Mum and Richard arrived this past Tuesday and it was pouring with rain and bar a few very brief pockets of sunshine (photo of Ma & Richard during one of the "brief pockets"!), it hasn’t stopped since.
We’ve had a lovely time regardless but sadly visions of sitting “poolside” (the plastic blow up one!) with the sun reflecting off a glass of Bergerac rose have not been realised!
We returned to Rocamadour and saw the birds again - I’m slowly getting to understand all that they say in their presentation - one more trip this summer should do it! Photo of Tony above with one of birds on his head and below next to the poster advertising the monkey forest also to be found in the area - we may have to save that one for another day when we’re not running in and out of the rain!
Interestingly, on the way to Rocamadour, we pass through a town called Martel and despite not being the home of the famous brandy, it is twinned with “Tequila” in Mexico as can be evidenced from the sign below! There is also a steam train in Martel that’s operational although wasn’t running on the day we happened to pass through which was a shame as Richard is quite a fan. We did manage to have a look around at the station though and have made a note that it may be worth a return visit at a later date.
We had a lovely dinner party last night with a couple I met via our good chums in the Isle of Man (Ali, Kieran, Finn & Freddy) when they came to see us a few years ago and stayed at a nearby “Gite” - this couple owns and operates the gite that Ali & gang stayed at. They also introduced me to an english speaking church nearby a few years ago but I’ve decided to check out a more local french evangelical church and shall report back once I’ve been and if I’ve understood anything! This couple had one of their sons, Gareth, and his wife, Cindy, staying with them so there were 8 of us - sadly my plan to eat comfortably outside was foiled by the rain and so we had to get rather cosy around our 4 seater dining table indoors! Cindy is from Ecuador and so we enjoyed reminiscing about the month we spent travelling over there in 1998. Both Gareth and Cindy are involved with “YWAM” (Youth With A Mission). YWAM is an international volunteer movement of Christians from many backgrounds, cultures and traditions. Their purpose (per their website) is simply to know God and to make him known. As you can imagine, having travelled a bit, they had some interesting stories to tell.
Having decided to serve ribs (with pork only from our butcher who told us horror stories about the provenance of some of the pork he’s seen on the shelves elsewhere!), I was thrilled to discover I could feed 8 people for under EUR 6 - 4 lbs of ribs cost EUR 5.41 - “incroyable”!!
Today is Ma & Richard’s last day with us and so far it’s not heating up by any stretch of the imagination but it does appear to be staying dry so we may head further afield for a wander around one of the nearby towns in addition to checking out the new “Grotte” that’s just down the road - some caves about 30 metres underground with lots of stalagtites and stalagmites - photos to follow!
Easy tender rib recipe
4lbs of pork ribs
16oz bbq sauce
1/2 cup of honey
Generous splash of red wine vinegar
1 medium yellow onion sliced
Mix the bbq sauce, honey & vinegar together - layer the ribs and onion in a crock pot - add the sauce and ensure the ribs are well covered in the sauce - cook on low for 7 hours then finish on the bbq - Bon Apetit!
No comments:
Post a Comment