All holidays come to an end - regretfully.

Yes, regretfully great holidays come to an end, as they always do, but on the brighter side, there are always new holidays on the horizon.  

We left Camping Manjastre in brilliant sunshine and perfect warmth.  That was hard, as we knew it would become cooler and cloudier as we travelled north.  We turned the airconditioner off in the car before we reached Dijon.

The last of the photographs from the south of France.

We discovered the Sunday market in La Londe.   People told us that the La Londe market was better than the one in Le Lavandou, but we did not believe them, which was a pity as we could have been visiting it for years.   The La Londe market was not as large for a start, and certainly had more character, as it was set out on the main street, rather than in a carpark.   Therefore there were plenty of cafes, in which to sit down and soak up the atmosphere.    And the stall holders were very friendly which added to the festive atmosphere.  We spent plenty of money too, I might add.  

We also went for a drive along the coast.  A gloriously clear day.

And very few cars on the road, so we could also enjoy the views.

The swimming pool.  So calm.  Great reflections at night.  And icy cold water too.

Our last evening at Camping Manjastre.  First we had drinks at David and Joyce's tent, which was really lovely, and then met Joan at the restaurant for a steak dinner.   The chef is excellent and the dinner last night did not disappoint us.

Joan and me, looking very happy.  We had many great meals together these holidays.

So it was with great sadness when we said goodbye to everyone, and set off home.  But looking forward to next year.   Thank goodness for Facebook, so that we can keep in touch in the meantime.

Camping Manjastre

And life continues for us here, at Camping Manjastre.  All at a leisurely pace, as it should be in autumn, when the hectic rush of summer is now a past memory.  And around us are the retirees and the workers taking a quiet late holiday.   Very peaceful.

So just a few photos, to keep everyone up to date on our activities.  

We try and go for a walk every morning, along the back road, where it is very peaceful and cool, although the heat is not such a problem now.

The donkeys waiting patiently for their morning vegetables from Ronald.

One morning I walked back around the front vineyard.  Our caravan and awning is visible through the trees, with Walter busily setting the table for breakfast.  It is possible to see his maroon Tshirt.

And back to the grape harvest.  This photo was taken on the last morning.  The sun shining on the vine leaves was pretty spectacular, but unfortunately the camera in Walter's telephone did not pick up the glistening leaves.

Most of us like to get a lift back down to the vines after morning coffee.  We have had about eleven people on the back of this truck, and it certainly struggles up the hill.  No health and safety restrictions on this site.  We all love the ride on the truck.

The celebratory dinner at the end of the harvest.  Plenty of good food, and wine, with a bit of grappa to finish off.  Great atmosphere, with plenty of competitive singing between us, the English group, and the Dutch group, who are sitting behind us.

Cheers everyone.

A very wet morning.  No grape picking on this day.  But the very parched countryside certainly needed the rain.  So no complaints really.  After the change in weather the temperature dropped five degrees or so, with cool nights.  Very pleasant now, with temperatures ranging between 22 and 27 degrees during the day.

Our awning is now permanently closed and we sit inside the caravan in the evening.

And on the wet day I polished the wooden (laminate) surfaces in the caravan.  As one does in a caravan when the weather is miserable.

This is a very cosy corner now that Walter has installed some under cupboard lights.  Makes all the difference.  A bit of mood lighting.

An early morning view of the swimming pool.  The sun was just rising over the hills, and there was scarcely a breathe of wind.  Hence the lovely reflections.   Two coolish days, some rain and cold nights have cooled the pool down considerably.  The water is bracing to say the least.  I still try and swim a few lengths every day, but it takes a bit of courage to do so.

The sunset last night was glorious.  I took this one from our caravan.

Then we walked around to Joan's caravan, which faced west, in order to take the next three photos.

A very red sky.

Then the sun disappeared and it was all over.  But what a sight.  Such a spectacular sunset.

We have also spent time dining out with friends, and having drinks and coffee with people.  A very social time.

And now we should be packing up to go home, but our car is at the Skoda garage waiting to be repaired.  But the part has not arrived, and no estimation of when it will get here.  The engine warning light came on last week, and it turned out to be the diesel particulate filter sensor.

The Green Flag Emergencies people have been wonderful.  They sent a tow truck to collect the car, then organised a taxi to take us to a car rental place.  So we are currently driving a lovely Renault Cleo.  Automatic too.

And now we wait on our car to be fixed.  Still we are waiting in a lovely place.  One cannot complain too much.

Life outside Camping Manjastre

We are having a lovely time, reading books and visiting places, in between helping with the grape harvest.  The black grapes that we picked last Saturday were near perfect. Huge bunches of luscious black grapes.  Ronald, one of the owners, was feeling very happy at the end of the morning, as the weigh in of the grapes at the co-operative was very promising. We will finish picking the grapes from the same vines tomorrow morning, and hopefully that will be the end of the harvest this year.  

A visit to Bormes les Mimosa last Sunday.  A very hot day.

The Sunday artisan market.  All very interesting but nothing that really grabbed my attention.  Or to entice me to part with my money.

But there was a car rally of cars from the 1950s to the 1970s.  My era. Plenty of volkswagons there.

An American police car.

Another oversized American car.

There was the usual chaos as people were trying to drive their cars out of the car park as the rally cars were arriving. The French have no patience at all, preferring to burn clutches rather than stop and wait.  They also like to keep their hands hard pressed on the horns.  What a fiasco.

We made a trip into Le Lavandou, in order to have an ice cream.  It was very quiet, even the beach was deserted.

There was still plenty of boats in the harbour.

We had a delightful lunch at a restaurant in St Clair, with our friends, Joan and Steve, and their lovely dog, Sasha.

While we were there the weather began to change, so we had a very blustery view of the beach.  We loved the blue and white striped umbrellas, which were just managing to stay in place.   There were no takers for the sun loungers though.   A day for being sand blasted, I think.

The lovely Sasha.   My apologies, no photos of us with Joan and Steve.  Too busy talking and eating.

We also visited the Dali exhibition at the museum in Bormes les Mimosa.  It was a very hot day, which took the edge off the experience a bit. 

But it was very interesting all the same.  That moustache!   Salvador Dali certainly liked to have his photo taken with people who were well known.  A very attention grabbing person, but he certainly made sure that people knew who he was, and that his artwork work was important. 

Often he featured in his own artwork.  A man who liked himself, for sure.

Two of his paintings.  

Salvador Dali, born 11th May, 1904 and died 23rd January, 1989.  A surrealist painter.  And some more of his work.  Fascinating.

Our in the street I was fascinated by the way the jewellery in this shop was displayed.  Each piece of jewllery had wire attached to it, which was then threaded through the board and tied onto a bolt.  A very ingenious way of stopping people pinching the jewellery.

We went to the exhibition with Joan and Steve.   Joan is an artist, which helped considerably when trying to understand the complexities of an artist like Dali.

As it was very hot up in Bormes les Mimosa we were very pleased to go to the cafe with a view, the one that we usually do not patronise ever since the time they would not serve us or the French couple at another table.   But the cafe across the road that we normally use was having their sewerage pipes pumped out, and the smell was a little off putting.

And we were served immediately too.  We enjoyed our icy cold drinks in the welcome shade of the cafe with the view.  Perhaps we will go there again.

Harvest Time at Camping Manjastre

Harvesting the grapes at Camping Manjastre.  An exciting time for the volunteers but no doubt a tense time for the owners.  They have to worry about the rain - too much or not enough, ripening of the grapes, sugar content and keeping the wild pigs away from the grapes.  It must be quite a relief when it is all finished.

However there is a great sense of comaraderie amongst the grape pickers, and a common feeling of trying to do a good job, even though many of us are mere amateurs.  There are three languages being spoken, French, Dutch and English, and often all at the same time.

Each day at 9 am we arrive at the designated area of vines. If the area is at the back of the campsite, which is down a hill, then we get a ride on the back of the truck.  No worries about restrictive health and safety regulations here.

The grape vines in the photographs below are in front of our site.   The main road is behind the grape vines.

The tractor and trailer are placed between the rows of vines.

Then its heads down as we busily cut the grapes and fill our buckets, which are regularly emptied by the younger members.  The biggest problem is making sure to keep fingers away from the secateurs.  Walter managed to cut his finger this year.  And the chef.  Plenty of blood on both accounts.  Adds to the flavour of the wine.

A few minutes pause to stretch the back muscles.  The vines are quite low.  Not good for the people who are tall.

Then back into it again.

A full load of grapes, ready to take to the co-operative.

But we are told to keep going, as there are plans to line the trailer of the truck with plastic.

And so we filled the back of the truck as well.   Usually we fill a trailer up with grapes, and while it is being taken to the co-operative we have coffee.  Then we fill another trailer and then it is time for pastis.  Not that I like pastis so I opt for a few glasses of iced water instead.

Now I know I should know the grape varieties we are picking, but I do not so my apologies to all the wine buffs that read this blog.  All I know is that the grapes join all the other grapes at the co-operative and it is made into very drinkable wine.  No additives either.

I am rather partial to the red wine, labelled Camping Manjastre.   A very pleasant light wine.

Looking back - our garden during August

It has been very hot up north, with temperatures around 30 degrees today.  And before we left last week I dismantled the watering system, thinking that the weather would become cooler, and there would be rain.  In hindsight this was not a wise decision.  One can never accurately predict the weather in Great Britain.   And I am not there to do anything about watering the back garden either.  Oh well.

Looking back over the photographs below I can see that the garden was very productive.   And we were busy keeping up with it.

The tomotoes ripened and were delicious in salads.

The rhubarb continued to grow, and I was hoping to harvest the last of it when we returned home in two weeks time.  No doubt they have now flopped completely through lack of water.  Still I have managed to freeze quite a bit.

The cultivated blackberries were prolific, and we made jam, put them in the freezer and ate them on our desserts.

The potatoes were eaten weeks ago.  They did tend to become mushy very quickly, when boiled, but were great mashed though, with plenty of butter.

The Victoria plum trees were loaded down with fruit, and we made jam, stewed them for freezing as well as ate them for breakfast.  I picked some of them as they were beginning to show some colour, but I should have let them ripen completely as we hardly had any worms in them this year.  I think I have broken the moth/worm cycle.

I also managed to freeze some gooseberries, but the blackcurrents decided to not produce much fruit this year.   Not sure why.  Perhaps the bushes needed a rest.  And the foxes managed to get most of the raspberries.  I hope they enjoyed them.  Hopefully we have apples to eat when we get home.   A good year in the garden, no doubt due to plenty of rain and sunshine early in the season.

My new mixer.  My birthday present from the family this year.  I love it.

And our current concern, although a little unreal at the moment.  Our kitchen cupboards smell musty, and the end wall looks damp. Now we really need a new kitchen, which we have been putting off, as we prefer to spend our money travelling.  But we can see that it is a job we must attend to, sooner rather than later.

In the meantime we need to sort out the causes of the damp.  And we did not have to look far, as the outside drain was cracked and the pipes leading from the upstairs kitchen, our kitchen and the gutters were directing the water onto the side of the house.  So Walter added pieces of pipe so the water now goes straight in to the drain.  Something we should have done years ago.  I sealed all the cracks and broken plaster with some 'you can do it' waterproofing plaster.

On further investigation we found the tap was dripping every time the watering system came on, and a pot plant by the wall was getting too much water from its dripper and the excess water was being directed to the house.

So with a bit of luck all the current hot weather is helping to dry out the wall.

Perhaps now there is no moisture on the back wall, the resident mole will go elsewhere.  Yes, there are two mole hills against the back wall.  There is no escaping the pesky moles.

And currently we are in the south of France and the busy month of August feels such a long time ago.