August, hot and guests Part 1

Wall lizard

Laundry garden

It's the start of August and we have been lucky to have friends Patrick, Lorna and Finley, testing out the new apartment.  They arrived towards the end of July and sadly leave on the 7th August.  We have had family meals everyday with great salads, bread from Marty the local boulangerie, and whatever we could find in the fridge.  Evenings always start with an Apéro followed by a BBQ or something from the Hairy bikers, again modified depending on what we have.  Delicious fish stew, grilled mackerel (seafood in France is always very fresh) and although I took the fish course at the Billingsgate market school, I did however get the fishmonger to fillet as they are quick and exceptional.

Mantis on Bald Hill

We went on walks with the dog (OK the kids cycled) to the nearby 'Bald Hill' where Evie discovered a mantis.  We also spent a lot of time in the pool: playing games, swimming and diving, Charlies favourite dive, a "bomb".  The children's favourite game seemed to be "piggy in the middle". 

Cycling is the norm and Pat and Lorna went out most days, early to avoid the heat.  Pat even tried out my eBike which he enjoyed going up hills!

Bikes on a cooler day overlooking Puycalvel

A visit to the Sidobre was a highlight.  We went to Peyro Clavado (Clenched Nail) in Lacrouzette, which has an incredible view.  The kids climbed and explored the woods and granite outcrops all day.  We had a fabulous picnic on a rock outcrop over-looking the plain below, however, no ginger beer.

“The Sidobre is in the Haut Languedoc Regional Natural Park.  It is a mountainous area covered in forest.  It is an area of  granite that is 15Km long with a 6km wide plateau and is unique in Europe.  It was formed from molten rock 250 km underground.  These granite formations have been enveloped in limestone rocks, and over time and by the fact of the rainwater infiltration, has had the effect of dissolving the limestone leaving incredibly bizarre shape, some with impressive balances.  Because of this some rocks sound hollow as you walk over them. The goose, three cheeses and shark are some of the names given to these strange balancing rock formations".

We also visited a beautiful lily covered pond the "Lac du merle", with round granite boulders, the dog thought it the ideal time for a drink and swim.  The car had to have all the windows open on the return journey.

Sometimes typing the blog at seven am, overlooking our valley, hot coffee slowly getting cool, I feel like a writer.  Pity, I can't write.  But it is great to hear the place wake up, cocks crowing, birds cawing, dogs barking and sometimes seeing the odd interesting bird, deer, hare or boar as I sit quietly and glance up.

August and we are nearly fully booked with the cottage (the smallest) being the only gite with some availability.  The gardens look well tended, the grass has stopped growing and has turned straw coloured.  The pool crystal clear, warm, but refreshing.  This year we had some bees desperate for water visiting the pool, but a google search soon found an environmentally bee friendly solution, so we now spray water with peppermint oil around the edges....no bees.  We did however create some bee friendly watering holes.

It's going to be hot and sunny again,  35 degrees plus, blue skies and all of us keeping out of the direct sun.  This month the sunflowers will start to droop their heads and the seeds will ripen.  However, due to different planting dates and varieties, there are still some beautiful golden fields around La Bastide.

The Indian Running duck ducklings are now twelve weeks old and starting to get wing feathers, they have been let out in the orchard a few times and the chickens are very interested.  We had a chicken and duck standoff with the largest duckling standing up to a chicken in front of the small duckling flock, very comical.  They love water, (I have read they drink a litre a day) even though they run everywhere, I have more than doubled their enclosure since they arrived and once they are ducks will let them roam the orchard. Click here for Indian running duckling video .  At the end of August they roamed the whole orchard, I think we have one drake and three ducks, only time will tell.

We have decided to leave some outside work on the apartment garden until October when it is cooler.  We will get another five tons of granite boulders to complete the rock garden and along the edges of the steps.  We will also add slats to the roof area of the deck to create a shady gazebo, as the plants (kiwi) will take too long to grow.

During the week we had a storm with lightning, together with some much needed rain  (about 2.5cm).  The kids woke up to watch the lightning and hear the rain and thunder.  It was gone in an hour and we only experienced a short power cut.  The next day was back to blue skies and fluffy clouds.

Amazing sky

It's the time for shooting stars, from 17th July to 24th August, with the peak around 11th August with over 100 shooting stars predicted.  Each night we look for meteors called perseids that originate in the constellation Perseus.  With no artificial light, La Bastide is perfect to gaze at planets and stars.  Charlie thinks it's magical and it's great to have company as we watch the night sky.

I have been reading the news and it seems Covid-19 is being transmitted by young people gathering with friends (which I understand)  I believe that until a fully tested vaccine is available, we will have to change the way we live.  Some countries that implemented proper lock-down processes have done very well.  But it seems even New Zealand that implemented a great strategy to combat Covid transmission has cases that may have been contracted through contact with cold freight.  The UK has added a number of countries to their quarantine list, Spain and Portugal recently and talk is that France may be next.  Since writing this France has joined the list and Portugal is off the list!  

View from our beach hut

Fun in the sun

Waiting for the next big wave

Towards the end of the month we went to the beach in Gruissan Plage, where the houses are on stilts.  Betty Blue was filmed there and in France it is a cult film that has the name 37°.2 le matin, meaning "37.2°C in the morning".  







For August it was very quiet, similar to the amount of people we normally see out of season in October.  We cycled everywhere, swam, body-boarded, fished for crabs and enjoyed the local restaurants and bars.  Obviously with masks and social distancing!

Fete du Pain

The Fete du Pain or as we call it the bread festival was at the weekend. Lautrec had throngs of people visiting and the new restaurant "Les Chavaliers" was busy.  The Cuq tractor fair which is normally on the same day (Bank holiday in France) was cancelled due to Covid.  Since the outbreak we have lost a restaurant (Clos D'adele) and garage in Lautrec.