Ardeche

Cherry time

Our eighth trip to the Ardeche on the Provence/Languedoc border was primarily to relax after the rigours of the recent house move. It was made less so when my passport went missing during the move. It may be somewhere in a box we put into storage. The national passport office was adamant that I couldn't get a replacement passport with only 5 days' notice until our flight but they would guarantee one in 8 days if I paid the express fee for a replacement passport. They seemed blind to the illogicality of this. It is another example of a centralised government agency ramping its charges to meet government income targets.

I ignored the advice and tramped along to the local passport office in Glasgow. They were immediately helpful and let me use their phone to get the UK office to set up an interview in the Glasgow office later in the afternoon. The Glasgow office had created a vacant interview slot for me and explained what I would need to do in the two hours before the interview. It included a new passport photo and finding a friend to sign it.  They then had the new passport printed for the next day. The staff in the Glasgow office showed what good customer care is all about and proved once again that local is best.

We arrived in Beziers on a Sunday evening and unlike Scotland, which was baking in the summer heat, we were treated to three days of cool wet weather. It didn't matter, we had booked a gite for the first week and the Chambre d' Hotes for our second week. Evelyn, the proprietor, welcomed us with coffee and cake and provided a basket of cherries in the gites for our arrival. She and Aileen resumed their friendship that began during our first visit in 2007. We picked and ate cherries, walked and read books. The environment around the accommodation is glorious with walks through lavender fields, cherry and peach orchards, almond groves, vineyards and native oak forests replete with truffles and wild boar. Our genial hosts held an aperitif evening with other guests and lent me a bike, I went for runs, we visited local towns and villages and towards the end of the week, we enjoyed time in the wonderful pool that we had to ourselves most days.

We visited Nimes, the Cevennes National Park, the Rhone Valley, the Ardeche Gorge, the Ceze River and its villages and continued to eat cherries and admire the lavender fields. I even managed to acquire some Topiary skills as I shaped one of the Olive trees in the garden for our hosts. We had 10 days of uninterrupted sunshine. We were content and so was France with its team sailing through the early stages of the World Cup.

Picking cherries

Le Garn

Lunch

Room with a view

Lavender time

Monclus and the Ceze river

If only the UK could embrace this sentiment

Aigueze above Ardeche river

Ardeche Gorge

Pont d'Arc

Our Gite

My first attempt at some Topiary with an Olive tree

Confiture

Local cheeses