Autumn trip to Spain and France

Back in Spain to put away the garden furniture and batten down the hatches before winter arrives. Can’t believe that only eight weeks ago we were swimming in the Med and it was baking hot. Much cooler now, though the sun is still shining.

The exceptionally hot dry summer has had a devastating effect on our citrus trees (despite their nightly hosing down with copious amounts of expensive water during our stay in late August/September).

Orange tree in November

It was  heartbreaking to have to cut off so much dead wood on our best orange tree, changing its shape and character. It now looks stumpy and lop- sided but  I didn’t have the heart to cut off the one good branch to make both sides even. The other two smaller orange trees are laden with fruit and thankfully seem fine, as is the spiky little lime tree that has fruited for the first time in about five years.  Sadly, the lemon isn’t looking good and the main stem of the baby grapefruit tree has also died back so our tiny tree is now a third smaller, but with three little grapefruit bravely hanging on!

So all in all not the best year in our Spanish garden – the bougainvillea all eventually recovered from the unexpected January frosts and are now thriving;  most of the plants have died back on the rockery;  the palms are growing too fast and we missed the flowers this year on our two frangipani trees, which still have their  leaves. Looking back on all the time and hard work spent weeding, trimming, hacking back, feeding, watering and making endless trips to the dump to maintain the garden, was it worth all the effort and the time? For the first time, I feel perhaps it wasn’t, quite a dispiriting thought and of course I’m still looking for a way to get ride of some of those pine trees in vacant plot next door, that are growing several feet higher each year.

Despite having bought return flights from Alicante, we decided to drive the Jazz back to the UK in November, rather in than in January as planned, as it might be hazardous driving through the Pyrenees in winter.

We left Javea before dawn and drove across Spain, through the mountains and a 8.5 kilometre tunnel  straddling the Spanish/French border to the outskirts of Bordeaux, where we spent the night in basic (but clean) hotel! The following day we made it into Rouen and treated ourselves to a night in the Mercure in the middle of the old town, which was much more comfortable. We loved Rouen – this was our first visit, and we were impressed with the magnificent cathedral, historic buildings and general ambience.  And how we enjoyed the crepes!

In the old market square, we saw the St Joan of Arc (Sainte Jeanne d’Arc)  national monument, a large cross erected on the site of the stake where the saint was burnt for heresy in 1431. The monument is connected to the church that bears her name and the covered market, which perpetuates the commercial tradition of the area.

The church is designed in the shape of an upturned boat – an old tradition in church building in parts of Europe. It is set in a sunken position, so you can look down into it from the raised vestibule (porch) that gives access to the church or through the outer windows which take the shape of fish. The floor is made of brick and the impression of height is given by the sweep of the upturned hull and the vertical pillar behind the altar. Architect Louis Arretche researched the traditional principles of naval construction making the wooden structure visible above the nave. On the outside, the image of the sea continues, with the roof of slate and copper representing the scales of fish. The church’s 13 stained glass windows date from the Renaissance (1520-1530) and are from the ancient St Vincent’s church, taken down before it was bombed in the last war.  The windows bring warmth and light into church’s interior and contain scenes taken from the  Bible that illustrate the faith of 16th century Christians.

Rouen Cathedral

Old Town, Rouen

Couldn’t believe the cost of the ferry when we reached Calais – P&O charged us €125! The same trip cost us only £35 in the summer and that was for the same car and three passengers. We crossed on the new ferry Spirit of England – which didn’t seem much different from the older ones plying the Channel.