Harvest

Cruzy is very quiet at night. You hardly hear a sound. At 6am, it all changes. The harvest has begun in earnest and the tractors in the village all start up and thunder through the village at 6am, shortly followed by mini-vans, pickups and mopeds taking the fruit pickers to the fields.

Alan's relatives arrived from the UK and we collected them bright and early from Carcassonne. Instead of taking them directly to Cruzy, we stopped in the walled city for breakfast, followed by a drive in the countryside and a visit to Minerve. They arrived in Cruzy, 6 hours after arriving in Carcassonne.

The week was spent visiting some of our favourite locations, but each time we did something slightly different. We ate in restaurants we have never visited before, and took scenic routes new to us.

The last 6 weeks have been busy for the region, with thousands of tourists on the roads and beaches. Most went home at the weekend, leaving the beaches and roads to us. We stopped at a few beaches and could not get over how quiet they were with the sun beating down on golden sands. At one beach, we were just yards away from neighbours in Cruzy, but we did not see them... we were in our own little world of sun sea and sand.

A trip to Sete followed and the views from Mount St. Clare were fantastic, once we moved away from the viewing platform. Since the platform was built the trees have grown considerably and the view has been lost. A short walk down into the forest reveals the true views of the ocean, mountains and lakes.

We went to the local wine maker in the village, the home of Chateau Cruzy. We all arrived at the busiest time for the producer in the entire year, when all the local vine growers were backing up into the courtyard with about 2.5 tones of grapes each for squishing. The owner was not fazed and showed us around the production plant, allowing us to taste the freshly squeezed grape juice, which we all would have bought litters of were it on sale. In the end, we bought 5 liters of the 2005 red, pumped directly from a large wine vat into our plastic bottle, and walked away with 4 bottles that were ladled up for distribution to the local hotels.

After getting the bug, we drove up into the hills to St Jean de Minervois for a similar experience but instead of wine, we were after the aperitif, Muscat. We could easily become experts at wine tasting… we just need an allocated driver.

Spain and Carcassonne

We picked up a friend from Perpignan airport on Thursday. Driving out of the airport we decided to ignore Perpignan and head further south. Infact, we drove out of France and into Spain. We decided a trip to see the Dali museum was in order. The further south we drove, the hotter it got. Again, I have to say thank goodness for airconditioning. We arrived in Figeras on Market day, so it took some time to find a place to park. Once in the town, we decided to skip the museum as the queues for tickets were long, and we timed them at over an hour, all in the blistering heat. We sat down and enjoyed a light bite before wondering around the town. I managed a hair cut which was well overdue.

Our friend was easy company and not too concerned about where to visit, so we showed her brocants, vied greniers and the odd shopping centre, all dispersed with quick trips to a vineyard, Carcassonne, Minerve and Beziers. If you are planning a trip over, expect to visit the same locations. Carcassonne was impressive, Minerve was pretty and full of life and Beziers was a hive of activity.

Beziers was busy with tourists and we managed to visit a few of the toursit hot spots, before lunch and discoverd a lovely old shop in the heart of Beziers. It sold a number of items but the window displays were very old fashioned and looked great.

We walked around the walled city of Carcassonne, which is just a perfect fairytail castle. It place was very busy and all daily menues had been dispensed with and so a burger cost 7 Euros and a Coke 3 Euros. We walked around the city walls and took in some ice-cream to help keep us cool.

While in Carcassonne we were introduced to a new drink... well, it was new to us. Absinthe (for the cinema junkies, watch Moulin Rouge). What a lovely smooth drink that is also a bit of a show piece. We spent the evening following an instruction card on how to make different concoctions. First came neat. At 55% this was a no go. 2nd came Absinthe in a glass, suspending a special spoon with a cube of sugar on it and tipping cold water over the sugar. This created a sweet smooth drink. 3rd, and the most showy of all, was tipping the Absinthe over the sugar, then setting it alight. This created a sweet caramel flavour and was just lovely.

On route to Minerve we stopped for some Muscat from St Jean-de-Minervois where we purchased a good bottle of the sweet nectar.

We spent one day driving through small villages and one of the most lovely was Roquebrun. All the restaurants were full but me had a snack in the canoe centre which gave us fantastic views of the village. They say this village has a micro-climate and boy are they right. It was baking but the water helped cool us all down. We met a lovely man who said he wanted to give us a smile as we had such good smiles. This encounter could have gone any way. The man introduced himself as Jean Luc and had two little booklets on him. One with Luc on the front, the other with Jean. Alan is now the proud owner of a French language Book of Jean, bible stories.
One evening we met up with others from Cruzy, and headed over to a neighbouring village to catch Kripton, the entertainment from the first night of the Cruzy Fete. Well, they were good, but again, the villagers were not bothered and did not really participate. We all left after a few drinks. At least they sold wine at this village Fete.

We dropped our friend off again on Monday, but alas, our plans to spend the day on the beach were cancelled just 30 minutes after landing on the beach. It was far too hot and we were frying rather than bathing in the sun.

We returned to Cruzy and the shared our new discovery with a neighbour. She was taken, but not converted by the concoction.

Bull Fighting and Dancing in the Streets

Bulls, Dancing in the Streets

We have done a great deal in the last week and its diffucult to know where to begin. On Tuesday last week, we joined our friend John for a trip into Beziers, our nearest large town. Beziers has a large bull ring where concerts are often held and of course, bull fights. The full fighting is part of the Beziers Feria (festival) that takes place every year with is a mix of live bands, street entertainment, wine festival and all night dancing. We began with the bull fighting which consisted of a busy stadium of eager sports fans. Bull fighting is a sport which has a league table just like in tennis or football. As freshmen to the sport, we had no idea how the scoring worked, but by the number of boos some bullfighters received, we guessed they were at the bottom of the league.

The bulls were large creatures and very impressive to see in the ring. After some taunting, a little spearing, some more taunting and a sword to the heart, the bull lies dead on the floor. It’s complicated to describe, so I shall not bother. Some aspects of the fight were interesting, but the killing of the bull was rather gruesome. I was often impressed at how a Toreador could sometimes get a bull to charge in circles around him, or how they could stand in front of a charging bull without moving. 30 million people alone in Spain watched bull fights last year and 25, 000 bulls are killed each year. We watched 7 bulls enter the ring and only 1 walked out.

After the fight, it was off to the main festival for bull-steak and chips. Alan chose paella as he could not face meat. The festival caters for 25,000 plates of food per day during the Feria and the place was heaving. Families were out with their pushchairs, elderly couples were drinking and chatting and large crowds of French holiday makers were enjoying the live performances on the many stages. We parked at one end of the town and it took and hour to talk down one road due to the crowds.

The following day, we descended on the Feria again, this time with two friends from the village. We did not arrived until 9pm and began our evening with a jug of white sangria and a flamenco dancer. Then it was on to see an equestrian show, but all 2000 seats were taken, so it was back to the centre of the town for a live show from some dancers from Fiji followed by wine, then a concert by a band singing in Occitan before heading for one of the many makeshift bars with DJ to dance in the streets until the early hours. Below is the video to the song we loved the most.

The following day were met a new couple to the village and have seen them every day since. We have eaten them our of house and home but its been great fun.

At the weekend 9 of us from the village popped along to our neighbouring village to catch their festival as may of the acts we had seen in Cruzy last week were playing live again. We were all under whelmed at the event. The acts were the same, but the performance space was small, the villagers were not at all interest in the acts with most choosing to prop up the bar that DID NOT sell wine and we all left after an hour. It was a shame, as the act was just a good as they had been in Cruzy with there was just no atmosphere in the village. We shall not bother with that villages act next year.

Cruzy has become a hive of activity as the grape harvest has begun early. Each morning a convoy of tractors leave the village and return laden with grapes by lunchtime, and they every 20 minutes throughout the afternoon. The road outside our house is littered with white grapes and juice. Its smells lovely but makes walking in the street a little sticky.

Cruzy Festival

What a weekend we have had.

It all began on Friday with the first of 3 concerts held in the village.
We joined most of the villagers in the grounds of the community centre where a large stage had been set up with lights, a full crew of technicians, a bar and loads of tables. Candyfloss, and arcade games were on offer too.

The night began by rounding up 4 other people to share the night with. Two moved to Cruzy as full time residents just this week. We found a table and were delighted to discover that the bottle of wine and another of water were ours and were free. It was not long before we were up at the bar buying more... much more.

The entertainment was outstanding. We were all astonished at the quality of the show and the duration. The entertainment was similar to that found at the Moulin Rouge in Paris.

Beautify girls danced on stage in little outfits while music played (very loudly). The dancers came and went and the music played on with the dance floor filling whenever a Spanish song played, or a good 80s pop song blared out. 4 hours into our evening I popped to the portable arcade area for BarbaPappa... see the snap.

We left in the early hours with the music still clearly audible from out house, half a mile away.

Saturday we woke but Alan to a bad head and me to the groups.

Of course, we had booked dinner and entertainment in front of the stage, so off we went again with our friends from the night before. Again, free wine and water, accompanied out meal of chicken and a desert of French patisserie.

The entertainment on Saturday night blew Fridays out of the water. This time we had live singing from about 6 vocalists, but it was the troop of dancing girls who won the night. Outfit change after outfit change was emphasised over and over again by their outstanding dance routines. Again it was the early hours when we left them to it and were in bed when we clearly heard YMCA. It was a great night but long.

Sunday came early. It was up and to the village car boot sales, then off to neighbouring villages for bread and more car booting. We managed to secure 2 door stops for a fantastic price (15 Euros) and returned home for a mini sleep.

At 9pm we met in a neighbour’s home for an hour. 1 aperitif later, we headed for the show ground. This evening we were hit heavily by a rock band sing rock hits in English, French and Spanish. It was a great show, but the best entertainment came from the local children.

We were witnesses to an 8 year old winning a pump-action air gun, which she promptly loaded and went off to shoot the local pets. She returned again and again and had clearly become aware of the authority she commanded walking around with the loaded gun. Later we found instructions on how to load a pump-action sawn off shot gun. We assume another 8 year old was walking the dark streets looking for Fluffy.

Sun, Sea and Sunburn

I set off for the beach with 3 other residents of Cruzy and 6 hours later, we returned. I returned with red knees and a shinny balled spot.

We found ourselves a nice beach, without a toilet, but a wooden hut that sold ice-creams. The beach stretched for about 3km and was busy when we arrived. 3 hours into our tanning session, we were surrounded by people, sun-shades and 100s of children.
The water was crystal clear and the waves were pounding the beach but we could wade out for quite some distance thanks to the shallow banks.

I chose to slap on Sun Factor 20 as I had been liberally plastering myself in Sun Factor 30 for the last 2 months and I looked just as translucent as the day we moved over. Apparently it was water resistant and only needed re-applying every 3 hours. Well I did all that, but I sat cross-legged on the sand and may have forgotten to re-apply on the knees. Boy was I stinging for the following few days.

Alan was home up in the home office and felt the need to enjoy the sun too, so off we went a few days later with the same crowd from the village. This time we headed for Valras, a popular tourist destination. We arrived at 12:00 and managed to find a parking space (Parking is still free along the beaches). Within hours the busy beach became a mass of people and sun-shades. Car loads of people were turning up, even as late at 6pm. Most were from Paris. This weekend was the big exodus from the cities for the coast.

The roads around Cruzy are busier than usual and there a 1000s of cars on what we consider our small country lanes.

We doubt we will make it to Valras until September now as it will be impossible to park or find a spot on the beach until then.

Daytime

We have had a few phone calls this week from friends in the UK talking about the weather. We see from the Internet that most of the UK is wet, but down here in Cruzy, it is hot. Too Hot.
It was 37 yesterday, and 36 today and its expected to be in the 40s over the weekend.
Today, I had to change my t-shirt twice as the heat was not quashed by any wind. After lunch both Alan and I had to have baths to cool down.
I spent most of the last week in the garden playing with my post and making a mess. Poor Alan was up in the Study working hard.

I found a great use for an old Star Wars toy... do now worry, I have 3 still in their boxes.

I found some new friends in the garden, all with lots of legs.

We went out for rides on our bikes this evening and found a new route out of the villand and a different view of the village. Its rather nice with all the vines in front and the church dappled by sunlight.

Lastnight we drove to our nearest multi-screen cinema some 30km away on the far side of Beziers. We went to the newish 12 screen cinema to watched the latest Harry Potter film, The Order of the Phenix, but as it was the French version (without English subtitles) it shall be know as its true name, Harry Potter et l’Ordre du Phénix.

Click below to watch the French advert and notice name changes. For example Hogworts is called Poudlard (sounds like "poo-lard"). Professor Snape is called Professor Rogue.



It was easy to follow the film as we had both read the book and everone speaks slowly and clearly in Harry Potter films, exept when screaming or running from Dementors.

The French version of the film is a little shorter the UK release and has a number of small, scenes missing. Very strange. Also, there were no adverts in the French cinema for future releases. The adverts were show on a small screen in the lobby of the cinema.

Bikes and heros

20th July 2007

Some would say standing in the summer sun waiting for men on bikes for 4 hours was a waste of a good day. We disagree. While waiting for this years Tour de France to blow through a nearby town, we joined friends from the village and took along picnics to help pass the time. Little did we know that just 45 minutes before the frontrunners were due, a large procession of cars, vans, trucks and ... well plastic floats, come bombing past.

Now this is nothing ordinary, but when you discover that 11 million freebies are thrown from those passing vehicles, you may begin to appreciate the sense of excitement felt by the crowd, and the Cruzy contingent. We were inundated with freebies. hats, key rings, foam hands (special favourite) food, drinks, purses, papers, posters, banners, sweets, florescent straps and best of all, fabric bags (great for shopping). We were in competition with the 8 year old and his mum just to our left. Often we had to let the little guy win the prize, but we managed to catch items faster than they could at times, otherwise we'd have very little in our bags. They walked away with a larger bag of bootie than us, but we believe we were after the quality freebie, rather than just the quantity of freebies.

Hands up those with Freebies.

If you look closely, the chap in the Yellow Jersey is "winner" at this point, althought he came in 47th and is being investigated for taking drugs... well he did not attend 2 drug tests. 3rd time and he's out. Turns out it was his own countries national paper that ratted on him... poor show!

14th July 2007

Ah what a day for the meek, geek and hero worship. Kieran met his Hero of Heroes, Luke Skywalker. Yes, I know its Mark Hammil, but to my 8 year old heart of hearts, it was Luke Skywalker himself. Now, I know paying to meet a celebrity is not really counted at meeting, but when I have photographic proof and video evidence, it counts to me and in 20 years I can change the story to meet my fantasy needs.

Kieran and Luke sitting in a tree, K. I. S... you get it.

Mountains and bugs

Yesterday, we drove out from Cruzy to visit a friend who lives 55km away towards the Pyrenees.

We enjoyed lunch and decided to walk around the village to help burn off a calorie or two. Our host then took us off track into the local undergrowth, and I found it rather difficult at times in my Nike flip-flops. Of course, our guide knew what she was doing. The other side of the vegetation we emerged onto a rockbed with running water and glistening pools everywhere.

Here we saw fish, frogs and cigale. See snap for the image. These things make a wonderful noise. There are 1000s of them all around and they create a sort of "muzac" wherever you go - a bit like piped music in a shopping centre.

They are a lot larger than we ever expected.

After the water and the rocks, we walked up into the hills and around the vineyards. And yes, I began to point out that the village was to the left, and we were continuing to veer right and away from the comfort of the dinner table... and coffee.

Later that night, back in Cruzy, Alan came downstairs, and on his way back up screamed out like a man possessed. I came running thinking he was tumbling down the stairs. No, it was worse. He had just brushed his hand inside his t-shirt to discover a scorpion (the largest so far) in the small of his back. Having brushed the scorpion, he looked down to find the scorpion now in his hand... so screamed some more.

Suffice to say, we are now paranoid about scorpions... anyone know if they sell a scorpion/fly spray?

Sun, Mountains and Lakes

With such hot weather demanding we leave the cool comfort of L'Abeille we headded off into the Montains. Just 30 minutes away are the thick forrests of the Haut Languedoc.

The day before we had spent the evening on the beach just 20 mintues away from home, but we decided that the lake would be a lovely place to spend an afternoon.

Its all uphill on very bendy roads, but what a lovely drive. Luckly the Renault Scenic has enough room for picnic hamper, extra ground sheets and the iPod.

The closest lake to Cruzy is about 20km away. so I drove up and up into the mountains. The views were lovely and I was a little overcome by its beauty, but also the sence of being miles from anywhere. I drove around the lake and saw a few fishermen and a couple out on a dingy.

We popped the boot, and got our our beach kit (always in the car) and made our way to the shore.

We had cheese, fresh bread and fresh cherrys. What a delight. Alp read Harry Potter in French, and kept updating me with the French versions of popular Wizarding terms. I shall share what he told me. So, Harry goes to Hogwarts in the English edition but to Poudlard in the French book, and the four houses are called Gryffondor, Poufsouffle, Serdaigle and Serpentard. I think i need to see the film in French now.

Amazon sell the French verson of the Harry Potter book. Click on the link to see it.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/2070612368/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=wwwfreshlysta-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=2070612368">Harry


 The rest of the lake was ours and the picnic was the best one ever.

Of course, on the way home we tried a new route... at it took almost another hour to find our way back home.