Socialising with the locals

Our last two days have been spent mainly with the locals. Neighbours of Anne and Bob, Noel and Nanette, invited us for an aperitif on Monday. Nanette's mother was a Given from Ardara and Noel's family Griffin from Inch Island so it turns out they know Donegal very well. Both of them were in the RAF and Noel then joined the Rank organisation finally becoming a personal finance advisor. When they retired they found London too pressurised and found their lovely house outside Eysus on the internet. They bought it in 2005 and have been here since. They also invited Tim and Joanne. Joanne is originally Belgian and Tim's family came from Limerick. Joanne and Tim met in South Africa where Tim grew up. We had a lovely couple of hours drinking wine and eating canapes.

Today we had lunch with Eric and Prisca in Arette. Eric and Prisca exchanged with Evy and Geoffrey years ago and have kept up contact with them and the Morrows ever since. They have been to a few parties in our house and Eric came to my 60th birthday party. Today we were treated to a lovely lunch a la francaise and had a wonderful time catching up.

And now, all that remains is the packing and the cleaning up and back to Danielle's for one last night.

Views from our exchange balcony of the sunset over the Pyrenees.

St-Jean-Pied-de-Port

The weather forecast had warned us of a drop in temperatures and of wet weather today, Sunday. During the night there was a thunderstorm which didn't seem to last long and this morning there was evidence of rain, clouds in the sky and it was cooler. However, it was fine enough to go somewhere so we chose St-Jean-Pied-de-Port as it sounded a nice spot.

It is, in fact, the nicest town we have visited so far. It is the old capital of the traditional Basque province of Navarre. It is a fortress town and the last spot in France before entering Spain on the pilgrim path to Santiago de Compostella. Its streets are narrow and cobble-stoned and a steep climb takes you to the ramparts from where there are panoramic views.

A Basque teddy bear and typical Basque linens and cottons

We went into Eglise Notre Dame du Bout du Pont. It is a 14th century Gothic Church that stands near the Porte d'Espagne. I thought it was a lovely little church.

Interesting knockers

A tress of espelette peppers - a chilli pepper grown in the Basque region of France.

 A selection of traditional Basque macaroons - plain almond, plain coconut, lemon coconut, chocolate with espelette etc.

Pilgrims' walking boots I suspect

A traditional half door

Interesting sculptures on sale in an art shop

We had a lovely day and the sun is still shining!

Trip to Ste.-Engrace and touring other minor roads

A lovely fresh morning and off to Ste.-Engrace with the intention of doing the Gorges de Kakuetta. Again the usual twisty roads. We were delighted to be treated to another transhumance.

 We had been watching the uphill progress of the cyclist and he was doing well until the large flock of mostly sheep broadened out towards him and he had no option but to dismount. After the flock passed us, Jim courteously allowed the cyclist to zigzag a bit in order to build up a bit of velocity for the hills ahead.

Around the Pic Soulaing was very scenic.

All along the route there were signs showing a beast of the cattle variety saying Troupeau en liberte. For Donegal people it is not unusual to see moutons en liberte but, as already seen and as we saw today, the troupeau was en liberte and quite contemptuous of other road users!

 This Blond d'Aquitaine definitely posed!

I wonder do different farmers have different shaped bells or different tinkles to their bells? I wonder are they heavy?

Here I have to be honest that I chickened out once again. On arrival at the Gorges De Kakuetta I was intimidated by the hiking gear of the many who were visiting and realised that this was a hike that was taken seriously. At any rate I had forgotten to pack my walking cane and everyone else had two! Having slowed we sped up again and concentrated on the scenery which was very nice.

By continuing on to Tardets we would discover several of our exchangers' favourite restaurants on two separate routes back to Oloron. We chose the road to L'Hopital St. Blaise where Anne had recommended two auberges.. We went to Auberge du Lusset and had a delicious main course. The food there is really good.

This is the Eglise de l'Hopital Saint-Blaise, a 12th century chucrch and a former stop for pilgrims. It is quite unique in France and has son et lumiere 8 minute tours from June to September. This, strangely enough, is October!

This is the Auberge where we enjoyed lunch.

After a brief stop home we went to Lescar, the ancient city in the suburbs of Pau. It is the site of the Roman city known, among other names, as Benearnum and has given the name Bearn to the region. From the 12th century a new city grew up at Lascar and the Cathedral was built. Today the Cathedral was closed and the museum was closed but the ramparts were available with their gardens and the cemetery was available.

The Bishop at the entrance to the Tourist Office!

Mosaic from ancient city

And to end off the tour as we were on the road home - transhumance. I am convinced it was the shepherd who was part of tonight's festival of blessing, eating and dancing because the whole procedure was being filmed. Maybe the Irish registration made it onto local news!

And then Noel and Nanette Griffin, both of Irish extraction, neighbours and friends of Anne and Bob, called for a chat and to invite us to afternoon tea/aperitif on Monday. Lovely!

Market Oloron Sainte Marie

Today was market day in Oloron and our exchangers had said it was a good market. I was in need of tresses d'ail which I found and was assured by the stallholder that it would last until March 2015. We also bought the making of a cassoulet - tomatoes, cocos (borlotti beans), sausages, to which we were adding the remains of duck legs from yesterday. We were also looking for a special cheese of the area - Ossau Iraty - a very good framage de brebis often eaten with cherry preserve. All provisions were found and next stop was the Orange shop to top up my internet credit. That became quite a problem - best forgotten about. Suffice to say all is in order today but no new places were visited.

Today's photos show the climbing wall where the indoor market is, the house we are in and Jim's fascination with lizards!

Back of house

Front of house

Big game hunting!