We are on our travels again after doing our usual round of
family and friends during which we enjoyed a super Christmas with Wendy and
Zira and visits to Mike, Louise, Owen, Megan and Katie including being there
for Katie’s third Birthday. We were also
able to be with Jane’s Godmother when she celebrated her 100th
Birthday last November.
We had a week on a narrow boat in November which
convinced us that we are still able to manage everything even in adverse
weather conditions – and to enjoy it!
The weather was actually not all bad and we had some lovely sunny but
very cold days too.
We crossed the Channel on a wet and windy day on 29th
January and headed south from Dunkerque
to Avignon, keeping to the
East of Paris and passing through (or round) Reims, Dijon and Lyon.
The weather was miserable at first but gradually improved as we drove south. We
had a walk round Reims which we visited very briefly two years ago and
saw again the massive Cathedral repaired and restored on the outside which is
covered in sculptures of saints, angels, animals and even mythical beasts such
as a unicorn and a centaur!
Among them we liked this angel looking very pleased with himself
(or herself?) much to the dismay of the Bishop alongside.
The dark interior is very bare and smells like a damp cellar
but has some beautiful stained glass.
We saw several interesting, but not spectacular, buildings
and a Roman Triumphal Arch now looking rather weathered.
We were due to pass close to Taizé and so took a detour to visit it. It was Saturday and we
hoped to join the prayer meeting that night and the Communion on the Sunday
morning. We were told that this would be
a problem as we were not allowed to park up and spend the night in our motor
caravan anywhere on the huge site. The
Brothers were all at a Council Meeting and the volunteer who was dealing with
us could not make any decisions so we satisfied ourselves with a look at the
beautiful chapel (where photography was sadly only allowed between 1 and 2 pm!)
and drove on to our next site feeling somewhat rejected.
All we knew about Avignon was that it had a bridge made
famous in the children’s song “Sur le pont d’Avignon” and we were amazed to find the old town completely enclosed
within spectacular and well preserved walls with 39 towers and several
gates. From the Caravan Site we could look
across the River Rhone to this fortress-town …
… and the bridge.
Originally having 22 arches the 900 metre long bridge was
built between 1171 and 1185 but frequently collapsed during floods. In 1660 they gave up trying to rebuild it and
demolished all but the four arches remaining today and the tiny chapel on top
of them.
From Avignon we continued south to Marseille and then east
along the Mediterranean coast. The sun
shone, the sea and sky were both deep blue and cliffs of red sandstone jutted
out from pine covered hills splashed here and there with yellow mimosa
blossom. Beautiful!
We even caught glimpses distant snow covered peaks in the distance
beyond Cannes.
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