returned to the hotel and went into the cosy and heavily beamed dining room. Looking around, it was clear that this was la France profonde. After browsing the menu for a few minutes I realised that this was somewhere that took its food very seriously indeed. All the classic dishes were there. Madame often says that food is the second religion in France but I'd go further than that and say it's the first - as more people go to restaurants than go to church. Looking through the wine list I couldn't believe what I was seeing - most of the wine was priced at somewhere between £200 and £800 a bottle.. There were some fabled wines there that I'd only read about - Château Palmer, Château Gruaud-Larose, Château Haut-Brion and Château Yquem - and this in a un cheval village in the middle of nowhere.. 

Here's a film that captures something of la France profonde:

What does la France profonde mean to you..? Don't be shy - send a comment..!

The circus is in town.. a vast red and white tent, surrounded by a village of colourful caravans, trailers and bright lights, the Cirque Amar has suddenly materialised between the old ramparts and the Avenue des Allées Paulmy. 

I've always been a wee bit intrigued by the roaming life of circus people. They inhabit a slightly blurred and mysterious part of the spectrum - lying somewhere between those of us who live more or less conventionally in houses or flats, and those of a gypsy or nomadic persuasion - from respectable baby boomer retirees with their Camper Vans, through plush caravans towed by slightly dodgy Mercedes vans, to the real thing: gypsies in horse drawn caravans who cook on open fires and hobble their horses on grazing land.. I don't understand how these last two groups survive in the increasingly joined-up world of today. Think car insurance, taxes, health issues, an address for mail - but maybe they don't bother with any of this.    

24th January 2011. I read today of the passing of Major Richard Winters retd.. He was a great American hero.  RIP Sir. 

110. Anyone for logs..?

20th January 2011. Went out on the river in a coxless quad sculler this evening - it was very fresh. (weather forecaster-speak for cold..) Did 10km. (Running total: 382km)

Two years ago, over the night of 24th January, Tempête Klaus dealt a devastating blow to the forests of Les Landes between Bordeaux and Bayonne, in SW France. Winds gusting up to 175kph (110mph) howled out of the Bay of Biscay and rampaged acoss the coastal forest, knocking down hundreds of thousands of trees and power lines, blocking roads and isolating whole communities.

This video gives an idea of the devastation caused by the storm:
Each time I've driven by these stockpiles of sawn logs en route north to Bordeaux, they were being continuously sprayed with water to stop them drying out prematurely and splitting in the intense summer heat. In the past I've googled without success to try and find a link to them but I later found the name of the stockpile as "L’aire de stockage de Solférino". Apparently Solférino holds 700,000 tons of wood. The one below is just one of what looks like about 5-6 similar huge piles.

There's been a permanent wall of logs stacked along the dockside in Bayonne ever since, clearly visible from across the Adour, and they're being continuously loaded onto ships for export but the stacks of logs seem never to diminish in size.

The news story featured a gentleman who owned some 300-odd hectares of forest and he said that the price of his wood had dropped from 30€/cubic metre to 4€..

109. Rant du Jour: Booking an iDTGV ticket - aaagghh!

19th January 2011. In April, we're off to Andalusia with a group of Madame's former colleagues from her old school. The trip starts from Paris and there was no way that we could easily arrange to join them in Spain by independent means. We decided that we'd travel up to Paris instead and meet up with everyone there. After looking at the options - drive, fly or train - we settled on the train. Last night we booked the trip online.. SNCF has launched an online-only TGV booking service known as iDTGV. I wish I'd read this link before we booked as I quote:

Wagons (they mean carriages - I hope!) are separated into two zones: iDZen for customers wishing a quiet trip, where mobile phones and loud conversations are banned, and iDZap for customers looking for entertainment, where more noise is tolerated and games, shows, etc are sometimes given.

I've just checked our tickets and we're booked into an iDZap zone for the Bayonne-Paris outbound leg... aagghh! 

I don't normally criticise web sites here but - a cautionary warning - for poor functionality, user unfriendliness and sheer uselessness, the iDTGV site has to be one of the worst e-commerce sites I've ever used.

After typing in our responses to the standard questions such as - from/to, date & time of travel, no. of passengers, age etc.., it also asked if we were flexible on dates. I replied no. After hitting 'Continue', it provided a range of suitable train times and prices. Despite saying that I wasn't flexible on dates, it provided a bracket of 3 days around the date I'd requested. However, no date appeared next to any offered service except a small graphic next to some of the suggested times that said J-1 or J+1. After a while, I realised that this referred to the day prior to or the day following the day we actually wanted (Jour minus 1 - Jour plus 1). Why not just show the date? (remember the KISS principle..? Keep It Simple, Stupid..)

After changing our selections a few times, we decided on our choice of trains. The site then told us we'd booked 4 duplicate journeys.. I deleted everything and started again. Finally, after allowing me to select a valid outward and return journey - which, I have to say, was astonishingly cheap* (especially when compared to the UK) - I entered my credit card details and pressed 'continue'.. At this point a window popped up that said something like "for technical reasons we cannot continue this transaction and you should contact an online customer help service".. which we did. This then promptly failed. We were left tearing our hair out! An online booking that turns pear-shaped on you in mid-transaction (after you think you've paid as well) is so frustrating because you can't lean across the counter and grab someone (preferably the person who wrote the software) by the throat.. as maybe you'd like to do sometimes in real life! 

I shut down my PC and we jumped in the car to drive the 5 minutes to Bayonne SNCF station to try our luck with the ticket office there. Luckily it was still open and we ran in wild-eyed, foaming at the mouth (well, almost!) and asked the question - are we booked on the train that we'd just paid for or not? The girl replied that she couldn't help us with iDTGV enquiries as it's an online service only - yet another knuckle-clenching moment! We said OK - can you quote us the standard SNCF price for the trip Bayonne/Paris & return for the dates in question..? She came back with a figure that was twice the price as she wasn't allowed to access iDTGV. I can recognise when I'm defeated as much as the next man.

We returned home and I fired up my PC again.. Finally, we were able to make the reservation we wanted and the system accepted it. Then we had to print off the tickets.. That episode triggered another 15 minutes of head-scratching until I figured out the obscure method of doing so. How difficult can it be to design a web site that's intuitive and works..?

Looking at the iDTGV web site again in the cold light of day, I can see there is a small French flag graphic with a stylised arrow next to it - and yes, that leads to other languages.. But why not display the range of flags to start with..? (which is the standard convention) This site truly needs re-working from top to bottom. It is a dismal front door to what is undeniably a great low-cost TGV service..

Now breathe deeply and relax..

* For 2 return TGV tickets Bayonne-Paris (550 miles), the cost is 131€ (~£110), including cancellation insurance.

Edited to add - in May 2018: iDTGV has gone - so ignore all the above comments. iDTGV has been replaced by Ouigo.. Good luck! 

108. Espadrilles

18th January 2011. At the end of yesterday afternoon, it was still bright and sunny so we went down to the beach at Anglet. Walking from the car park we could hear the sound of a heavier than usual surf breaking on the shore. Mountainous waves from somewhere out in the Atlantic were rearing up to crash into the breakwater with a massive whumphhh that could be felt through the feet.. The sea was dazzlingly white with foam and there was a crispness in the air that tasted clean and salty.

The late afternoon sun slanted through the golden haze that hung over the beach.. Spent waves - so high and threatening a hundred yards away - faded away to nothing on the sloping beach. Chibby, our golden English cocker spaniel, yelped with pleasure as he chased himself in lazy circles in the sand. Happy days!

If you're visiting the Pays Basque for the first time, it won't be too long before you notice that rope-soled shoes - espadrilles - are extremely popular. Classic summer wear down here, they are available in styles to suit all tastes, and they are very practical, fairly cheap, comfortable, lightweight, easy to pack and easily dried if they get wet.

Old-time smugglers reportedly preferred them (for their silent qualities) as they crossed the Pyrénées and certainly Florentino Goicoechea, the legendary Basque guide for the WWII Comet Line, (mentioned elsewhere here) used to make sure that all his escapees wore them.

They can be bought online in every style, colour and price imaginable from a number of suppliers in Mauléon, Saint-Jean-de-Luz, Bayonne and many other outlets in the Pays Basque.   

Lomo is another speciality of the Pays Basque and is served widely.. I believe it was originally a Spanish dish but it's been well and truly adopted on this side of the border. Lomo is pork fillet that's been rolled in <George Clooney voice> what else! - powdered piment d'Espelette - then sliced thinly before being either fried in a pan, or preferably cooked on a plancha, with what looks like red peppers here:

I came across this video (below) the other day - it reminds me of the 5 months we spent in the gîte when I only had the one book to read. Fortunately, it was Karen Blixen's beautifully written "Out of Africa", which I read 2-3 times while there. The quality of the writing would be a remarkable achievement for anyone whose mother tongue was English - that the author was Danish makes it all the more impressive. As a description of a land and its peoples it has few equals. Highly recommended if you haven't read it. The one thing that spoils the dreamlike flying sequence is when Streep's character asks, "When did you learn to fly?" to which Redford responds, "Yesterday."..!        Right..

This really is one to watch in full screen:

The scale of this part of Africa is something that appeals to me - the vastness of the plains stretching into the immeasurable distance with the distant blue of the Ngong hills in the background. One day perhaps.

Postscript to my visit to the dentist the other day: we talked about San Sebastian and he said he thought it was the most beautiful city in the world. I'd not thought of that before but it's certainly right up there. I asked myself - which city/town is more beautiful..? Paris has to come into it somewhere. Where else? Don't be shy.. use the comment facility at the foot of this post. I'd be interested to hear other points of view. Here's a reminder - sit back and enjoy this swooping helicopter ride over the city - it starts at 1:19..

Meanwhile, à propos of nothing, I read today that Starbucks in the US is launching its new 31oz serving size for coffee and iced tea.. to be known as the Trenta.. That's just shy of a litre..! And where the Trenta goes, surely a Quaranta can't be far behind! A bargain bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken, a gorilla-sized portion of fries and a Trenta. What more do you want? Apart from a Hershey bar.. (and an oxygen tent!)

107. If you're serious about chocolate, then you've come to the right place..

16th January 2011. More on chocolate and how it's made in Bayonne. First though, there was an article in the New York Times that, somewhat ambitiously, set out to discover which were the World's Best Candy Bars - American or British. Without wishing to raise a sceptical eyebrow at the narrowness of the scope of the column, from the get-go this has all the hallmarks of two bald men fighting over a comb. As the old Irishman in the joke explained when asked for directions to Dublin, "If oi was wantin' to be goin' to Dublin, oi wouldn't be startin' from here.." 


Cazenave chocolate

Daranatz chocolate

If there was a Chocolate World Cup (or World Series for US readers) and if I were to be judging it, then a bar from either of these ranges (left and right) would have a 'bye' straight through to the final. The other finalist would probably be Belgian. End of. I remember that during my first visit to the US I was curious to finally sample a Hershey bar first hand, having been brought up on the notion, via books and the cinema, that nothing else comes close. I bought one and was mightily disappointed. Although I have a sweet tooth, I found it sickly sweet and tasting of many things - except chocolate. I know the Hershey bar is, in many ways, an American cultural icon but the sad truth is that the taste simply doesn't live up to its reputation. To be fair, I'd probably disagree violently if I'd been raised on them! I also have to say that the UK's Cadbury Dairy Milk bar is second only to the Hershey bar when it comes to overpowering sweetness. A bar of Cadbury's Dairy Milk contains just 20% chocolate and over a quarter of its weight is fat.

Here, chocolat is an entirely different beast. In the narrow streets of Bayonne, there is an old arcaded street - the rue du Port Neuf (left) - that is home to four master chocolatiers. They make their own chocolate from scratch - and this is serious stuff (code for expensive!). You owe it to yourself to try a piece of real chocolate once (at least) in your life. The rich smell of chocolate wafts gently and seductively from the chocolate shops as you stroll by (if you are able!). L'Atelier du Chocolat, Cazenave and Daranatz are to be found within a few metres of each other tucked under the old stone arched colonnades on one side of the street - with Pariès on the opposite side nearer the river. A couple of streets away will be found Puyodebat. There's also Chocolat Pascal (32 Quai Galuperie), Leonidas (28 Rue Lormand) and Jeff de Bruges (19 Rue de la Salie) but I'm not familiar with these. Warning! You're going to hate me for telling you this but you can buy chocolate online from Cazenave, Pariès, L'Atelier du Chocolat and Puyodebat..

Dark chocolate appears to outsell the milk variety and I often see little old ladies in supermarkets reading the list of ingredients on the label to see the percentage of chocolate. Many readers in the UK will be familiar with Cadbury's Bournville - a popular dark chocolate. However, it contains only 36% of cocoa solids.. I would say that the minimum standard here for dark chocolate starts at 70%. There is even a Lindt 99% bar. We invited our neighbour in for tea and cakes one afternoon and she arrived with a couple of bars of Casenave chocolate for us.. one milk, one plain. The plain chocolate was stunning - I'd guess an 8.1 on the Richter scale of chocolate taste.

You can actually buy chocolate flavoured with Piment d'Espelette. It's made by Espelette's very own chocolaterie: Antton. You don't chew this - you simply hold it in your mouth and let it melt. Bliss! Antton offers a guided tour of their small factory (or atelier de fabrication as they call it - it sounds better) followed by tastings.. highly recommended. And they do mail order...

Espelette (with La Rhune in the distance)

I mentioned Piment d'Espelette in the previous post and I realise that not mentioning it before now has been a massive oversight on my behalf. Piment d'Espelette literally means “hot pepper of Espelette” in French. It's produced around the village of Espelette in the Pays Basque. This pepper is so famous that it has been given a protected designation by the European Union, ensuring that only peppers grown in the Espelette region may be labeled as “Piment d'Espelette.” This is designed to protect the heritage and integrity of this unique pepper, which is a commonly-used ingredient in Basque food.

Peppers were one of the earliest imports from the New World, and they attracted immediate attention in southern Europe. Cooks realized that peppers could be easily cultivated in kitchen gardens, and that they made a convenient replacement for the much more costly black pepper. The earliest documented instances of pepper cultivation near Espelette date to the 16th century, and by the 18th century, the region was famous for its peppers. On the principle that a picture is worth a thousand words, scroll down this link and you'll gain an idea as to the many and varied uses of Piment d'Espelette.. 

The piment d'Espelette is red when mature, and relatively small and mild. Heat-wise, it is usually compared to paprika, another European pepper product. Piments d'Espelette also have a dark, slightly smoky flavour which can be intensified with roasting or pan-searing, and a robust peppery flavour which can be useful in a wide variety of dishes. These peppers are traditionally used to rub jambon de Bayonne (Bayonne ham), a famous export of the region, and they also appear in many other Basque dishes.

Red and Green - there's no escaping these two colours in the Pays Basque - they are everywhere!

Fresh peppers are sometimes available at markets and grocers, and strings of dried peppers are usually readily available in south western France as well as being exported abroad. Piments d'Espelette are also sold in dried and powdered form, and in the form of pastes, which may be in jars, cans, or tubes. They are also sometimes blended into spice mixes which are meant to evoke the cooking of south western France. I'm guessing but I'm willing to bet that piment d'Espelette is a key ingredient in Sauce Basque (Forte) made by Sakari - it's highly addictive and available online.

Espelette takes its famous export so seriously that it has an annual Celebration of Peppers every October, at which the piment d'Espelette takes centre stage. Peppers bedeck the streets while citizens compete with their favourite recipes and restaurants feature pepper dishes on their specials menus. Other regional foods are also feted during the annual Celebration, and for visitors to the region, it can be a great way to get a taste of Basque cooking. This clip shows Espelette during this time.. (Health Warning: If you're allergic to marching band music, now would be a good time to fit your Factor 30 max strength ear plugs!)

17th January 2011. Scooters are a constant and often intrusive part of the daily scene down here - buzzing (illegally) down bus lanes sounding like angry wasps in a coffee can, looking "cool" (in their dreams) being ridden one-handed by their riders, carrying a surf board (it's true!) or with helmet unstrapped, using a mobile, or squeezing unannounced between lanes of traffic at a speed that makes no allowances for other people and overtaking on whichever side happens to suit (I know, I'm starting to sound like Mr Grumpy!). The one thing they do that really gets my knuckles gleaming is when I'm at the head of a queue at traffic lights, it can be guaranteed that some eejit on a scooter will ride up the outside and then stop at an angle across the front of my car so as to be ready to be first away from the traffic light Grand Prix.. With these last, I'm often tempted to let my darker side take over..! 

If I asked a group of readers of a certain age to name as many scooter manufacturers as possible, I think it would be a pretty safe bet that the first and only names they would come up with would be either Vespa (left) or Lambretta (right). Nowadays, scooters are being churned out in their thousands by a huge number of manufacturers and they come in all shapes and sizes - from short stubby ones with buzzy little 50cc 2 stroke engines to much larger ones - with longer wheelbases that encourage a relaxed feet-forward riding style. Engine sizes? 50cc up to - yes - 850cc!

Gilera used to make wonderful 4 cylinder Grand Prix racing motorcycles in the '50s that made this spine-tingling sound (it scarred me for life when I was a kid) - but today, Gilera is busy with their interpretation of what a modern fast scooter should be - the Gilera GP800. The Gilera GP800 has a stonking great 8-valve, fuel injected, 90-degree, 840cc V-twin engine that will whisk you up to an astonishing 125mph (200kph). I don't care what you say but that is serious oomph to put in a scooter. Harley Davidson - eat your heart out!

Three wheeled scooters have made an appearance too.. and the civilised Piaggio MP3 is very popular with office workers here for beating the traffic and having that little bit extra stability and security on greasy road surfaces. Mind you, you should be careful what you get up to on one of these.. ahem!

The Japanese have a major presence in this market as you might have expected.. Here's Yamaha's class-leading offering - the TMax 500: 

106. A tale from the dentist

13th January 2011. We decided on a quick shopping trip to Dancharia in Spain yesterday to look for some lighter luggage suitable for our upcoming trip to Spain..

On the return journey, as we were driving down the snaking mountain road back towards Espelette (a village noted for le Piment d'Espelette and this great hotel/restaurant, and there are seven others - not bad for a village of only 2,000 inhabitants!) an oncoming car gave a discreet single flash of his headlights to the car in front of us - and the same again to us. In the Pays Basque, if agents of the State (gendarmes, CRS, police, Douanes) are out and about, operating a speed trap or a document check or, as was the case here, customs officers looking for people bringing commercial quantities of cheap cigarettes into France from Spain, then it is not unusual to be warned in this way. The strong streak of antipathy towards agents of the French State here is balanced by an equal measure of solidarity among the Basques. It's clear why this region was so successful in combatting the best efforts of the German Abwehr during WWII. There is such a solidarity that penetrating it must have been an almost impossible task.  

Now, to change the subject, if you have a 'thing' for chocolate, here's another Bayonne institution - Chocolaterie Daranatz.. I went there the other day to buy a small box of marrons glacés as a little treat for Madame. (If I give her a marron glacé I can do no wrong for minutes weeks afterwards..) If you're not a chocaholique, have a browse on their site - it will spoil you for ordinary chocolate. Chocolate from Daranatz and their close neighbours Cazenave is to High Street chocolate as a 1930s 'Blower' Bentley is to an Austin Allegro.. A word of caution: they do mail order!

14th January 2011. I went to my dentist in town this morning. His practice is in the Avenue Thiers - Bayonne's most elegant avenue - with its pale stone buildings and lined with trees that are heavily manicured (square cut) in the French fashion.

Avenue Thiers

While he was attempting to get both hands and what felt like half of his tool-kit in my mouth(!), he started asking me the usual questions.. as they do! "Where are you going for your holidays..?" Response: "Aaaarr- aaarrgghhh.." He then told me that there used to be a Monsieur Armstrong, an old Englishman, who lived next door to his surgery. He said Mr Armstrong was a widower who had been married to a lady from Bayonne - a beauty apparently. He'd been a pilot in the RAF during WWII and had lived in Bayonne for many years. Ten years ago, when Mr Armstrong was 85, he hadn't been seen by his neighbours for a while so finally the police were called to break his door down. He was found stone cold, slumped in an armchair with a bottle of whisky in front of him.. A sad end, but I suppose there are worse ways to go. I must admit that I did wonder on the way home if that would be my destiny too..? I'd better get some (more) practice in! 

15th January 2011. I'm glad I crawled out of a warm bed early this morning to go down to the club - it was low tide and the river was still. There was a cloudless blue sky but it wasn't warm in the shadows. There was a good turnout this morning and we managed to put an VIII out on the water plus four IVs, several double scullers and singles. We took a coxless quad sculler out (2 nanas & 2 mecs) and it was unanimously agreed (by all apart from me!) that I should stroke it. At this point I should add I've not stroked a coxless four before. For any non-oarsmen reading this, steering is controlled by 'stroke' (me), with the rudder cable attached to the toe of my right shoe, which can pivot about the ball of the foot, moving the cable left or right. There was a total range of movement of about 3" (7.5cm) with the null position - ie, a dead straight rudder - in the centre. With the rudder centralised, the position of my right shoe was North/South - ie, straight up and down.  Unfortunately, when I'm rowing, my feet tend to settle at a "5 to 1" position (think clock) with the net result that the boat had a permanent tendency to turn to the left. I found it difficult to turn my right foot in to a "5 to" position and row at the same time.  We zigzagged our way up-river - with me zigging when I should have been zagging -  through a low steamy mist which lay on the river - every now and again we'd burst out of the shadows into a sunlit cloud of golden mist.. very photogenic. In fact, I spotted a photographer on the bank taking pictures of us. Great morning to be out on the river. We did 14km this morning - most of which was in a straight line! (Running total: 372km). 

As it was a bright blue afternoon, Madame and I set off for Biarritz once I'd found my sunglasses. We parked on the cliffs near the lighthouse that overlooks the Grande Plage. As we looked south towards Biarritz, the sea was a dazzling silver as it reflected the bright sunlight:

There were some major rollers sweeping in and surfers could be seen getting entangled with them. The coast road in to the centre is the Avenue de l'Impératrice (Empress Avenue in yer Anglo-Saxon - think it sounds better in French!) and it is lined with over-sized houses built during Biarritz's heyday about 100 years ago when it was the go-to destination for the rich and famous. The style could be described as exotic eclecticism. That's to say, they are a unique merging of a number of styles - heavily gabled Basque, Art Deco, fantasy castle, Norman, Spanish hacienda & French Empire - that's only to be found at Biarritz. Many appear to have been sub-divided into apartments but there are still several that remain under single occupancy. These have no price. At the bottom of the hill lies the truly magnificent 5 star Hôtel du Palais - one of the world's great hotels. I can just see myself shuffling into their elegant bar in my cardigan and slippers for a pre-dinner sundowner.. 

Turning right at the Palais, we headed down to the beach and the promenade. The sea was a sight to behold - surging waves were rolling in and breaking in confused explosions of foam. There appeared to be a strong undertow as incoming waves were colliding spectacularly with the outgoing remains of previous ones. And as each new wave crested just prior to breaking, steam-like spray would blow backwards off the top and a silvery mist hung over the beach. It was hot work sitting on the low wall watching the sea and there were even a few sun worshippers stripped down for bronzing action on the beach - some in bikinis (yes, in mid January!). After 15 minutes or so we decided we'd move before we were cooked through. (The temperature in the sun must have been upwards of 20°C)     

We walked up from the beach to the restored Art Deco Hotel Plaza where we sat outside for a coffee. It was so warm there we both took our jackets off.. So, Biarritz in January - what's it like I hear you ask..? Where to start..?

While I'm pondering that, enjoy the deceptive simplicity of Beethoven's 7th Symphony, the Second Movement (Allegretto)..

A couple of high quality flash mobs to finish with.. 

And this one filmed at the celebrated Café Iruña, Pamplona (another favourite resting place of a certain Mr E Hemingway).. 

And now back to our regular programming..!

105. Monsieur Montezuma I presume..?

8th January 2011. Good long outing in an VIII sculler this morning. We went out to the turnaround in one long piece and returned without stopping.. There were some muffled sounds of pain disguised as heavy breathing or coughing on the return leg.. and not just from me! Did 15km (Running total 358km). It was the annual general meeting at the club in the evening and I was pleased that I could follow most of the discourse. Afterwards, France being France, there was a magnificent buffet of charcuterie (jambon de Bayonne, salami, boudin noir), cheese and assorted nibbles - and a nice Bordeaux. I walked home! 

10th January 2011. There's a bug doing the rounds around here and in the wee small hours of last night I became acquainted with a certain Mr Montezuma and, in particular, his revenge.. so talk among yourselves for a while!

11th January 2011. For some reason I woke up this morning with this piece playing in my head.. one of my favourite choral works - it's Handel's "Zadok the Priest" - a work written as a coronation anthem. There's something about the phrase at 1:18 and the few bars that follow that never fail to send a shiver through me. This is an excellent interpretation:
 And as we're dealing with powerful music, what better than Widor's Toccata.. otherwise known in this household as "damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead!" This is music to be felt reverberating through the chest - especially when the organist uses the foot pedals - and 99% of PC speakers or headphones simply aren't up to the task. (another great piece here)

Looking at the above clip has just reminded me that I've neglected to mention in any detail the beautiful Gothic cathedral at Bayonne. Let me put that right without any further ado: 

And here's a clip of Bayonne while we're here - the compiler has included a couple of bonus ones from Bayonne, New Jersey as well!

I spotted this clip while searching on YouTube.. it's a 1930s Bentley with a 27 litre Rolls-Royce Merlin engine shoehorned in.. (yes, the very same one that powered the Spitfire). I have to say that I'd jump at the chance to drive this behemoth. I think an apt name for it would be the Bentley Montezuma!

104. New Year's Eve aka St Sylvestre

31st December 2010. Phew..! We've been taking a break from the pleasures of the Christmas table since our visitors left on Tuesday. A whole slew of rich vittles have flowed under the bridge since I was last here in Blogistan but now we're closing the lock gates for a few days (after tonight!).

Last Monday we took our visitors to San Sebastian - they'd not been there before and they were both impressed by its style and the splendour of its baroque architecture. The weather was also favourable - think it was around 14-15°C and sunny.

After taking in a few of the grand boulevards and a stroll along the sea front of La Concha we went to the old part of town to - no prizes for guessing - Bar Aralar (our fave!) for a few pintxos and a humungous sangria.

We were in St Jean de Luz a couple of days ago and the temperature was an almost sultry 21°C! We sat outside and enjoyed a drink in the sunshine.

Yesterday we had a phone call from Madame D from our old gite in Villefranque where we stayed for 5 months in 2007/8 when we first arrived.. She's kindly invited us for lunch this Sunday. Who says the Basques keep to themselves..?

Now all that remains is the question of finding a suitable New Year's resolution.. hmm.

1st January 2011. Happy New Year to all.. If you find yourself sitting in front of your computer today feeling just a tad jaded.. then here's something to take your mind off it for a few minutes. Often copied, never equalled - it's that memorable car chase from "Bullitt", featuring the late Steve McQueen. And if you tell me the downhill sequences don't have you hanging on to your desktop - I'm sorry, I simply won't believe you! Enjoy! (but don't blame me if you spill your Horlicks!) Edited to add: I've just read that Peter Yates has died..

Question du Jour: how many times does that green VW Beetle get overtaken..?

Django Reinhardt demonstrates his complete mastery of the Manouche guitar here aided by Stephane Grappelli on the violin:

The streets of Bayonne were almost entirely devoid of cars and passersby this New Year's morning when I wandered into the unusually quiet centre to find a baker who was open for business. All the usual suspects were closed so I started looking for someone, anyone, carrying a baguette. Among those like me in search of a baguette were a handful of hollow-eyed, rubber-legged revellers searching for that last elusive drink for lurching off home to bed. Spotting an old gentleman with a Basque beret with a baguette emerging from a side street, I found the only baker in town that was open.

There was a long queue - an uneasy mix of early birds and party animals - that stretched outside the shop and straggled across the pavement to the river's edge. Events took a comical turn for the worse when 2 young lads - who were almost "completely relaxed as a newt" - decided to provide an impromptu cabaret by joining the queue not at the end but at some point near the front. This provoked a masterclass in righteous indignation from various quarters and it wasn't long before voices were raised and fingers were being wagged. They were all still arguing as I picked up my bread and headed off for home. Happy New Year!

One of the shops we visit over the border in Spain has started stocking the Balvenie "Doublewood" 12 year old. What can I say - except I'm tempted..! If you appreciate single malt whiskies but haven't tried this one I'd say it's never too late. To me it's right up there with the very best.

5th January 2011. Very sad news about Gerry Rafferty this morning. His timeless 1978 hit "Baker Street" encapsulated his experience of life in London - with that unforgettable soaring sax from Raphael Ravenscroft running through it... RIP Gerry.

6th January 2011. Back out on the river in a coxless quad sculler this evening - there was a warm southerly wind blowing down the river and a glorious sunset. Had to remind ourselves that today was 6th January! Did 10km before dusk. (Running total = 343km) 

103. AVE trains

21st December 2010. It was announced during Télé Matin (France2's breakfast TV) this morning that Spain has become the European leader in high speed train technology. With the opening of the Madrid - Valencia line last Saturday, Spain's AVE High Speed Rail network now operates over 2,000km of track compared to ~1900km of TGV in France and Spain's high speed rail network is set to grow further in order to meet the target of ensuring that all major cities in Spain are no more than 4hrs from Madrid. This clip (apologies for the 'iffy' quality) shows the space age looking RENFE AVE train..

And another one:

Meanwhile, here in SW France, there is much local opposition to the further extension southwards of the French LGV (Ligne Grande Vitesse = high speed track) through the politically sensitive Pays Basque. It is planned to be completed by 2020 but a lot can happen in the intervening years. I've noted elsewhere that the Basques have an almost visceral attachment to their houses, farms, land and their 'Pays' and I don't think that the central planners in Paris have quite hoisted this fact on board. It's my guess that future opposition will take a more concrete form. The debate is far from being over.

The long term strategic vision is clearly to put in place a high speed rail network that will straddle Europe and link up all the major capitals. A laudable enough ambition you might think. However, the southern extension of the LGV through the Pays Basque will generate even greater opposition than we've seen so far. Looking at it from the point of view of those directly concerned, ask yourself the question - how will this new line benefit them? Are these the sort of people for whom a shorter rail journey to Paris is a boon?

I'm reminded of the story of the contribution to an egg and bacon breakfast from the point of view of the chicken and the pig. By providing an egg, the chicken has an interest but in providing the bacon, the pig is committed. In the case of the Pays Basque, we stand to lose far more than we'll gain.

As far as I can see, while the spread of LGVs across the map of Europe might convince our elected representatives in Paris and beyond that they are achieving something and that they are doing us a favour, the reality is that no-one here wants what they're offering. Opening up this blessed corner of France to an increased level of mass tourism is not something the people here need or want. The new line will cause local property values to take yet another upward hike thus making it virtually impossible for locals to keep a foothold in their patrimoine. It's estimated that 1300 homes will be touched by the LGV. Unfortunately though, in matters like this, it's usually the "big battalions" that win the day. If anyone needs a reminder of the ties that bind the Basques to their homes, take a look at this poem by Gabriel Aresti that I featured in an earlier post.

I despair of reading about high speed trains in the UK. Our politicians - of all colours and persuasions - are incapable of looking further ahead than next week and investing in long term infrastructure plus they seem to lack the political will, imagination, drive and competence to bring in a major project on this scale. So far, the only winners appear to be the plump legions of rail consultants who, for years, have been making a nice living out of advising successive British governments. All that's on the table at the moment is a nebulous project to join London and Birmingham with a high speed rail link but, yes, you've guessed it, the Transport Minister has his long screwdriver out and is fiddling around the edges with the routing. The history of high speed trains in the UK makes for sorry reading. How many decades are we behind? Our current main line express trains (built 20 years ago) have been re-branded as InterCity 225.. the "225" element being its top speed in kph.. which is intended to sound faster to the long-suffering travelling public than 140mph. I know from bitter experience that trying to drink coffee on an InterCity train whilst dressed for a business meeting is not to be recommended (unless you have a good dry cleaner). In contrast, the TGV is rock steady at 300kph - or 186mph - whichever you prefer. And just to drive the point home, the TGV entered service between Paris and Lyon in 1981.

PS Still no snow! Yippee! And the forecast for tomorrow (22nd) is for - you're not going to believe this - 17C!

23rd December 2010. I went to Cazenave in the centre of Bayonne yesterday afternoon for one last item for Madame's Christmas stocking.. I've mentioned Cazenave before here but each time I step over the threshold and enter what can only be described as a Temple of Chocolat I'm stopped dead in my tracks by my olfactory sensors going straight to Red Alert..! The intensity of the rich and all-pervading aroma of chocolate is astonishing. Normally, the shop is staffed by one or perhaps two ladies. Yesterday there were five in there.. 

At Cazenave, they make their own chocolate - from cocoa beans to the finished product. The window is decorated with beautifully made items in chocolate ranging from simple castanets to sculpted boxes - made of chocolate - for filling with chocolates. If it's a box of chocolates you want, they have a range of empty boxes on display from which you select the size you want and then your assistant will fill it with the individual chocolates that you select from the range on display.

Yesterday I was there to buy a box of Marrons glacés. Once the assistant had finished filling the box she weighed it (having first weighed the empty box!) and wrote the price down for me to take to the cash desk while she automatically gift-wrapped the box. While I was paying, the charming lady at the cash desk offered me a dish of dark chocolate pastilles. I once hit the jackpot with Madame with some marrons glacés I'd bought in Italy that had been dipped in plain chocolate - but I've given up trying to find some here in France. I found an online supplier in Spain but they wanted 35€ just to post them here..

I'm reminded of one of Woody Allen's old stories. He was telling a friend that he had a new job down at the local strip club.

His friend asked, "How much a week..?"

Woody replied, "Two hunnerd bucks.."

His friend commented, "That ain't much.."

Woody sighed, "It's all I could afford..!"

I almost told that story to the lady on the cash desk in the context of a woman working at Cazenave but I decided against it - there's nothing worse than a blank look. My ability to tell a story in French isn't up to it.

I must brush up my Ferrero Rocher pyramid building skills.. the centrepiece of all diplomatic receptions... apparently (!)

 

102. The Big Chill

15th December 2010. A bright and cold day today - blue skies, dazzling sunshine, c-o-l-d but luckily no wind... The temperature out there this morning was a bracing -3°C. I took the dog for a long walk along the river and came back via the Christmas market - the stallholders looked frozen. I had a squint at what they were selling and I must be honest - there was nothing there that made me even want to slow down, let alone insert a hand in a back pocket.

At midday it had warmed up to a balmy +1. I think we could be in for a dose of snow tomorrow.

18th December 2010. The last few days have seen us in a bit of a frenzy of activity getting ready for Christmas. Presents have been retrieved from hiding places to be wrapped; we've put up one of those Christmas trees that's guaranteed (?) not to drop its needles and last night Madame worked her customary magic on the house with a profusion of decorations that appeared miraculously from dusty storage containers. Not much left to do now. I think one last raid into Spain for some last minute shopping is planned for next Tuesday. Beautiful weather this morning in the Pays Basque - cold, yes but with blue skies, bright sunshine and no wind.

Spare a thought for those who will be having Christmas on their own. I can't think of much that's worse than that.

Last night we enjoyed our first taste of Christmas Pudding.. Madame made several earlier in the year and they've been lurking down in the cellar ever since. As far as I'm concerned, Christmas Pudding - known here as Plum Pudding (a bit odd as there are no plums in it) - is the taste of Christmas. (Half fat version here if you must) I'm convinced Rabbie Burns' most famous verse was originally written about a Christmas Pudding.. but he was later persuaded to change the target to a Haggis!

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,

Great chieftain o' the puddin-race!

Best wishes for a Happy Christmas to all..

20th December 2010. Still no snow here.. touch wood! Some old friends of Madame's (from uni days) are arriving later in the week by TGV. TGV services have been affected by the wintry weather - they're running at reduced speed (~200kph) in the north.