Day 777 (Friday) 26^th July 2019

Thank god it is finally Friday.

Thanks to Mr. Badger I got some lovely photos of the light at 6am this morning – he has gone from biting my bum to wake me up to biting my feet – just gentle nips but they wake me up. Huw was driven into the living room at 4.30am today – I really hope this phase doesn’t last too long. He’s been through many phases but this is the first one that makes us lose sleep. But I was pleased with these photos

I had no problem getting to school today and I managed to get inside before 9am. It was pretty hot especially in the classroom with only one fan for 17 people! Lots of the students were struggling and so was Melissa. I’m fine with this heat, it was the one at the beginning of July that floored me.

Everybody is complaining about it and there are even road sign warning us to be careful during the canicule (heatwave)

 

We had four students leaving us today, Adam from Lithuania and the three French girls from last week, Laure, Carla and Leane – these last two have made me think about Coronation Street because of their names and I’ve watched a few episodes on catch up TV! I had to give the leavers their certificates at the end of the morning and like last week I went first and took the handshake approach again and the French teachers did the gushy kissy thing! After a hot sweaty walk to the station in the midday sun I noticed a gay flag flying next to the French one at Nice station today so I wonder if there’s going to be a Pride parade – I hope so.

I met Huw at Nice Riqier station because we needed to get a few things for us and a few things for the big apartment we look after. We got everything we wanted quite quickly and went home. Nice Riqier is a strange part of the city, it has great shops and supermarkets but it looks and feels a bit rough. There are lovely old grand buildings standing next to ugly new apartment blocks.

 

Our kitchen bin broke the other day and Badger was very kind and helped Huw fix it!

But it wasn’t fixable so we bought a new one today. We have recently bought a new fan and it’s brilliant; so now we have one in the bedroom and this new one can be moved from the sunroom to the living room.

As it is Friday we paid our weekly visit to Le Phare

During the short walk we saw a new art exhibition opposite the supermarket – will have to have a look soon.

Le Phare was very quiet tonight as Andy is in the west of France visiting his ‘girlfriend’ Patricia for two weeks. They both deny being in a relationship but it’s blatantly obvious that they are in love. Sean is in Ireland for a week and Pat and Dee are also in Ireland. Chadwick was there with Phoebe, as he looks after her when they are away. She looked so sad and hot; she’s missing Pat. It really bugs Dee that the dog prefers Pat.

Even though the usual gang weren’t there the atmosphere was lovely and we had two new buskers, a really good accordionist and two very young boys.

 

It made a refreshing change from the guitarist that doesn’t know the words.

Andrea, who runs a second-hand designer shop next door to Le Phare, had a little waltz with her friend, which I recorded.

 

We decided to have an early night and bought an ice cream from the best ice cream shop in Villefranche, which is opposite Le Phare. We had a chat with the owner of the shop and he told us that his wife makes all the ice cream and works nights. Huw usually always has pistachio but tonight he was adventurous and went for raspberries and I had the grapefruit – they were both absolutely delicious.

 

We went down to the seafront to enjoy the ice cream and the sunset.

I found another interesting article on the Local France website and thought I’d share it with you. It’s quite long so I will post it in stages – here are the first two places they say you should visit in France

The 12 parts of France where the tourists don't go (and why you should visit them)

No tourists in sight in this part of France. Photo: Eric Huybrechts/FLickr

If you want peace and quiet on your next summer holiday in France, here are the places where most tourists don’t go and reasons why you should.

For many people taking their summer holidays in France, the whole experience doesn’t work out to be quite as relaxing and peaceful as they would’ve hoped. 

Much of this might be down to the fact that huge parts of l’Héxagone are flooded with tourists during the balmy summer months.

Packed beaches, trouble finding well-priced accommodation and a lack of overall privacy are just some of the problems that peace-loving holidaymakers might shudder at the thought of.

But not everywhere in France - the world’s number one tourist destination – do hoards of tourists take over every village and town.

France’s National Statistics Body INSEE has broken down 2017’s summer tourism figures and their findings suggest there are still many parts of the country that don’t get many visitors.

These are the 12 least touristy departments in the country according to INSEE's data which looked at the number of nights booked during the summer period.

And the one thing they have in common is that they are not on the coast, indeed some of the departments are from the beaches, where so many holidaymakers in France tend to head to.

The map below shows the 12 least touristy departments coloured green, whilst those in red are the seven departments that welcome the most tourists in France. All apart from Paris are on the coast.

Creuse, central France

This sparsely populated rural part of France had the lowest number of tourists of any department in l’Héxagone in the summer of 2017, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing to see or do.
Ever wanted to hang out with wolves? Why not try the "Wolves of Chabrieres" experience, where you can see wolves in their (almost) natural habitat. It's the top rated thing to do in Creuse on TripAdvisor, and the reviewers love it.

Territoire-de-Belfort, eastern France

The quietest part of the Burgundy-Franche-Comté region has a small population and very few visitors.

It’s about a three-and-a-half hour drive north of Lyon and two hours from Strasbourg.

If you do go, be sure not to miss the Lac de Malsaucy (below), where nature lovers can enjoy watersports, footpaths, and mountain biking, or relax on the lake's beach. 

Photo: Thomas Bresson/Flickr