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Roland Routier

An open-ended adventure by Roland Routier Read more
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    Airheads

    September 7, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

    French soccer players were so excited by winning the 2018 FIFA Word Cup they lost their heads down to their waists.
    The French participants in the 2018 International Kite Festival at Dieppe chose to honour their countrymen rather literally.Read more

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    Heart of oak

    September 3, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    This Common Oak ((Quercus Robur) is estimated to be 1200 years old and still going strong although the limbs do need some help to remain upright.
    Recently, in 1696, the people of Allouville-Bellefoss created two miniature rooms inside the trunk, one above the other to act as chapels. I could just fit inside, as generations have done before me.Read more

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    Roots

    September 1, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    In Auffray they celebrate their roots as descendants of Norsemen and when Vikings land that means fireworks.

  • Roland RoutierRoland RoutierTraveler

    Roots

    September 1, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Celebrating the roots of Normandy by the descendants of Rollan and his fellow Norsemen.

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    Hammering time

    August 30, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    One version of the story is that Houzou Benard and Paquet Siviere, two, (Protestant,) Huguenots one from Dieppois and the other Altifagien, outraged the faithful during the procession of their Catholic sacrament and were condemned by the Church to pay for the clock tower and to strike the time every 15 minutes. When they died, they were replaced by these automata.y There are only 18 similar clochards in France - maybe because the Huguenots were invited to emigrate.Read more

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    Skygardens

    August 25, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    There are many thatched cottages here in Normandy with this unusual feature: a garden on the ridge of the roof. I don't know what plants or why, but it makes me think of Norman Knights. Plumage ...

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    More churches

    August 24, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    The 4 churches here are in a line not more than 1km from end to end.
    + The first is not a church the sign informs me: it is a Temple. The local Lutherans have usurped it.
    + The second is dedicated to Jean d'Arc, the delusional pubescent maid who hearing voices in her head roused the population against their invaders and lost. At her subsequent inquisition by Holy Mother Church, she was tested on her faith, her visions and her subjugation to clerical authority and, found wanting, handed over to the secular authorities for incineration. She was 19. Wanting in deference to Rome she may have been, but has now been elevated to sainthood by the church that abandoned her. (It's all in the stained glass, and stained is exactly how it seems to me.)Read more

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    Cathedral in Ruin

    August 24, 2018 in France ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    OK, so this is the one rebuilt after WWII that everybody gushes over. The Rose window is an example of exquisite stone work and graces a transept rather than the nave: a Good Thing because in this as in too many other old cathedrals the huge organ blots out whatever windows were inserted into the end wall.Read more

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    Rouen cathedral

    August 24, 2018 in France ⋅ ☁️ 18 °C

    Puzzled? Not look familiar? That's because it is the other, Scottish Cathedral of St.Maclou named after the Hibernian chieftain who attained early sainthood defending the town from someone or other.
    The unique feature of this church, other than that it seems to have survived the Wars intact, is the flying bridge across the nave symbolising the crossing from earth to paradise.    Read more

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    Rouen

    August 24, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 16 °C

    + I was going bypass Rouen but was persuaded by the blurb claiming their cathedral was one of the finest in France.
    The city comprises an old centre of half-timbered houses in narrow streets filled with tourist groups and a periphery of social housing units filled with Africans and Arabs.
    + The old place of Henri IV is now a IV star hotel
    + Hope the revolution removed Justice from the theocrats even as it left the ecclesiastical Palais de Justice.    Read more

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    Pudding art

    August 22, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 23 °C

    For the afficionados of the work of Eugene Boudin, here is the original inspiration for his 1889 portrait of Caudebec-en-Crux, painted somewhat mistily after the death of his wife.
    The river Saone here is tidal and high tide occurred at about 11pm as I was tucked up half asleep on the side of the river in an Air-de-motor caravan provided by the local village. I know this because I nearly died when a mighty foghorn blasted seemingly in my ear and I turned to see an impossibly large coastal container ship passing 3 inches from my head. Well, maybe it was in the centre channel but it completely blocked out my view. Later I saw a small pilot boat flitting up and down to shadow the big boys: nice to know they had someone on board who knew the local waters intimately. If anything happened those ships would form a natural damn.Read more

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    Caën

    August 20, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 22 °C

    Pronounced 'ken' in case you were worried about the diacritical, (though its use seems to have fallen out of favour nowadays,) was one of the first ventures by the UK into the European Union. Alas, unsuccessful thanks to those perfidious froggies as ever.
    Not many people are aware that the bastard William, he who wrested the crown from the Anglo-Saxon monarchs in 1066, had a bit of a problem with the incumbent pope. The old pontiff, ever seeking a pressure point on his Royal rivals, refused to sanction the Dukes marriage with his 8th cousin twice removed (or something like that,) on the grounds of co-sanguinity. Well, Willie tumbled the ruse and countered with an offer too good too refuse: two monasteries, one for males and the other for females, and two abbey churches to be built and endowed.
    + And here is the male one, now taken over by the council chambers buttressing the church.
    + The nave.
    + With an interesting and rather devine wooden carving - underneath a choir stall seat lest it distract the brothers from their devine office.
    + Why a boat? I have no idea.
    +The small city has a few old houses in a couple of streets but is really a modern, working place with parking meters everywhere - usually pay by phone only! Not a very inviting place and well worth by-passing.
    + The old castle, that which seeded the town, was knocked down during the revolution and has been ransacked for building materials since then. Archaeologists are having fun working out what went were, and the town tourist officers are busy trying to make it something worth stopping over for. Hence these statues. Familiar? Can't help thinking of a Snark - sure I've seen engravings of them.    Read more

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    Down in the Bayeux

    August 18, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    + Bishop- Odo of Conteville's house consecrated in 1077 and a fine example of perpendicular gothic. He was the Duke of Normandy's brother and this was the reward for putting in a word to his boss about supporting the invasion of Britain in 1066. (Apparently, unlike Odo and his fellow bishops, the English archbishops had been anointed by the alternative pope rather than the Roman one, so the Norman clergy figured they would get a bit of the action if they supported William's claim. They were right; they did.) This is invasion land: everywhere one goes its 1066 or 1944.

    + They put on a "Son et lumiere" for me, lighting up the cathedral and the tree of liberty, (planted just after the revolution ended.)    Read more

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    Stitched up

    August 17, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    70m of post-invasion propaganda rebutting Harold's claim to the throne all in fine needlepoint. Most of the tapestry affirms that King Steven nominated William as successor to the English throne and that Harold had sworn an oath of fealty to William. It was displayed afterwards in the cathedral and elsewhere Both as a history lesson for the illiterate peasantry, and as a moral lesson about the consequences of breaking your oath to your master.Read more

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    Mont Tombe

    August 15, 2018 in France ⋅ ☁️ 19 °C

    + This 80 m high islet has drawn visitors in celestial numbers for the last 1400 years, starting so it is rumoured by the Archangel Michael himself; which no doubt explains why Bishop Aubert from nearby Avranches established the first sanctuary in 708. Not to be outclassed, in 966 Richard 1st Duke of Normandy endowed a Benedictine monestery on the site which lasted until the revolution and then again quite recently.

    + Always a bastion for the Dukes, the fortress monestary is famous for never having fallen in conquest, especially during the 100 Years War. Until now, when it has fallen to the onslaught of tourism. Over 2 million of them each year contribute their 10 Euros to climb the steps up and round the old Abbey buildings. As I walked along the 2 km causeway a 60 standing shuttle bus full of trippers passed every 5 minutes or so, from about 07:30 to 23.30 hrs so I was not too taken aback by the throng in the rue la Cour de l'Avancee, the only street on the island that spirals up to the heights linking mainly XVIth - XVIIIth C houses. This view from the ramparts is of the Porte Bavole.

    +It comes as no surprise that the post-Revolution the place was used as a prison. Supplies were hauled up this ramp on a roller sled by a giant hamster in an enormous wheel built after the fashion of medieval building cranes. The facility has since been upgraded by the one closer.    Read more

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    Dolmades?

    August 12, 2018 in France ⋅ ☁️ 26 °C

    As I passed Saumur I stopped at a cafe for what I thought would be stuffed vine leaves. Imagine my surprise at finding an old cemetery in the garden.
    This dolmen is over 5000 years old and one of the largest around. It used to contain the bones of ancient tribes. Until a hundred years ago it was buried and pretty much ignored. Now it earns 4 Euros a head for the cafe owners.Read more

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    Poitiers

    August 12, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 29 °C

    +The facade of the Romanesque XI C Eglise Notre-Dame-la-Grande has recently been cleaned but not repainted as only traces of the original colour remain.
    +Amazingly the interior does retain its paintwork and certainly impresses the eye. Apparently most churches used to be decorated similarly in the Middle Ages and I can't help wondering of the effect had some of the big ones - like Reims - been similarly decorated.
    +As I strolled amongst the lanes were the butchers hung out, ( Noble butchers = beef, pork, veal, mutton, common butchers had a separate lane,) I came across an American tourist in the aptly named Place de la Liberte. This used to be the home of Madame, La Guillotine who entertained the rebellious General Jean Baptiste Breton in 1822 here, by command of Louise XVII. He died yelling "Liberte" and the square has been known thus ever since.
    +The Black Prince would certainly recognise the "sale des Pas Perdus" in what remains of the Palais des Compte de Poitiers. This magnificent hall with its XIIth C roof intact has seen many things: Richard the Lionheart was proclaimed Duke of Anjou here and later the delusional Jean d'Arc appeared before the university doctors. Really though, people were drawn to the room because it contains the 3 largest fireplaces in France.    Read more

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    100 Years War

    August 11, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    This is where the Black Prince and his longbowmen decisively bashed the French in 1356 though they don't seem to commemorate the event in any way and there doesn't seem to be any marker for the battleground.
    A few buildings and the town outline remain from the times.
    Unlike most urban centres, churches were relegated to the rim of the built-up areas and the spectacular 1868 Hotel de Ville is quite separate.
    The Cathedrale St Pierre was commenced in the reign of Eleanor and Henri II in about 1150. A couple of stained glass windows remain to remind us that the people really were not as primitive as there sanitation suggests. The 1790 organ is a classic by Henri Cliquot - not as well known as his wife who focussed her attentions on wine when the organ maker blew his last.
    Small detail to fire up Dan Brown: the church has a labyrinth enshrined on the wall. This used to be drawn on the ground in pagan times and the route to the centre walked ceremoniously by the people on special days for reasons unclear but much speculated upon, (although there is no reference to ancient rituals written beside it).    Read more

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    La Rochelle

    August 10, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    La Rochelle is made from a whitefish sandstone and council building regulations have ensured that every door and window is painted a uniform grey. The effect is to unite the town architecturally. The main attractions are the 3 towers guarding the large marinas. The earliest dates from the 13thC and was a lighthouse, whereas the other two guarded the boatway with a chain boom - and canon.
    Surprisingly, the cathedral was started in the late 18thC and never completed: so there isn't much to recommend it. The scalloped font was unusual though and pretty striking.
    Struck me as a good place to work but not as pleasant as Perigueux.    Read more

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    Perigueux

    August 9, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    Truffle town has a large integrated pedestrian area, full of shoppers and stalls on the Wednesday night I arrived as there was the bi-weekly market everywhere. Most of it has been very well cleaned up and renovated which creates a lovely homogenous feel to the place. Very liveable.
    I confess to a moments doubt about the longevity of all the building work when I noticed the name of the builders.
    And the Camino shell reminded me that the journey is never over.    Read more

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    Workaway

    August 5, 2018 in France ⋅ ⛅ 27 °C

    This is Laura Tassi an Essex Maid transplanted to the Gars near Mont-de-Marsan after 40 years in Cologne. She had to leave Germany when, after 30 years living in an affordable apartment in the old quarter, the developers moved in and forced her out. As an elderly freelancer she could not find any other accommodation in the area so was constrained to move to this house in a remote village in France. She did not leave the German abruptness behind her though, which at first disguised her goodwill and generosity, though that soon became evident with all the little treats she bought me to eat!
    What she had not realised fully was how overgrown the acre plot had become with running bamboo; and how difficult it was to remove. Having made a good start with a bulldozer she is now left with small pockets of growth and regrowth. So here I am clearing it all away. Before and after photos to prove that I am not slacking!    Read more

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    Axlent work boys

    July 9, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Alas, a vibration at above 60kph proved to be a broken axle half-shaft which these boys fixed for me. It turned out to be rusted in place and they had to take everything apart, so I got them to replace both at the same time. 250 Euros each. Amazingly they only charged 4hrs labour and the total was 780 Euros so I am not completely wiped out.
    What to do now is the big question- one whose solution needs a solution of something amber to extract.    Read more

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    Valle de los Caídos

    July 6, 2018 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 21 °C

    Here I discovered what it was all about. The "Valley of the Fallen" is a Franco inspired 13.6 km sq monument to honour and bury those who died in the Spanish Civil War, the main features being the cross and the church, whose nave lies 150m below the former.
    The church, which Pope John XXIII declared to be later proclaimed to be the "Basílica de la Santa Cruz del Valle de los Caídos" was made from a shaft bored out of the solid rock like an underground railway with side passages for the transept. Did we say Herrerian? It's big.
    In fact the Basilica of the Holy Cross of the Valley of the Fallen would have been even bigger than St. Peter's Basilica in Rome had they not partioned and refrained from consecrating the first 50 or 60m of it.
    No photos allowed of course, and the security guards who x-rayed my back pack confiscated by penknife in case I was tempted to carve revolutionary slogans into the solid, marble clad granite. My first, and final so overwhelming was it, impression was of a vast Wagnerian drinking hall, reminiscent of the Hitler Youth training camp I had once stayed at in the 1970's. I grabbed a photo surreptitiously, knowing now what kind of fascists I was up against. I also managed to get one of the paired and winged angels guarding the entrance as well, but I failed to get the hooded Templar Knights forming the light bases on the wall. (I also stole the ceiling cupola photo and the entrance gate for your viewing pleasure.)
    About 40,000 people are buried in the valley so they say, and two within it. And this is proving to still fuel controversy. The one, Francisco Franco, buried the other, José Antonio Primo de Rivera, who founded the Falange movement and was executed in 1936 by the Republican government on the same day and month that FF did 36 years later. So every 20th Nov when a memorial Requiem mass is held for them, it turns into a Fascist Rally.
    On the other hand, there have been several limitations of site access which the Church and the Political Right Wing have claimed to be discrimination against them. Protesters also like to remind everyone that the monument is tainted by the blood of the 10% of construction workers who were Spanish Republican political prisoners.
    When one looks into though, the prisoners used in the construction came from both political sides and volunteered in order to get a reduction in their sentence.
    The irony in this, which itself fuels continuing arguments, is that whilst Franco is buried there with fresh flowers on the grave each day, he had expressed a wish to be buried in Madrid and not in the monument!    Read more

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