Hats, Shirts And Subtitles

I mentioned on an earlier blog that we've got a wedding coming up shortly. It's two of our oldest and dearest friends' son's big day and we want to create a good impression. I got a new suit last week and Marion has a dress for the occasion but she didn't have a hat and I didn't have a suitable shirt so, in the absence of a hatters and a menswear shop here in Framlingham we decided to take a trip in the direction of Norwich yesterday. Marion had found The Hattery at Ringland on the internet and they were very helpful on the phone.

They had a massive selection of hats and Marion had no difficulty in finding the right one to go with her outfit.

As we were near Norwich, I decided to drive into the city centre and visit John Lewis for the shirt. I found a great selection and managed to buy three in their sale for little more than the regular price of one. I was very pleased until I got home and tried them on (I didn't want to trouble the assistant with taking them out of their fancy packaging) . Sadly it seems that Calvin Klein's style is ultra slim fitting and, sadly, I'm not ultra slim. This meant another drive to Norwich today where I managed to replace the shirts but at double the cost as none of the bargain shirts were right. At least I did trouble the assistants to take them out of the packaging this time and probably left them cursing as they rewrapped the three or four that didn't fit.

The evenings are drawing in and the summer weather is not quite what it was so we decided to go to the pictures twice this week. First was the Swedish adaptation of The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Disappeared, Jonas Jonasson's brilliant debut novel, at the lovely Riverside in Woodbridge on Tuesday where we enjoyed a great meal at the restaurant before the film. I read the book a year or so back and loved it. The film is good fun but misses out huge swathes of the novel and fails to meet the book's dizzy levels of absurdity. There are still plenty of laughs and it is well worth seeing but if you want the very best of The Hundred Year Old Man read the book.

Last night we went to Ipswich to the excellent IFTT for Cycling With Moliere. We particularly wanted to see this movie as it was filmed on location on Ile De Re where we enjoyed two holidays in the last few years. Ile De Re was as stunning as ever - especially as the off season filming depicted it free of the crowds who flock there in the summer. A successful actor travels to the island to recruit an old (unsuccessful) actor friend for his proposed production of Moliere's The Misanthrope. Over a week, the pair rehearse the lead and supporting roles alternating the parts on the toss of a coin. It's a gentle and whimsical film with a touch of romance and comedy as the misanthropy of the lead role starts to creep into each of the actors' characters and threatens to destroy their already shaky friendship. I'm a big fan of whimsy (as you will know if you have read my book) so this film was right up my street. 

And speaking of my book, the proof copies of the paperback version arrived today. I'm very pleased and will be starting to publicise it as soon as we get home from our next trip to Scotland.

A Very Fond Farewell To Ile De Ré

As our two weeks in Ile De Ré draw to a close I'm offering some advice for visitors to the island as my final blog. If you've read any of the blogs over the last fortnight you will know that we've had a great holiday and it's certainly a wonderful place to visit. But to make the most of it you have to get things right. 


Firstly, make sure that your accommodation is in a good location. We stayed with iledereholidayhomes who have four properties on the island and all are in great positions. Last time we visited we stayed in a remote bungalow which meant eating in or taking the car every time we went out for a meal which in turn prevented us from enjoying the local wines and aperitifs. Being located in St Martin (the largest and ,in our opinion, the best of the island's towns and villages) gave us the opportunity to stroll down to the harbour every evening and watch the people promenading whilst enjoying an aperitif in the Colonnes bar or eating at Bistrot Marin.

And by booking with a private firm like www.iledereholidayhomes you can be assured of the personal touches that are often overlooked by bigger operators. Our house (Maison D'Aquitaine) was beautifully furnished with antique but comfortable furniture that worked so well with the character of this old building beside the magnificent ancient church. It had all we could need, including wifi (essential), Digital TV (not essential but great for listening to Radio 4), an iPod dock and as many other mod cons as you could want plus a nice bath and comfy bed.

Ile De Ré is perfect for cycling with kilometers of safe cycle tracks criss-crossing the island through woods and along (low) cliff tops. Being flat, the cycling is easy and there is a plentiful supply of bikes to hire at reasonable prices. We opted for the cycle hire just behind Le Phare Pizzeria on the quay at St Martin (La Maison De Velocipedes). We used this same hire shop last time. The proprietor Antoine is charming, his prices are reasonable and the bikes are good. We had no problems but four years ago I got a puncture in a remote spot and he drove out with a replacement bike in no time at all. We cycled for an average of four hours every day. A couple of recommended routes are from St Martin to La Couarde along the coastal track and a similar ride from St Martin to La Flotte again along the coastal track (keep straight on past the little fun fair and on leaving the town go straight ahead with the car park to your right and go through the prison gates and through the prison car park). Two longer routes are from St Martin to Le Phare De Beleines and back via Loix (enjoying lunch at La Route De Sel) and from St Martin to Rivedoux Plage (lunch at Le M) and back through Sablanceau, St Marie, La Noue and La Flotte.


But if you aren't into cycling there are plenty of excellent beaches which are ideal for children and also for fishermen, wind surfers and sailors.


If you've been reading this blog you will think that we are a pair of gluttons but the food here is so good that opportunities to eat to this standard rarely come our way and we made the most of it. Some recommendations follow. There are a few places that we wouldn't recommend but I won't be churlish and name them. I've added a few guide prices. These are based usually on just two courses plus an aperitif and an inexpensive wine (we weren't that greedy and normally shared starters and desserts).

This tea room L'Atelier in La Flotte is run by the people who run the excellent ice cream parlour La Martiniere in St Martin. The coffee is great and comes with a delicious macaroon, the place is spotless and the waitress in lovely. Strangely it was often empty when the neighbouring bar was packed but we went back time after time.

Here's a super little place for an inexpensive snack en route whilst cycling. Ici et la in La Noue serves a wide variety of snacks. We had four lovely tapas between us including calamares fried in the lightest batter imaginable, tasty meatballs and some lovely garlic mussels. Together with two glasses of pineau, some wine, a shared dessert and coffee the bill was 34 euros.

We pushed the boat out yesterday with a trip to L'Ecailler in La Flotte for a three hour blow out lunch. My red mullet and anchovy starter (above) was so fresh that the fish must have been landed that morning and the creme caramel souffle was perfect. This is at the pricier end of the scale and the lunch was just under 180 euros although we did have three courses each, an aged pineau as an aperitif and a better bottle of wine than usual. Service was charming with the waiters and the lady proprietor extremely attentive.


Others I've already mentioned are La Route Du Sel at Loix (a great lunch stop for about 60 euros for two - do try the duck breast or the lamb cutlets). Le M at Rivedoux another great lunch stop. A higher standard than Loix in a lovely seaside setting (about 80 euros for two). The pizzeria Le Phare here in St Martin for an excellent pizza in a relaxed child friendly atmosphere (about 50 euros for two). Le Serghi on the quay for fine dining (slightly north of 100 euros for an excellent dinner for two) and our favourite the Bistrot Marin. This is pub grub of the highest quality in a buzzing atmosphere. It's frequented by all the locals and is always lively. The food is great and the bill with drinks would normally be about 70 to 80 euros. We ate there four times - more than any other place.

Stop press. The cote de boeuf at Bistrot Marin - carnivore heaven.


I hope that this might help anyone thinking of a break in  Ile De Ré. If you want any information get in touch via the comments. Bon Vacances

We're Like Royalty

We don't carry cash. Well as little as we think we are likely to need. So today we set out with about twenty euros in our pockets and had a wonderful three hours cycling to the famous Phare De Baleines lighthouse before heading back to our favourite cycling lunch venue La Route Du Sel in Loix en Re. The lunch was super. We shared a goat's cheese in filo pastry (see below) for a starter and I had the superb duck breast in lime and honey sauce that I raved about the other day for a main course whilst Marion had a scallop salad (also below). We followed this by sharing some fresh strawberries and cream. Another great meal. We are happy to recommend this to anyone who visits Ile De Re. The restaurant is always busy and the food is moderately priced and beautifully presented. Unfortunately when the bill was presented, the restaurant's credit card machine decided to pack up and, having about ten euros left between us we were envisaging having to do le washing up. But fortunately the waitress pointed out that there was  a cash machine in the square around the corner where all could be resolved. Sadly not so as that too was having an off day (which is not at all unusual as the helpful woman in the tourist office next to the cash point pointed out). 


By now the restaurant was closing but the chef suggested that we come back tomorrow and pay as the restaurant is closed on Wednesday evening and they were all going home. We then hatched an ingenious plan with the waitress to post an envelope of cash through the restaurant shutters and headed off on our bikes to the nearest machine. 4.5 kilometers away in La Couarde, that machine was working and, on the hottest day of the holiday yet we returned to Loix with the cash having added 9 kilometers to our planned day's cycling. The chef was just locking up so no posting through shutters was required. Maybe we should carry just a little more cash with us in future.

Like Jack Spratt who'd eat no fat and his wife who'd eat no lean, Marion likes her beef well done and I like it very rare. So several nights this week we have sat in Bistrot Marin on the quayside and watched couples enjoying the restaurant's fabulous speciality cote de boeuf for two in the knowledge that if we ordered it we'd have to go for a medium compromise that neither of us would enjoy. Not so, said the proprietor. He'd be happy for the chef to cook half (let's say 65%) very rare and the rest bien cuit. End of problem. So that's our final meal of the holiday sorted for Friday night.


See if you can spot the difference. Here is the view from our restaurant before we ate last night and half way through the meal.

A flotilla of about eighteen beautiful yachts entered the harbour and moored for the evening. It seems that there is some sort of regatta going on. We didn't go into details but the boats were spectacular.

The weather on this holiday has exceeded all expectations. The forecast is bad for the last two days but we've already had two weeks of sunshine and high temperatures so a bit of rain will be a welcome respite. It's hard to believe that it's not really summer yet. And being retired, we've still got all summer to look forward to.

The Rapture? It happened didn't it?

As I sampled this wonderful chocolate souffle at Le M in Rivedoux Plage today I thought for a moment that that Rapture thing might well have happened yesterday and I had died and gone to heaven - it was that good. Our culinary adventure in Ile De Re continues although now that we have got to know a few restaurants on the island we are somewhat reluctant to experiment any more as we've only got five days left and we've only tried a couple of dishes in our favourite places and could eat at least another ten before we need to look elsewhere. It's a good job that we've only five days to go as the waistbands are tightening by the day but what's the point of being good when there are more outstanding restaurants within five miles of here than there are within fifty miles of home? We've got all summer to eat lettuce and brown rice and drink water.

Even the local Pizzeria - Le Phare -  (which we visited last night as a break from fine dining) was a treat. Great service, super view (see below), lovely pizzas and a real treat for families with kids as the place was extremely welcoming and family friendly.

The harbour here in St Martin De Re was heaving today with a huge influx of day trippers enjoying a stroll along the quayside so we rode a few kilometers down the coast and visited a "brocante"fair or flea market. After lunch at Le M we felt so guilty about our over eating that we cycled about another twenty kilometers as a sort of penance. There was a huge variety of cyclists enjoying the island's tracks. They ranged from toddlers with stabilisers through young lovers on tandems (why is the man always at the front?), groups of men in all the gear who look like late arrivals for the Tour De France and spend all their time ringing their bells to warn dawdlers like us of their presence, dads with kids on baby seats or in little carts being pulled behind the bikes, lots of couples from teens to pensioners and much bigger mixed groups of all ages. It's all so pleasant, so French and something we would never see in England. We love it.


And on a cycling note, here's a few who enjoyed it so much they carried on even when they got to the airport.

Nous Mangeons Très Bien

Before setting off on our holiday in France, Marion and I prepared ourselves for the anticipated culinary delights by losing about twenty pounds between us. We reckoned that that would do the trick and, combined with cycling about thirty kilometers every day, we wouldn't pile on so much weight that our holiday clothes would cease to fit.


So far we have eaten out in a number of St Martin De Re's acclaimed restaurants. As usual in a self catering house there are recommendations from the owners and from previous visitors so we followed the advice and had some great steak in Bistrot Marin on the quayside and a very fine meal at Le Serghi on the harbour opposite. We also tried dinner in a lovely garden setting called Cote Jardin hidden away in a side street. Each of these was great in its own way. Bistrot Marin had an excellent pub like ambience, friendly service and was clearly popular with the locals. Le Serghi has an exceptional chef and the location is superb although the wine list with basic local wine starting at around twenty euros seemed somewhat pricey. Cote Jardin could not match its romantic inside garden atmosphere with its food and service which were both ok but not of the standard of the others. All the meals came in at around 40-50 euros per head including wine and two courses (we tend to share a starter and dessert so that we aren't over faced).   

But, surprisingly, my favourite restaurant is not mentioned in either the house notes or the guest book. La Route Du Sel in Loix ( a gentle hour's cycling away) was popular with us last time we were on Ile De Re so we thought that we 'd give it another try despite its absence from the reviews. We were not disappointed and stopped by for lunch yesterday and again today. It's in a very sunny spot in the square by the church in this tiny village situated amidst salt marshes and it fills up at lunchtime as cyclists stop for refuelling. Although it specialises in savoury crepes there is also a wide choice of meats, salads and seafood on the menu, the cooking is of a good standard and the service extremely cheerful and friendly.

Today we shared this seafood salad as a starter. There was a nice mixture of tiny shrimps, mussels and other shellfish, nuts, avocado lettuce and sardines on toast with a piquant tomato sauce.

For my main course I had this amazing duck breast in a honey sauce. It was the best duck dish I have ever tasted and I am probably being churlish to mention that there were enough potatoes to feed a small army (it took some strong willpower to leave as much as I did as they were delicious).

For dessert we chose the cafe gourmand -  a super expresso accompanied by four tiny puds - a rice pudding, a chocolate brownie, a macaroon and a caramel mousse. On each day the bill came to around fifty five euros for two (we only had a small pichet of house wine although the wine prices are inexpensive). It's a spot that we will be recommending in the guest book and one that we'll certainly return to before we leave the island.

No Longer The Isle De Rain

We decided that a cycling holiday would be the best way to continue the recovery from the hip replacement. Nothing too strenuous mind - I didn't want to end up in A&E with a dislocation. So where better than Ile De Re in France. This little island just off La Rochelle is almost as flat as a pancake (or should I say crepe) and it is a cyclist's paradise with kilometer after kilometer of cycle tracks alongside a deep blue sea and through pleasant woodland and vineyards. We came here in July 2007 and endured two weeks of non stop rain which resulted in our renaming the island the Isle De Rain but the residents assured us that the weather we experienced then was a freak and we thought we'd give it another try.


We've been here for three days and so far the sun has been relentless resulting in sunburnt knees (wearing a long sleeved shirt and shorts they're the only bit exposed) and the planned acquisition of a hat -no I won't be posting a photo on here. 

We're staying in a lovely old town house right next to this ancient church which means we've no need for an alarm clock as the priest gets cracking with the bells at about seven thirty. It's a great location as we're only a hundred yards or so from the harbour in the photo at the top of the blog where there are scores of bars and restaurants so you can enjoy some excellent cuisine or just sit with a drink and watch the world go by - extremely entertaining.

The house is owned by an Englishwoman called Jenny.  We have not met her as she was away from the island when we arrived but she has fitted it out to a very high standard and added some lovely touches like this welcoming bunch of flowers and a delicious home made chocolate cake (that's the diet gone then). We're spending our time cycling and reading and it's a very relaxing break from the grind of retirement.

One of the biggest advantages of retirement is being able to holiday off season. Judging from the number of bars, restaurants and camping sites on the island, I imagine that Ile De Re is extremely popular in the high season but at the moment we are cycling to beach after beach like this and sharing them with just a handful of visitors and a few dozen cockle and mussel pickers who scavenge the low tide shoreline looking for the delicacies that the island is renowned for. It's also a bird watchers' haven with a huge variety of wading birds inhabiting the salt marshes that surround some of the villages.


We're off now. We're going to a shady spot to do a bit of reading. I'm just starting my fourth novel of the holiday. C'est la vie.

Holidays At Last

It's almost three years now since Marion and I had a proper holiday. OK we've had a few three night short breaks but we haven't been away for a week or more since July 2008. On returning from that trip to Tuscany and finding the economy moving into recession, we decided to concentrate on our business throughout the remainder of 2008 and all of 2009 with the aim of selling up and retiring. During 2010 we worked flat out for our new owners. When we retired in November, friends were certain that a life of cruises and sunshine breaks would follow but a new hip was the first priority and, although we sold the business for a fair price, we hope that we will be around for some time to come and have no plans to spend everything at once and end up hard up pensioners. 

But on Monday we will be getting a break as we head for this self catering country retreat, The Lazy Fish  near Cockermouth. It's a converted barn that Marion read reviewed in The Guardian a few years back. She kept the review as it sounded so good and we'll soon find out if the reviewer was right. The owners do some catering so we've ordered meals to make things easier for us on a couple of nights.

We're also off to the Ile De Re in France in May for a fortnight's cycling. We spent some time yesterday looking for a place to stay en route and came up with this lodge on the Mr & Mrs Smith website. If you aren't familiar with Mr & Mrs Smith, it's a site that specialises in boutique hotels that are ideal for couples. We've tried one or two and friends have tried a lot and they have always exceeded expectations. So let's hope that Le Lodge Kerisper in Trinity Sur Mer does the same as we have two days relaxing there before our two weeks in the saddle. 

And whilst on the subject of holidays, I've always wanted to visit Locanda Cipriani on the island of Torcello near Venice ever since we had lunch there some years ago. It was one of Ernest Hemingway's favourite haunts and Marion has agreed that we can go there for a birthday treat in September. It's such a peaceful place compared with the bustle of Venice and, when the tourists have gone home we will have the island almost to ourselves as there are less than a dozen hotel rooms on the island. I am looking forward to it so much. It would be great if a bit of whatever inspired Hemingway could rub off on me.

I just read a  tweet from the wonderful Old Course hotel in St Andrews. They have a special offer on. For just 72 hours they are offering rooms in November & March for £160 bed and breakfast (subject to availability). This is a huge saving on the regular price and it's an offer not to be missed so a visit to see Sarah is on the cards. The offer closes tomorrow so book soon if you want to treat yourself. The breakfasts are fantastic and the rooms spacious and extremely comfortable. But above all it offers just about the friendliest service you will find. 


I'll leave you for the weekend with a brave performance from Daniel Craig - the ultimate macho man making a serious point about women.