5 November 2009 France
It’s raining again!! Jumped on a local bus which took us on a winding route to the Toulouse Station, where, after comparing rates at a few of the rental car offices, we chose National Rental Cars because they offered discount for over 60’s! Good for them – and good for us too! Returning to the Ibis Hotel which should in fact have been quite a simple operation but wasn’t, as there was no left turn allowed near the Hotel so we had no choice but to end up on a Motorway heading to Paris! Twenty minutes later our capable driver, Jim, in co-operation with navigator, Di, found his way back via some back streets to the Ibis Hotel. We decided at this point that French drivers are far more calm and controlled than Italians are on the roads, using their indicators and keeping to the right on motorways. They still tend to go over the speed limit but not to the excess of their Italian counterparts.
The area that is of interest to us is the 
Midi-Pyrenees which is in the south west of France. It is broken up into a number of regions and we will only have time to visit a few of these i.e. Gers, Tarn, Tarn-Et-Garonne and Lot which will give us a good idea of what housing is available. These are very old areas and some of them are relatively untouched in terms of redevelopment, seemingly a deliberate move by the government which has a positive outcome.
Today we are off to look at the Gers region which is famous for its rolling landscape and has no industry of any kind. It also has the best weather within the Mid-Pyrenees which makes it a very popular region for a second home. The countryside viewed from the motorway from Toulouse – Agen (Nth west) proved to be very flat, with scattered stone farm houses and tilled fields due to the imminent arrival of winter. Before Agen, a lunch stop
was forecast at a service station complete with huge cafe so it was with relish that we downed a Panini Caprice each (foccaccia roll with ham, eggplant, red capsicum and guerkin) plus a nut tart/choc brownie to share. 
Hanging from the walls all around the cafe were delightful Folk Art animals framed in rough wood as the photo shows.
There is no GPS in the car, nor did we want one as we always use the tried and tested method of travelling, i.e. with a good old map! We had purchased one of the entire Midi-Pyrenees area so are in good hands!
On the road from Agen to Condom we discover we are now into changed surroundings, that of rolling hills and very pretty scenes of cottages with flowery 
window-boxes and ancient ruined buildings. It really is lovely here and we have decided 
to find a place for the night in Condom (despite its unusual name…). A friendly French lady directs me to the local tourist office and all seems perfect when the English-speaking girl on the desk marks on a map the four Bed & Breakfast homes in Condom. Despite this, and after several circuits of this small town, we are unable to find even one of the B & Bs and it’s getting close to 4pm. My memory reminds
me that there was a small sign “Gite” several kilometres back up the road from Condom (Gite means Guest House) and with several cars close behind us at the time we were unable to stop and look at it. Back we go to the area where I remember seeing this sign and sure enough, there it is and we drive up a long, long drive between an avenue of yellow leafed trees. A sign, Chambres, (rooms) directs us to park and we discover a wonderful old three-storey building which looks a little like a castle. We are told that there is indeed a room available for us and 
are happy to be taken by the owner’s wife to a building adjoining the main house to inspect it. It is far more than we expected – there is a huge bedroom with fireplace, bathroom and separate toilet, a large lounge/salon with a fireplace, a kitchen, and another huge room for eating meals and it’s all for us! At 60 Euros for the night it is amazing value and we move in. The owner comes and soon gets a roaring fire going for us (with real wood, none of these fake fires) and because we have no desire to go out for a meal we spend the evening having a nibbly dinner of our remaining bits and pieces – nuts, apples, an orange each, some grapes and mini Mars bars! Great for a change! We both watch some French television trying to understand a quiz show and later a Dating show, then head to our boudoir for some well-earned rest.
so with our suitcases whirring along behind we ambled along the banks of the Canal du Midi, enjoying the scene. We realised that it was on this same canal that we’d holidayed with our good friends, Jon and Sally, in a canal boat for two weeks in April 1976! Each of us had a small daughter at that time and it was there that our 10 
month old Simone took her first hesitant steps across the moving boat while Katie, at 8 months, watched on in admiration! Tied up on the canal now was an enchanting restaurant barge, its maitre de beguiling us to eat lunch, which we resisted as we’d had ample Petit dejeuner breakfast at du Brienne. For those who have not visited France, a Petit dejeuner breakfast for two consists of a basket of about 4 croissants, a couple of raisin or chocolate pastries and some crispy slices of French bread, plus jams and coffee/tea. Often yoghurt is also included.
condition on about 3000 m2 of land 
going for 45,000 Euro. It would need a new roof, windows and doors etc. plus a complete makeover inside estimated at about another 45,000 Euro. The floor area was around 150 m2 on 3 1/2 levels. The garage (?) at the back would have to be improved, eh. This particular house was fairly isolated from the nearest town being 5 km away and so no near neighbours. This next house
was rather more interesting 
having more land at 4000 m2 and three levels giving a total floor area of 200 m2. Stone work was in good condition but the render needed to be removed – quite the opposite trend in Australia which is to render all exposed brickwork. Again the structure was ok but a complete refit-out needed inside including new floors. The third picture is taken at the bottom of the site
showing the land. Room for plenty of olive trees and a pool plus some great landscaping. The house and land was going for 50,000 Euro but our ‘man’ said 35,000 Euro would be closer. So plus another 40,000 Euro and you would end up with quite a reasonable dwelling and land package. Again this house was a little remote. We are just looking at this stage!
stroll along past all of the fishing boats by the wharf, where there were also numerous market stalls with people selling a variety of goods, carpets, umbrellas, scarves, knitted beanies and jewellery. Also, we could not help but notice the huge number of jets taking off at about one minute intervals from the nearby main Rome airport.
on every street in town, was the subject of a visit from us the following day, and the wind was howling in as we walked along the seafront. By chance there was a MacDonald’s eatery where we hoped to hook in to their Wifi but unfortunately we needed an Italian Sim card so were unable to use the Wifi! There was a busker playing classical guitar music which gave a lovely tone to the area.
to some of the stall holders.
which turns out to be a nice place, not too expensive and full of 
here, checked out of the hotel and drove off in the direction of L’Aquila (and later Rome). As we slowly climb into the mountains once again there are wondrous autumn colours everywhere, yellow, red and orange on the trees and huge piles of leaves already litter the ground. Arriving in L’Aquila, the earthquake town of 70,000 people, the first thing we notice are the tented areas everywhere, housing both those displaced as well as the hundreds of aid workers brought in to help in the rebuilding process. Numerous newly completed apartment blocks can be seen as well as huge cranes, scaffolding, 
homes with gigantic cracks down them and others which are simply large piles of stone and rubble from which it is doubtful anyone could have escaped. Hopefully, such a sad event as this will never happen there again.
Before too long we are once again back on the huge ring road which bypasses Rome and out to Fiumicino, near the airport, where we locate a nice little B & B, the “Costa del Sol”, for the next two nights.
picking olives with the aid of an electric comb-like too, which dropped the olives into large nets on the ground. Very efficient too. Forgot to mention our dinner the previous night was the usual homemade pasta with sauce and bread followed by a dish of wild pork, caught by a local friend of Peter’s (wild pigs are everywhere here!) cooked slowly in a tomato/gravy sauce. Delicious!
everything and w
ith views of the surrounding countryside. Booked in at the hotel (Aljiope Grand) where there were just a few guests. Spent a couple of hours sitting in the hotel foyer, catching up with our blog. It was all very smart, lovely paintings and antique furniture, marble floors and with capoccinos brought when we asked! In the evening we had the set meal (Menu fisso in Italian) with buffet style salads, cooked mushrooms, pasta with tuna, small pots of prawns & vegetables in cheese sauce, brocolli, tomatoes and guerkins. Add a choice of fried fish or chicken and 1/2 carafe of red wine. There was fresh sliced pineapple to finish off – tasty simple fare!
being behind the wheel for 7 days. As you have been able to tell from some of the photos, the roads in the villages are very narrow and as a consequence the cars generally small. However that doesn’t mean slow!!! They all drive as though possessed by the devil but at the same time are generally fairly accurate. By that I mean the give-way rule still applies but you will lose out if you are not positive. They also don’t really want to have a crash. All speed limits are ignored totally. Out in the country on the minor and secondary roads the limit is 70kph which means I’m travelling at 80kph (just to try and look a little brave) and everyone else at 100kph!!! Double lines are there just for decoration and you are expected to dive off the road if something is coming your way on the wrong side of the road. In towns and cities speed is governed by congestion so you are down to 20kph and having a real duck shove! This all happens on the opposite side of the road to us of course. I’ve had two minor excursions down the left hand side but fortunately there was no traffic at the time and my trusty navigator yelled out the correction required. Also have done the wrong way down a one way street thing but it worked out ok and was a great shortcut. The bit that really gets you is that no matter where you are you will also find someone right up your backside trying to pass. Bloody hopeless when you are looking for a particular street or accommodation. We shall survive!!!
Some of the houses needed a little support!
and Francesca had recently put in a new swimming pool but it was too cold to entertain that idea. We took a 200 metre walk through their olive groves down to the beach and were quite
surprised to see there was not a solitary soul there, except ourselves, 
and a very pebbly beach. A lone fisherman could be seen in a small craft a few hundred metres from shore patiently waiting to catch his dinner. Slept like proverbial logs and woke to find our breakfast had been placed on the table downstairs in readiness for us. It was our best breakfast yet with hot apple tart, yoghurt, juices, croissants, coffee, crisp rolls with tomato and bocconcinci, also salami. Oh, yes, did I say there was cornflakes too, which is quite unusual to see here. This is a wonderful place to stay for a day or two (Villa Marianna, Via Mottagrossa 1, Vasto. Cell ph: 333.5493461.) There were two gorgeous dogs there, the photo is of Simba and Pluto, the beagle, was contained on a veranda as he has a tendancy to run off!
Two Adventurers 
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