Our strategy of 'unticking' the toll road options with the intent of taking a more scenic route down to Merindol backfired somewhat today.
It seemed that Jeanette was punishing us for our ineptitude yesterday by taking us through the scenic but stressful (drive) Parc national des Cévennes – one long winding gorge it seemed, for over one hundred kilometres. A well deserved break for lunch (duck) at the little village of Florac and we hastily re-ticked the toll box to make up time – we were due to meet Annie at the Merindol house at 5pm.
The long day was forgotten though when we opened the back gate into “our house” and were met by Annie who greeted us and explained the improvements to the house since we had last stayed. This included a lovely new kitchen and aircon in two of the bedrooms – with the temperature hitting 38C today that was a very welcome sight.
I'm amazed to think it was eleven years ago that we first stayed here – our first visit to France outside of Paris and Zoe was 13 years old!
We had returned with Sam back in 2012 and it is very special to experience that familiarity in 2016.
Taking it easy on Sunday we discovered that there are several new businesses in town since our last visit and as we were walking by we couldn't resist the attraction of the shady setting at La Terrace des Cigales.
Russell had the whole fish ('la loup' I think) and I had the garlic prawns – a lovely place to dine – we might be back to experience more of this cuisine originating from Corsica.
Out in the sun it was now very hot and after confirming that the new (in 2012) wine bar was still in business (but closed at the moment,) we spent the rest of the afternoon dozing by the pool and dozing in front of the TV coverage of the Tour de France respectively.
At 8pm it was back to the wine bar to find a spot in front of the advertised big screen for the Euro2016 final between France and Portugal.
Since 2012 Jeremy has obviously been doing very well and a newly renovated 'cave' off the main bar was decked out with chesterfields and tables/chairs ready for the influx at 9. We were lucky to secure an unreserved table and sat down amongst what would be a very parochial crowd.
There was just the one young lad obviously cheering for Portugal (as I was, quietly) and as the minutes ticked by with no goal from either side the rosé tasted great.
Finally, in the extra time, Portugal scored and the lad and I 'high fived' before Russell and I stumbled out to walk the 50 metres or so to our front door.
Posted with Blogsy