Travel
The ombragère (sun shade) is a cool and welcome escape from the full strength of the Mediterranean sun toasting tourists enjoying the Vieux Port of Marseille. The underside is mirrored, giving an unusual persepective. Also known as l'Ombrière.
A trip in the Quantock Hills and Exmoor, checking out the Black Cat route from Dunster (near Minehead) down to Tiverton, known as one of the top fifty bike routes in the UK. The Black Cat road is in good shape, it gets its name from the garage and cafe at the side of the road near Bampton; I'm looking to make an opportunity to ride it after the 2016 GLME Ascension bike camp, based in Salisbury.
Touring the Malvern Hills in a brand new Audi A1 hire car, just 17 miles on the clock when I received it. “Two wheels good, four wheels bad” (to misquote Animal Farm), but fun to drive on interesting roads, mostly clear of other traffic and with fine views of the Malvern Hills; the A1 was pretty good for the drive back on the motorways too.
Market day in Forcalquier in the square in front of the Concathédrale Notre Dame du Bourguet de Forcalquier in Provence; the trees revealing the solid 12th century architecture, so different to the graceful arcitecture of cathedrals from the north of France of the same period. It's easy to imagine the cathdral doubling as a fortress.
Zootermeer is a new town constructed on top of an old farming village between Den Haag, Gouda, Leiden and Rotterdam in The Netherlands. It’s almost the definitive South Holland suburbia, typical in that much of the land on which the estates have been built is 5m or more below the level of the North Sea. This situation is maintained by continuously pumping water up to the canals and dykes. The rectilinear style of late twentieth century urban architecture predominates in various configurations; circular features are extremely rare and just placing another square element at 45 degrees to the grid appears rebel!
