Tramontane

National Silly Hat Day?

This last week we had had the legendary tramontane wind blowing fiercely through Ceret. It literally means 'across the mountains', and as the mountains are now thoroughly snowy, it arrives here well chilled. It's also averaging around 60kmh, so it's having quite an effect. Temperatures are struggling to reach 10, and are getting down towards zero at night.

On Sunday the long-awaited new fountain was inaugurated by the mayor. It is simply superb. We imagine it cost well into 6 figures, as people have been working on it for months, but in our opinion it is well worth whatever it cost. According to the far-too-long speeches, it pays homage to sardanes dancing, Picasso, the peak of Canigou, and the waterways through the town.

The cold has made getting out a well-wrapped affair, but we are still trying to make sure we walk at least once a day. Yesterday we went overboard and did a 2½ walk around the 1790s battlefields of Le Boulou. Still very cold, and certainly very windy, but we enjoyed the walk immensely. It traces the Battle of Le Boulou from 1793 when the Spanish tried to take advantage of the problems after the French Revolution to claim some extra territory. The French finally managed to repel them after a year's brutal fighting, with a decisive battle taking place on this site.

See the snow behind Karen

Having our fill of (very) fresh air, we had another French meal tonight at some friends. As ever, multiple courses and lovely food. We are both improving with our French conversation. Speaking only French (almost all the time) on our long walks is paying off, as we are much quicker picking up the language and speaking it back.

Work is going well. I'm over the worst of it and can relax a bit again. So much so that we are thinking about our next mini-trip away - perhaps across the northern face of the Pyrenees taking in some thermal springs. Karen has made some major choices regarding her book, and is now emphasising the northern end of immigration, minimising the NZ end, making it more of a travel book. She will include some of our own adventures while visiting the places we have researched overseas.

Winter Has Arrived

Yes, it had to happen. And it did. Three days ago winter arrived with a vengeance. The temperature has dropped dramatically and we've had a lot of rain. The skies are supposed to clear on Wednesday but the temperatures will drop again, to a daytime high of about 7 or 8 degrees. We don't really mind the change in weather, though it is obviously very early days yet! It is lovely snuggling up into warm merino, donning thick jackets and walking the 40 steps to Bar Pablo where we strip off our outer layers again! No, really, we still want to get out and about on our walks, runs and general meanderings, but will just have to wear a number of layers that we can strip off when we get hot. Apparently Céret typically gets snow on the ground once or twice during winter. Last year there was none but four years ago there was a metre. 

Our last week has been very social. Yesterday was particularly crazy. We met up for lunch at a little nearby village restaurant with an English couple who live in a very remote enclave further up our valley. They live here permanently and are an excellent source of information about the region. Next we called in on a lovely French couple who we have become good friends with. In the evening we had a farewell drink with some Aussie friends who are going back home but will be out again next May. 

Now that the town is quieter, with all the tourists and 'fair weather' English residence departed, the locals are out and about more, or at least are more obvious. We see new faces at Bar Pablo now and are getting to chat with some new French locals, along with a smattering of Scandinavians and English who are permanent residents here. We are thoroughly enjoying getting to know more locals but also the 'cut and thrust' of conversation with the ex-pats, who are typically retired professionals, well travelled and with an interest in all things around them. We have been invited to a New Year's Eve party with a group of three English couples, all very good company. It will be at the home of the couple we had lunch with yesterday. It is a 40 minute drive to their place, well up into the Pyrenees foothills, where they are one of only four houses in amongst the trees. It is a stunning setting, but too remote to tempt John and I, even though one of the houses is for sale.

Our friends live in an old villa in the very centre of the photo, i.e. very remote.

We made one giant step forward yesterday in terms of finishing off the renovations on this place. After waiting a number of months, our builder finally turned up to lay the tiles on our bathroom floor. We bought the tiles last year and I've been itching to get them down. We are thrilled with the result - large rectangular charcoal tiles instead of a horrible beige and white wavy pattern on smaller square tiles. While the builder was cutting the very tricky pieces to fit around the stand for the hot water cylinder he also cut a few odd sized tiles that we needed to complete the edging above our benchtop. We can now go ahead and finish that off. 

We've also decided what to do with the two lovely chunks of wood that were cut out of our new benchtop to make way for the sink and cooktop. We have taken them to the local joiner and he will cut and glue them into a large cheeseboard/table top and two small footstools for John and I to use when working at our computers.

Smartphones and Walks

This time, I am going to have a bit of a rant about how good a smartphone can be when you are travelling. For some time I resisted buying a smartphone, thinking my lovely slim little Nokia (very small, but very good for playing music) was the bee's knees. Finally I succumbed and bought a smartphone, and have certainly not regretted it. This year I have a Samsung Galaxy S3, not the latest phone, but pretty good all the same.

This is the list of applications that we use frequently...

• Camera - a phone in your pocket means you still have a camera for those shots you didn't expect to take, and for quick copies of shop hours, or town maps, or a wine label you want to remember.
• Gmail - most towns have one café where you can get free wifi and catch up with what's what.
• Contacts - all the names, numbers and addresses we need, all on hand.
• Google Translate - offline translation to and from as many languages as you load, always useful.
• Phone and Messaging - yes, modern phones can still do this.
• Google's My Tracks - maps the walks you do, and better still, you can load into it walks you want to do. As we've said, French track marking is not up to DoC standards, and being able to compare your current position with a track you have loaded into the phone is vital at times. More below...
• Google Maps - load it with offline street and road maps for where you are going. Great when you are in a town and need to find your way about, - the little blue dot is you!
• TripAdvisor - where's a good place to eat or stay? TripAdvisor will tell you.
• Google Drive (or DropBox or others) - Load a folder of useful documents on your PC, and it magically appears in the web and on your phone - great for scans of tickets, passports and whatever.
• Google Keep - sticky notes. We have ones for our shopping list, shop hours (a big issue in France), and places people tell us about in passing.
• News apps - Stuff, NZ Herald, Engadget - for whiling away time when you have a few minutes to spare.
• Kayak - all our bookings automatically appear in Kayak, great for keeping track of when you are due where. And you can book using it.

We've spent quite a bit of time this week helping a Perth couple set up the apartment they bought some months ago. They arrived last Sunday, finalised their house purchase on Monday, but Marie-Louise then got a nasty bug which laid her low for the next 3 days. I spent most of Wednesday out and about with Richard helping him get things sorted while Marie-Louise recovered. Thankfully she's come right now, and they are rapidly filling up their new village house with all the myriad things you need. We remember doing the same, but we had the luxury of time on our side.

Back to smartphones, we've been wanting to expand our repertoire of walks beyond Les Hauts de Céret and l'Ermitage de San Ferreol. The biggest problem is with getting lost. We've had several abortive walks where we've got partway in only to find the trails seem to disappear and we have had to backtrack. I did a bit of searching on the internet, and there are myriad sites where people have done walks and saved the GPS tracks to the internet. The best I have found is WikiLoc, and I downloaded a few of the 100s of potential walks and rides that looked promising. Pop the track on your phone and you can see exactly where you are on the trail, even a few metres out shows up well. This means you can head out knowing you will be able to find and complete the walk, something that has eluded us all too often.

On Thursday we had a superb walk up in the hills above Maureillas. We had a couple of booklets that told us how to get to the Dolmens of Suireda, but the track was all too briefly described. Having the track on the phone was a good move! The track went up into the hills, quite well-marked compared with many and we found our way up quite easily. A bit short of 2 hours later, we reached the dolmens - Bronze Age tombs consisting of heavy stone slab walls, with another over the top as a roof. Really quite special.

We picnicked at the dolmens, then headed back down. The normal route was a simple loop, but the one I had downloaded let us go back via a different loop, following the irrigation canal that we suspect must start way up our valley, flow through Céret, then keep heading down north to the plains.

We would have had no hope of following the trail without the GPS-based map on the phone, which was so accurate you could walk 5 steps and see that you were on the track, or off it. Walking beside the canal was just brilliant, and knowing now how to use these downloaded tracks opens up a whole new world of walks and rides for us.

Having enjoyed this walk so much, we went on another on Saturday. We'd been to Cap Bear in 2009, but the wind was so strong we could only just stand up. Much more pleasant this year, and we were able to enjoy the walk properly.

Fortifications on the Cape

Nice little stone-built shelter

We were on a roll with walks now, so found another for Tuesday, this time up our valley. One of the enjoyable things about walking here is that you have the added dimension of history. Almost every walk goes to, or passes by, some old or ancient structure. It's a good feeling knowing you are walking in the footsteps of thousands of farmers or pilgrims or soldiers from the past. The walk took us up above Arles-sur-Tech to a Vauban battery from 1670, to a restored 9thC chapel.

Looking over Arles-sur-Tech to Canigou, the revered mountain of the Catalans

Lovely tracks

It's well and truly autumn here

The track led up through lovely rocks, then countless chestnut trees, no doubt deliberately planted centuries ago for the food they provide.

Up at the top is a Vauban-built battery from 1670 which saw action in the French-Spanish war of that period. The 360° views were just outstanding, it being a perfect clear autumn day. Next stop was the perfect little chapel looking back over the Roussillon Plain.

It was our best walk yet, but rather sad, as I lost Karen. The chestnut leaves just got deeper...

and deeper....

and finally Karen disappeared completely...

Hopefully she will find her way home sometime.

Wanderings

The Saturday morning market once again turned into a meet-fest and we ended up chatting with Wally and Ellen for ages. By the time we got back home for lunch it was too late to head out on the 2.5hr+ walk we had planned, though the wonderful weather still beckoned us to stay outdoors. We ended up driving to the next village (Maureillas) which we have never actually explored before. We had a good wonder around and finally got to visit the cork museum which I've been keen to do for ages. Because we have seen so many cork trees on our walks, many of them showing the dark red inner core on their trunks where the outer cork has been harvested, we were keen to find out more about the process. It was very interesting, especially the video, even though it was all in French. Both of us were intrigued to discover that the corks are actually punched out of the cork trunk horizontally, rather then from the outside of the trunk in towards the centre of the tree as we had always imagined. Some massive wooden wine barrels in the basement of the museum completed a pretty impressive display.

Huge wine barrels at the cork museum

Next stop was a drive-through another nearby village, again not yet explored, then home for a verre du vin rouge (glass of red wine). Sunday was supposed to be the day of our postponed walk, but it was pretty cloudy and certainly uninviting to head into forests and explore new terrain so we had a lazy day. Mid afternoon was a Sardanes performance, the first for a while, so we had a look-see.

Monday was a slightly more energetic day. After our morning run we drove into Perpignan and did the round of builder's shops looking for a new door to replace our front door (so it can open on the opposite side), managed to find some hiking boots for me at a sports shop, and squeezed in a haircut at a place next to the Auchan supermarket.

On the way home John decided to divert off the main route to visit Bages, a small town where Wally and Ellen lived for 12 years. Starved of a coffee all day we soon retired to the only cafe open, which turned out to also be the local bar and betting shop. Soon in walked a gent and two women, all of whom were intent on finding a racing paper so they could get some information about the upcoming Melbourne Cup. Of course we got talking to them and found out that the older couple were NZ & Irish but live in Bages. The woman had lived in Auckland for many years and brought her family up there. The younger woman was her daughter, and had just arrived with her husband to visit them. They had just come from Avignon where they had watched the Kiwis League team thrash the French. They are following the Kiwi rugby league team on their current world tour. and so are about to leave for the UK to see the next match. They didn't even know (or care) that the All Blacks are playing the French in Paris this weekend! Can you believe it??

Rue de Commerce Apartments

Why does time always fly by so quickly? It is the 1st of November today, and I don't think we are ready for it yet. That means we have only 2½ months left in Ceret. I know that sounds pretty spoilt, but we acknowledge we are well and truly lucky to be here. With our time freeing up a bit recently it was great to do our tiki-tour to Provence and short trip to Sitges. We had hoped to head to Toulouse for a 2-3 day trip this weekend but John has work that requires his attention. 

This week has been very quiet really. Just a daily routine of work and coffee, with a a run first thing in the morning on Wednesday and Friday. It's definitely colder in the mornings now, typically around 10-11 degrees when we head out, but it still warms up to 18-22 during the day. People are now wearing trousers, stockings, scarves and hats when out and about. The sun is still lovely and warm when sitting outside at Bar Pablo, but we have now been inside twice for the warmth. We know all the waiters really well now, and are being treated a lot more like locals.

Thursday threw up an interesting day for us. We had spied two places for sale only one minute away from our apartment, in one of the very old streets, Rue de Commerce. They are side by side, one with an old frontage of a defunct boulangerie. We had a reasonable interest in this because it required a substantial amount of renovation, and could keep us out of mischief for a while. It came complete with a lovely terrace and views out to Canigou, plus had an indoor pool in the basement. However, when we had looked closer at the supplied plans it appeared that the entire apartment was very narrow (only 3-3.5m wide), with minimal head-hight between the four different levels. However, we contacted the owner (who lives in Paris) anyway and they offered to show us through when they came to Céret this week. 

So, we had a look through and started having some serious thoughts about it. Basically the place had been completely gutted - it used to comprise 17 rooms and a number of apartments. Some renovations had been started - well over five years ago. The entire roof had been replaced, complete with skylights, and new floor beams and joists had been put in, currently with a number of ladders joining the various floors.  The walls had been stripped back to their stones. The work that has been done varies a bit from the plans and  the dimensions are much more acceptable than we first thought. As a result, we could see ourselves getting stuck in over the next few years, doing a complete renovation from the ground upwards...

The owner (a daughter selling on behalf of her deceased parents) lives in Paris and is keen to sell asap. She has waited five years to date because now the tax she pays when she sells is significantly reduced. She and her husband basically said 'make us an offer'. To make the most of our visit, they then showed us through the old family home which is next door and also up for sale. It is part of a building which contains four apartments but the part for sale includes the entire ground floor and part of the first floor. It also has a stunningly gorgeous enclosed garden and outdoor area, unfortunately overlooked by all the apartments above. Inside is a wonderful 250+ year old home, complete with big dark beams on the ceilings, old fireplaces, and massive charm. It pretty much bowled John over. Father and grandfather were instrument repairers, and it shows. The house contains at least 5 pianos, of which at least two were grands! One will have to stay as it was installed during major work and can't be got out in one piece now! There were probably over 50 violins hanging in racks. 

Again, this second place would require a great deal of work to renovate it though not nearly as much as next door. We could also move in straight away and just upgrading it room by room. It would be a much easier project, but the starting price was also significantly higher. The two places, after renovation, would probably end up costing a similar amount. One would be a renovated old home and one would be a totally modern multi-level apartment, complete with swimming pool. 

So, what do we think? Basically we love aspects of both places, but probably aren't bowled over enough by either to go for one or the other. It would mean a huge commitment of money and time, one which we are not ready to make unless we find a place that we totally fall in love with. If we don't ever find the latter, so be it.