30.12 Day 105 . . . To Craig & Kate’s

We got up relatively early this morning. Teresa had decided to make use of the bath in our room, as we’ve not got one at our home. I convinced her to take her time, as there was no rush and to have a lovely deep bath. Next time I decide to be charming and caring, I need to have a word with myself - as when I had a very very ice cold shower due to no hot water, I was a little upset with my decision making!
We said good bye to the very helpful staff at reception and drive from Pau, deciding to visit Tarbes on route to Craig and Kate’s.
I immediately took the wrong turn and got onto the toll road - only for one junction, but none the less Teresa found it amusing 🤨
On our way to Tarbes the mountains looked lovely ahead of us and round to the west. Still not a lot of snow up there though. We grabbed some photos on the move, but they never do justice to the view your eyes take in. At one point there was a lot of mist swirling around the lower slopes and the low lying fields. In amongst this we saw a stunning church just poking out of the mist - so we decided to go and have a closer look and to get a stunning photo. Well the stunning photo never happened as the mist is apparent from a distance but not close up and also the church - on arrival in Ibos, the village in which it was - was not the most picturesque. It was very square and angular, certainly not as we had seen it from some distance. Eglise Saint-Laurent is not one we will return to.
Tarbes - well Tarbes was a disappointment, either we were not in the right part of the town or it wasn’t that brilliant. As a result we didn’t even stop, after a drive around what we thought was the centre - we headed out.
Not far out of Tarbes we stopped to grab some breakfast at a roadside patisserie. The young lady within was obviously amused at our English chatter to each other before we ordered - as when we hit the counter she put on her best over the top London accent (with a French twist) and exclaimed ‘Milk and Sugar’ and cracked herself up laughing. It was quite funny - she was a real character.
After grabbing drinks and some cash from across the road, we started to head east towards Craig and Kate’s. We passed through Vic En Bigorre, on towards Maubourguet and then skirted Auriébat Tre mentioned she had never been to Marciac, famed for it jazz festivals and so we made a detour on route to swing through. A great emphasis is placed on jazz in the town, which is taught as a regular subject in local schools. The town itself is known for its annual Jazz in Marciac festival, held for a fortnight in August. A marquee ("le chapiteau") capable of seating 6,000 is erected on the rugby field, with concerts hosted there every night for the duration of the festival, and free music from 11:00 till 20:00 every day. Stalls selling a variety of related and non-related merchandise are erected in and around the centre of the village square, where free concerts are given during the day. Other musical events take place around the town at the same time, such as the "Atelier de Jazz".
After a brief stop in Marciac to admire the square we headed on to Craig and Kate’s arriving about 3pm in Castelnavet.
After a couple of glasses of something we headed out early evening. Craig had booked us into a pizzeria in Nogaro - Pizzeria Chez Quentin. We had a fab evening and the food was lovely.
Back at Castelnavet we sat and chatted until stupid o’clock, before realising we had a fairly busy day tomorrow setting up for New Year and most likely a very late night.Lue lisää