Castles, towns and villages

I've written previously that the southern parts of the Massif Central in France must have been a lawless place back in the old days as it seems like every village and town was fortified, many still survive intact today

That is probably no better area to visit than on the Route de Larzac in the Averyon region where we were staying during the summer. The route is world heritage site, a a series of villages which were owned and protected by the Knights Templar during the eleventh and twelfth centuries and the 100 years war.

Right at top is St Jean D'Alcas which was actually an authentic Cistercian village fort, built as a refuge in 1356 and completed in 1443.

Second photo down is the church at La Cavalerie which was, is part of the ramparts

Above La Couvertoirade, the most complete village which has survived without very much subsequent development, apart that is from the buildings being converted into cafe's and gift shops and thewhole place having the feel of a theme part rather than an ancient monument, such is the popularity of such places.

 I forget which village this fabulous residence was in, I just remember thinking what a cool place to live or maybe have as a holiday accommodation.

Storm Ami

 Storm Ami was still raging on Saturday morning when we went for breakfast in Lee on the Solent, the wind and waves coming down the length of the Solent from the west and breaking on the shingle beach, white caps everywhere.

 Apologies for the poor resolution, but there were actually a couple of yachts out off Cowes, which was presumably in a slight lee of the Isle of Wight or possibly they decided to go out and practice for real in the 40 knots guts which were predicted.

 

Tonnant

 Back in 2005 Bursledon Regatta suggested as part of the event a reenactment of the battle of Trafalgar, using dinghies which were made into "fighting ships" with the addition of wrap around hardboard or plywood panels. Actually one of the entries went a little further, it was pretty much a scale model with full rigging based on a mirror dinghy hull.

 My effort was somewhat more modest with masts from PVC pipes and fully armed with plastic buckets and water pistols for full broadside. 

My plywood panels are long gone, can't even remember what I used them for, but along the river is a nice reminder of that battle 20 years ago.

Great set of pics here  in fact pictures of all the recent Burelsdon themed regattas.

Roller Reefing

 Who thought roller reefing or more accurately roller furling only started about 100 years ago with Wykham-Martin?

 Presumably the wooden sails have quite a lot of windage anyway even with the cloth sails furled, so maybe they were set during light winds, like an early sort of Code Zero.

Classic Yard

There's always a good crop of classics on the moorings at the Elephant Boatyard.

Too often I just pass by, so on a quiet and early Sunday morning I thought I'd paddle over and take a closer look

 

Odd aspect

From a distance I couldn't figure out the aspect and indeed what this this boat silhouette actually was, a little later despite the very light winds it came closer and all was revealed.

 

French motoring

Being land locked in the mountains on holiday there wasn't much opportunity for looking at boats but as consolation there were a few interesting cars

Above a hot rod Renault Dauphine, no idea what engine or modifications were made, but the matching green wheel centers are a nice touch. 

Actually not a Topolino, above these were also built by Simca in France from 1936 to 48 and while production slowed during the war it continued, apparently many being commandeered by the Germans as staff cars
 

A regional rally which seems to be an annual event gathered in the nearby town with stages in the surrounding mountains. A lot of the entries were souped up hatch backs ranging from older 1980's Peugeot 205 to more current examples, and a few modern sports cars like this lovely Renault Alpine below, we spent a pleasant couple of hours in a bar, watching them return to the town square at the end of a day's racing.

When four wheels are too many and two wheels are too few, lovely example of a BMW with sidecar, guessing from the 1960's was in immaculate condition. 

With the temperature up around 38 degrees C it would have been a shame if we hadn't seen a Citroen Mehari, for anyone not familiar it's a lightweight recreational, beach vehicle with a fiberglass body fitted onto a Citroen 2CV chassis and running gear that only the French could do, fantastic colour too. Mrs BB would love one if we lived somewhere warm and sunny, but I got quite a shock when I checked prices.