The Travels Of The RJs

Monday 4th November - Wednesday 6th November - Lusignac, France to Athens, Greece (Day 294-296) Monday we head along the windy roads 20 minutes to Aubeterre where we visit L’eglise sur terre - underground church St Jean Dite Monolith. Over the course of many years some 800 years ago, a cavernous church was carved out of the limestone cliff.  We’re the only ones there, barring an American couple from Kentucky who were nervous about which way the US election will fall tomorrow. We climb up the narrow stairs carved yet further into the rock to view the church through the arched open windows from above. Something different for sure.  Tuesday, after visiting the Post Office to send back to Sydney some of the kids school books, it’s the same lunch we’ve (happily) had 5 days in a row; fresh baguette from any nearby boulangerie along with 3 cheeses, 2 hams, salami, cucumber, tomato, pepper (capsicum if you must) and unsalted butter.  As our time here draws to a close, it’s been a...

Friday 1st November - Sunday 3rd November - Lusignac, France (Day 291-293) The next 5 days we settle into a relaxing routine. There’s no early starts or early walks; it's usually 8am before anyone is stirring in the exposed wooden beam bedrooms.  Friday, Monday and Tuesday the kids polish off the week of school and make a decent dent in the second week.  This is usually interspersed with, and encouraged by, tennis playing which everyone is keen to do. We’re not talking 5 set matches, more gentle rallies (occasionally fetching a ball from the ploughed field next door) for 30-45 minutes, three or four times a day.  Sienna and Seb had both had lessons in Sydney and they certainly re-find some of that ability and improve over the time here in Lusignac.  The swimming pool is covered over for the winter though our warm weather chasing luck continues to hold, so after dewy mornings, it’s mostly blue skies and shorts and t-shirts.  Friday’s point of difference is Fish a...

Thursday 31st October - San Sebastian, Spain to Lusignac, France (Day 290) My early walk from Palacio D’Aiete takes me down to the seafront where a handful of keen joggers run alongside the beach. The bakeries - our source of breakfast - don’t open until 7:30 so I grab a coffee inside Cafe Luis, a typical narrow room with the bar running down one side.  Locals come, neck their espresso, and go, some settling in a little longer to watch on the TV non-stop coverage of the flash flooding that has hit the Valencia region in the last 24 hours leading to a 3 day period of mourning.  Once the bakery next door is open I return to the hotel for breakfast and schoolwork.  Bron’s house keys remain in Madrid so we leave without them and trust the neighbours to arrive in time from the UK to let us in with their spare keys.  It’s a motorway heavy 4.5 hours drive and we leave the gastronomic city of San Sebastian and follow it up with a picnic in the car park of a Burger King. Not ...

Wednesday 30th October - Bilbao, Spain to San Sebastian, Spain (Day 289) Along with schoolwork at Atxuri Apartments we have a call with Bron’s parents Mair and Ray who walk us through the logistics of reopening their house they’ve already shut down for winter - not expecting some freeloaders to appear in early November.  Despite the fact we’ve never actually met them before, they seem very happy for us to stay at their holiday house. Unfortunately no sign of Bron’s keys to the house, so I buy a stamped addressed envelope and leave it with reception - whilst their English is good, you can see they don’t quite understand why the parcel I warned them about on email I now want them to open it on arrival and send it back to London. Fingers crossed they follow through with it.  On we go then just 90 minutes up the road to San Sebastian - this was a late addition to the itinerary - most people come here for the collection of nice restaurants; we came here because of its name and in t...

Tuesday 29th October - Bilbao, Spain (Day 288) I get up in the dark and jump on the tram around to the Guggenheim - I’ve been curious of the building for a long while now so I wanted to explore it a little and from more angles than a 7 or 10 year old would let me later in the day.  There’s a handful of joggers about but I’m the only one here otherwise to catch the changing shades of gold reflecting off the carved panels.  The giant spider installation out the back looks creepy in the dawn light, before I go up and over the bridge to view it from the other side of the river.  I know it’s not peak season but I’m surprised no one else is here too, in an age where people don’t want others in their social media pictures. All the better for me I suppose.  Keys-in-the-post update - no update. Now we’re nervous they won’t arrive in time. Luckily one of the neighbours is due to arrive from the UK tomorrow so they can let us in.  Back at the Atxuri Apartment I can use the...