Ever had cramp in your winkle finger?

Sorry if you've missed me but lots of stuff over the last couple of weeks.

This is going to be a long blog with lots of pictures so if you don't want to wade through this garbage here's a synopsis.
Since the last posting Florence and I played ball in the garden then my niece Kate and husband Nick celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary after which I went to Winchelsea and Rye with Ady for 2 days then Pam joined me for 2 during which we visited Daisy in Brighton and after that we went to France for a few days where I learnt that Peter B had become a grandfather. Meantime back at Cowroast Budgie sanded and primed the roof of Independence, my garden continued to flourish and Mac D turned 70.
That's it you can go and cut your toenails now.

Florence seems to win this game no matter what I do. Her adaptation of the rules as we go along is masterly

Sunday 22nd June

Kate and Nick's 25th Wedding Anniversary

To Upper Basildon, Berkshire with Tom and Moira for lunch with Kate, Nick, family and friends. Great to see brother Jim and wife Mary both in good form. As usual the catering was of the highest standard and the sun shone throughout. Hard to believe it's 25 years since Kate and Nick were wed; so much has happened in that time-the usual mix of good and sad- but didn't it fly. It's a long time since Jim, Moira and I were all together and thank God it was for for a celebration. Brother in law Tom was in good form as well, a good advert for whisky and music, though unusually he wasn't wearing one of his Hawaiian shirts.

Well done Nick and Kate and thank you for a lovely afternoon

Tom and Moira

25 years of bliss and Kate enjoyed some of it as well

Jim and Mary

The Cake-well done Kate (though I'm sure Nick advised)

Congratulations!

Monday 23rd June

To Winchelsea with Ady

The back garden

I'd booked four days in Sussex in a cottage at Winchelsea. Why? Because I had a voucher for a hundred quid off and I'd really no experience of Sussex other than staying one night in Eastbourne when I was a teenager. (yes, it had been built then)

Ady came down with me for the first two days and we had a good walk round Winchelsea on our first evening finishing up in the New Inn, the only pub in town. It is a beautiful town though I got the impression the locals don't want me to tell anybody as they would like to keep it that way.

Built on a grid system and allegedly where New York and thus Milton Keynes got the idea it was once a port of some note with the town on a hill at the foot of which was the strand. In fact it still is The Strand but there is no water the port having silted up over the years (I bought a bottle like that once). Nearby is the Royal Military Canal, the only canal built for defence rather than navigation. Defence, in this case, against Napoleon. The canal is dewatered for much of its length but at Winchelsea it looks healthy enough with plenty of wildlife and we walked some of it the following day.
The town has a few claims to fame. John Wesley preached his last open air sermon here, Spike Milligan is buried in the churchyard and Ady and I came third in the pub quiz. (I'm not telling you how many teams there were)

An Old Ruin

Winchelsea is  built on the bones of a medieval town. Seven centuries ago, the town was founded by Edward I to take the place of an older town of the same name, which had been lost to the sea in a series of great storms.Old Winchelsea was one of the principal ports on the Narrow Seas and, along with Rye, had been invited to join the Cinq Port Confederation as a Head Port. New Winchelsea swiftly filled the gap left by Old Winchelsea, rising to the status of Ancient Town. However, the prosperity of the new town was gradually sapped by the silting of its harbour, shifts in the pattern of trade and disasters such as war and plague. By the middle of the 16th century, it had been left high and dry.

The church of St Thomas the Martyr

The view from the cottage across the saltmarsh-poppies in abundance

The Royal Military canal

The entrance to the town uphill from The Strand and called appropriately Strand Gate

A well trodden path shows the way to Spike Milligan's (and his wife) grave. Allegedly the Gaelic says "I told you I was Ill" but I'd need to brush up my Erse as they say.

Ady peers through the Strand Gate

On the second day we hopped on a bus to Rye. Another town that used to be a busy port  but aint any more. Another beautiful place though much busier and touristy than Winchelsea.

Once surrounded by sea, this fortified hilltop town played an important role in the defence of the south coast of England. These days, the river no longer harbours warships and is home to the local fishing fleet (Catcher in the Rye?) Rye Harbour is a couple of miles away sensibly nearer the sea.

I noticed when buying my newspaper that the local rag is called the Rye Observer. I asked the lady if it contained any Rye comments but she gave me that look I seem to get frequently  and answered "Nah it's all adverts these days"

Whilst we were wandering round the town we were delayed near the church because they were filming a new series of Mapp and Lucia. As is usual on film sets absolutely nothing of any interest seemed to be happening hence I didn't bother to take any pictures. However on reaching "The Lookout" I discovered that the author of the books on which the series is based was once Mayor of Rye

Ady wanted a new hat. He chose this one....

and I chose this one...over twice the price of Ady's but it shows doesn't it.

After a good walk round Rye a good lunch. 

Afrer lunch and Ady having exhausted the many antique shops in Rye we caught the bus back to Winchelsea where we dined at the cottage and went to the New Inn for the aforementioned quiz. A very convivial evening albeit at £3.85 a pint!

In the morning I drove Ady to Brighton where he caught a train home. I only had just over an hour to kill before Pam's train arrived so I drove to Hove Actually and walked along the prom. Lovely day for it.

Before returning to Winchelsea I took Pam to visit a friend, Daisy in Brighton and whilst they caught up with their news I went to Devil's Dyke just up the road and had a wander. Very dramatic scenery with lots of walkers doing the coastal path and open top buses sightseeing.

We returned to Winchelsea and dined on coq au vin prepared by Pam and tres bon it was too.
I had planned a walk for the following day but needless to say it wasn't arduous enough for Pam so had to be rejigged. An eight miler from the cottage down the hill, a mile and a half to Winchelsea beach and 4 miles round the nature reserve that runs along the coast to Rye Harbour,

It really was a grand walk along the coast to Rye with flowers I'd never seen before plus poppies in all colours. It was a glorious day and no silly hills till the end when we re-entered Winchelsea.

As we entered the nature reserve we got talking to a couple from Caterham who were visiting her father. It transpired their daughter had just moved to ....Berkhamsted....small world etc.

Viper's Bugloss apparently

Yellow horned poppy

Some more yellow poppies interspersed with sea cabbage

In the midst of all this beauty a tragic tale. This boathouse housed the lifeboat "Mary Stanford" which in 1928 was launched in answer to a distress call from a ship "Alice" from Riga during a terrible storm. All seventeen volunteer crew died apparently needlessly as the Alice came through the storm with all hands alive. The conditions were such that the lifeboat crew did not see the recall signal and there was no ship to shore radio.

Apropos of nothing this poem along with others was pinned to the boathouse door-I rather liked it.

Stranger on the shore

I was much taken by this little hut on the approach to Rye Harbour. One could live here and survive on fish and sea cabbage which is all around it.

We stopped for a wander round Rye Harbour where we had a very fine ice cream

The approach to the sea from Rye Harbour

Pam examines My Jane's bottom

All in all I was very impressed with the area and would certainly fancy a weekend in Rye sometime. I bet it's wonderful at Christmas.......
We ate at the New Inn on the Thursday night and went back to pack ready fro France on the morrow.
Such Fun.

FRANCE-27th Juin.

We drove to Dover where we were booked on the 12 30 crossing. I like to leave time for punctures, accidents, road works, earthquakes and Martian landings. As none of these things occurred the journey from Winchelsea took only just over an hour and we got on the 11 30 crossing. Splendid. The drive south from Calais to Cayeux sur Mer was a piece of cake and we had time to call in at Montreuil sur Mer where Pam wanted to visit the Wine Society. We've been to Montreuil before and sort of know our way about so we soon had our first box of wine on board.
Montreuil sur Mer is not actually sur mer. It's a long way (10k) from the sea. Do you see the theme developing here? Winchelsea, Rye,  Montreuil all once by the seaside and now inland towns. I don't quite see how this fits in with the reported sea levels rising-surely Montreuil sous Mer is just around the corner.

The apartment where we were staying was self catering and we had a room with a balcony and a fine view of the sea. We explored the town to establish where the boulangerie was and establish that you can't get a drink in Cayeux on a Friday after 8 o'clock. Nay bother, after booking a table at a nearby restaurant for Saturday night we returned to base and enjoyed the remains of the Coq au Vin with our emergency drinks cabinet and watched the sun go down. The sunsets during our stay were amazing and the quality of light over the beach huts and sea stunning.
We frequently toasted the health of Fabien, Peter and Kay B's grandson who was born today at 9.48 a.m.
Salute!

Home for three days

Saturday morning and a walk south along the coast. Immediately obvious was the similarity in flora to that which we had seen in Sussex walking to Rye Harbour,

There are poppies, of course, this being on the Bay of the Somme

Poppies

Red Poppies, Yellow Horned poppies and sea cabbage-identical to the Sussex coast

Rosehips in abundance

After the walk we went to the Chapel de Marins dedicated to the fishermen of Cayeux. Across the road they were holding a local fiesta de giant paella and whilst we didn't join in Pam bought herself a mousemat showing the beach huts by our apartment

 A mousemat makes a very good drinks mat at the local.

These gulls had an endearing chuckle at the end of their cry almost as though they were mocking us

Saturday night.
Dinner at the Aymitilus
Fruits de Mer which I have been promising myself for a loooong time! Having been advised that shellfish is a major factor in causing the damnable gout I have been fairly abstemious in my consumption thereof but this was a meal from Heaven and moderation would have been an insult to the Gods who created such a dish.

Aymitilus Restaurant

Before-a whole crab and innumerable whelks, winkles, shrimps, prawns, crevettes and oysters all washed down with half a glass of Muscadet. Sheer bliss.

After-Deeeeeeeeelicious!

It took me the best part of an hour to consume all the treasures on the plate and as opposed to previous occasions with this dish I am pleased to report that I did not get cramp in my winkle finger-a most painful experience especially if one is only two thirds of the way through ones' winkles.

Sunday and the weather in the morning is unimpressive with rain lashing the beach. We decided to go hunting wine trying the local Carriefour and then driving over to St Valery sur Somme to see what they had.  Our foraging was a tad disappointing in that we were hunting some Viognier and neither outlet had any so we resolved to hit Calais on the way home and put that matter right.

Back to Cayeux for lunch at a beachside restaurant and although the weather was wet and windy when we sat down it was glorious sunshine by the time we stood up. This time I had Moules et Frites another favourite proscribed by the damnable gout but as yet no reaction.

Pam's foot in the jardiniere

Pamela pauses by a fisherman and his wife and their little basket

It is friend, Mac's 70th today, 29th June.
 I had sent a card with the following rhyme

There was an old man of 7(o)
Who wanted to miss out on heaven so 
He took up drinkin', wimmin and singin'
And now he feels like eleveno

Pam was unimpressed with my effort before I sent it and Mac said he couldn't read my writing anyway so I've given up poetry and will concentrate on my male modelling career.

Happy Birthday anyway Mac.

The Beach huts of Cayeux are very much a feature

As are the sunsets...........................................

In the evening another walk round the town to make sure all the bars were shut and returned to pack, have a nightcap or three and watch the sun go down.

A lovely weekend.

Our return home went smoothly with a good run to Calais where we replenished stocks and caught the ferry where we sat outside on a sun drenched deck and enjoyed a libation

From Dover we drove to Faversham in Kent for a nose around and enjoyed a very fine snack in the Phoenix and drove back around a very soggy M25 to Berkhamsted to unload the booty.

To the moorings where I now have a pristine roof-thanks to Budgie and Ady-and the garden flourishes although my cabbages are not yet the standard of Pam's and the rabbits are enjoying the Pak Choy. See next posting for my Rabbit and Pak Choy stew.

Next Saturday there is a celebration lunch at the Greyhound, Wigginton for the 5 people on the moorings who celebrate their 70th birthdays this year. 

So plenty for the next post but I expect you're bored rigid with this one so au revoir