Domaine du Bien Etre Saint Martin de Re

Ok so I'm getting a bit behind in my blogs as I've arrived at my uni now and want to write about that. I am having a really good time and re-living being a fresher, which is kind of funny! I also have my laptop set up now - yay! So as a simple solution I'm going to tell you about the food I cooked by posting some photos of it ...

... late but the really freindly staff and the fact the flight only cost me 18 pounds made up for that.

Anyway, enough boring stuff! So the cooking school is a guesthouse and cooking school combined in a really pretty white building with classic blue wooden shutters. It is surrounded by about half an acre of garden, most of which is fruit trees and veggies which we used reguarly in the cooking. There are also a couple of smaller self contained units on the property ...

Bonjour from sunny La Rochelle!

Well not so sunny today actually, hence the decision to finally find an internet cafe and update the blog...

It`s now a week since we set off, and so far it's going great. The van has done really well, and hasnt given us a single problem as yet (touch wood). So here's a quick summary of what we've been up to...

Day 1: Glasgow to Ashford, Middlesex.
Set off in good time and made it down to Steve's quicker ...

We stayed 1 night in Paris with Olivier, after we spent 2 days in Rouze in Pyrenee. We finished 1st week of our vacation in Toulouse (trip by canal). Second week, we stayed in Talmont st.Hilaire in Francois´s parents.
Vendee is very very nice :-) !!!

Hello,
After a week in Angers, where we stayed taking some rest at our gran parents house, we aheaded to Les sables d"olonnes, where we are going to spend 2 weeks at the shore. Look forward to it. I have been there 2 years ago. Great place to built sand castle, my cousins are coming to visit me....it is going to be a great 2 weeks.
Enjoy the pictures

Remy

... space between the wheelie bins and the no parking signs beside the captinerie

We'd been on the road four hours instead of 40 minutes and covered 250km.
There are definite lessons to be learned from this:
1. Do not bother if you have a lazy lunchtime chat first and can't hope to arrive before 2 or 3pm.
2. Plan at least three sites first, especially in a barge on wheels, as you might not squeeze into the first couple of aires you find.

Judith died! How are we going to manage without her - there'll be rows in the cab. She must have been dropped when planning last night.

Found this campsite after a couple of tries - clean and lovely under the pines. Swam, sunbathed, etc. for three days.

Cycled to La Flotte and St Martin first day, then Dave took us cross-country the next - big mistake, got lost, no lunch.

... un peu seul, puis avec les filles, subtilement vers la plage, qui devient rapidement noire de monde (NDA : La Rochelle est réputée pour son micro-climat particulièrement clément, et ce jour-là ne faisait pas exception : une température superbe régnait sur la ville, remplissant la plage municipale malgré la date qui semble hâtive). Plusieurs voiliers ponctuent l'horizon, c'est vraiment beau. Nous pensons à commencer à aller faire du pouce et déjà quitter la ville ...

... s** ometi r*is*t* - sed* ei juhtunud ig* päev. L*ot*simegi hotellist s*l*j* välj* tr*nsporditud teki m*h*, poest h*ngitud pik* s*i*, juustud, veinid-värgid sinn* pe*le j* h*kk*sime lebot*m*.
Märk*m*tult oli möödunud p**r tundi j* päike oli k* pilve t*h* k*dunud, seeg* oli *eg lõun*uin*kust ärg*t*. Justnimelt, sellise mõnus* ilm* j* he* vei**** tuli mõlem*l tukk pe*le ning te*t*v*sti on tervisele värskes õhus m*g*mine väg* k*sulik :)

... town and noticed a few places selling beer on the streets. So Brian had a beer, and another, and another. He started to act goofy. I had no idea what was happening! I encouraged him to drink more! Finally after 5 or 6 we went back to the hotel. We made Brian go to sleep. Around 2:30 he vomited all over the bed and then in the bathtub. Wow. I realized I helped to cause this mess. Another friend ...