The gîte for our stay for the Camp des Baous was in St. Jeannet in the Alpes Maritimes, resting on a ledge underneath limestone cliffs. Panoramic views to the coast below but high enough to be slightly out of the heat and the bustle. The town calls itself Porte des Baous (gateway to the Baous), Baou seems to refer to both the limestone cliffs and the numerous frogs who inhabit the fields below and were singing loudly in the evening sunshine... The cliffs have an appearance like the snout of a sitting frog, so maybe that’s the origin of the word. It could also be that Baou is a slang word for the people who live underneath Baous (meaning cliff). There’s a climbing school and numerous gîtes, despite the locals seemed to welcome us and our club’s booking.

My day trip to MediaCityUK started bright and early at London’s Euston station; but inside the building, I faced the onslaught of grey and harrowed faces on the commuters hurrying importantly off trains arriving in the capital.

Once on the train, the countryside flashed past outside; bright clear sunshine revealing fields at last showing the welcome colours of a spring to end this seemingly interminable winter. Going north, it was still spring in the Trent valley but once through the tunnel to Macclesfield, much less of the green glow of new growth on trees and crops. Splendid views from the railway viaduct at Stockport of the town below and now no snow on the Pennine hills far away, unlike just ten days ago on my trip to the Lake District.
Change from fast train to urban tram at Manchester Piccadilly; the sunshine persisted, showing Manchester’s dour red brickwork at its best. Manchester's Metrolink tram ground and bimbled its way out from Piccadilly towards MediaCityUK at Salford Quays.
The tram arrived at the terminus with the sun still shining: MediaCityUK in spring sunshine! The statue of Petra the dog, the first television pet on UK television, surveys the Blue Peter garden, heathers flowering for the first full spring since the Blue Peter garden was relocated from BBC Television Centre in West London.
And so to work in the new buildings of BBC North. Compare with the bleak views of my previous trip to MediaCentreUK in May 2011.

Brilliant clear spring light in Provence: Arles, Alpilles and Marseille in spring sunshine; plus clear roads for sporty motorcycling.

Sights from Marseille this chilly February weekend. New paving around the Vieux Port, complete with sculpture installations of animals representing the South, all facing away from the Mediterranean. The impression is that Africa and the South start here at the Marseille waterline.
Good surf at the beaches of Pointe Rouge in the bitter wind that brought much snow inland. Despite the clean-up, and the Petit Train Touristique, someone finds a use for the art installation as a place to sleep. The clean-up has resulted in a new sport: watching the sunset across the water of the Vieux Port, the waterline not much changed from the time of the Phoenician sailors trading with the port then known as Massalia.