Fishing in the Dordogne

Unfortunately neither Jeff or myself have never fished but I will attempt to give some information on the subject here as I’m sure a lot of our guests or even potential guests will be interested in this popular past-time.  After-all our gites are ideally located if you’re looking for a base for your fishing holiday here in the Dordogne.

I would of course welcome any feedback or comments from ‘those that know’ if I have made any errors in the following information or indeed they have any snippets of useful information that would enhance this post.

Obviously I have seen many folks fishing in our rivers but this article posted in an edition of  our local press ‘Dordogne Libre‘ bought to my attention that the Trout season has recently started (10th March 2012) and it got me thinking “what other fish are in our local rivers”?

Before I go any further I will put a link to the Dordogne section of the official site ‘Fédération National pour la Pêche en France‘, an excellent site with all the information you could wish to find on Fishing in France and the Dordogne. It’s where I got most of the information for this post!

In brief our local rivers  and lakes are home to a wide range of fish including trout (truite), pike (brochet), perch (perche), black bass , salmon (saumon), carp (carpe), bream (breme) , pike perch (sandre) and roach. In fact the local federation has released  925 pounds of fish in to the waters of the region to keep them well stocked.  As I mentioned in my opening paragraph our gites are just 2.5 km from the beautiful river ‘La Dronne’ but we also have on our doorstep (well, almost) L’Isle and La Vézère,  You can find all these and more on this great interactive map on this link! We are also quite near to some well stocked picturesque lakes (lacs) including the gorgeous lake at La Jemaye (28 km), Saint-Estèphe (54 km) and Rouffiac (78 km).

Fishing season depends on whether the rivers and lakes are classed as category 1 or 2, you will find this information on the site.

The Fishing licence or ‘Carte de Pêche / Permis de Pêche’ are available from tabacs and other local outlets or can even be purchased on line direct from cartedepeche.fr The costs are: €65 for an adult, €20 for 12 to 18 year olds and €4 for under 12s.  The permit gives membership to one of the 65 clubs in the department who organise fishing events and competitions.

Where’s me rod… After looking at all this ‘fishing information’ I can understand the attraction and wouldn’t mind having a go at fishing myself.  Think I’ll have to find someone local who wouldn’t mind teaching me… Any takers?

Although I’ve put  a link to the ‘official beautiful villages’ website above, I had better point out that Saint Yrieix (pronounced Saint ear-ee-a) is not in fact officially listed on the site!  But, it definitely should be in my opinion!

It’s a shame that the weather was a bit grim the day we visited this village – quite warm for this time of year but drizzly and grey.  Still, it didn’t dampen our enthusiasm , even when we realised that we had actually been before, ironically also in the winter time when it was bitterly cold.  On that occasion we were not impressed with what we’d seen but unbeknown to us we’d completely missed the best parts; including the medieval quarter.  This time we were recommended the visit by a family visitor,  who wanted us to accompany him on a reminiscing trip after visiting St Yrieix over 30 years before in 1982. He persuaded me when he mentioned a visit to a factory shop at the Madeleine cake factory!

We set the Sat Nav knowing it would take us via ‘a scenic route’ (it’s a long story that I’ll tell you about in another post) as we were in no rush and just out for a nice ‘day out’.  The journey took about an hour and half and we’d planned our ETA for lunchtime. So, that was our first port of call.  We quickly found a lovely little restaurant ‘La Bonne Cave‘.  We checked that the staff were happy for our dog ‘Ruben’ to come inside the resto with us – fortunately the French are very ‘dog friendly’ and settled down for some traditional French fare.  We ordered the Menu de jour and at just 10,50 € I should have realised it would be a gamble.  I couldn’t believe it when the waitress placed the plate of Andouillette sausage in front of me for the Plat de jour.  Have you ever tried Andouillette sausage?  I ordered it by mistake when we first moved to the Dordogne 8 years ago and swore it would be the first and last time.  Just google it, there are some interesting sites about this stinky regional delicacy.  I dare you (if you’ve never tried it) to eat it!!!  Feeling brave I hovered my nose over it and was surprised not to find any repulsive smells being emitted, it actually smelled quite pleasant – perhaps I was just really hungry.  I broke the sausage open and the meat spilled out onto my plate like gutting a pig… no going back now! I pushed some onto my fork and tried it…  It was actually ok.  Surprised at my own courage I took a decent slug from my verre du vin rouge and went in for a second go. It actually got better the more I ate and I managed to finish it off although, I have to confess to not eating the skin.  Whether it was the vin rouge or, I’ve just got accustomed to French cuisine I’m not sure, but, I still don’t think I’d knowingly order Andouillette again in a hurry!

Moving on, we paid the bill and left.  It was now after 2.30pm, the shops were all open again but we first went for a saunter around the medieval quarter and the Romanesque church, I took a few photos but they really do not show it at its best so have not added them to the post.  We’ll come back in the Spring or Summer and take lots of photos then.  There were quite a few quaint touristy shops to browse around as well as the porcelain factory shops (after all we are in the Limousin region, famous for it’s porcelain).   I was in my element… unfortunately it’s a bad time of year for us (all our fiscal obligations arrive at once: Taxe d’habitation, Taxe Fonciéres, Taxe de Sejour and Taxe Sociaux) so I have to be frugal with the purse strings: even that gorgeous hand knitted hat set that I’d die for in a chapeauxerie (hat shop). C’est la vie!

Having ‘window shopped-out’ we made our way back to the car and headed off to find the Madeleine cake factory shop.  It was actually on the road heading home (D704) about 3.5km outside of the village.  All my good intentions went out the window and I exited the shop 15 € lighter with a bag of goodies that will no doubt be devoured within the week.

We’ll definitely be putting a date in my diary for another visit next summer – Bonne Idea!

We’re making the most of this beautiful Autumnal weather this weekend and yesterday (Saturday 15th October) went for a leisurely walk around the lake at La Jemaye.  The temperature peaked at around 27ºC in the afternoon which caught me out as I’d put a jumper on… I felt a little ‘out of place’ as the sun had bought out a lot of other promenaders who were all sensibly dressed in summer T-shirts.  Our intention was to walk the whole perimeter of the lake but about half way around their was an ‘Interdit’ sign across what looked like the obvious path.  It felt wrong but we followed the direction and it promptly took us back the way we’d come… Oh well, never mind, it’s a good excuse to come back next week, ignore the sign and try to get all around the lake in one go. Only thing is, you can bet your bottom dollar it’ll not be half as nice as today’s been!

Oh and just in case you’re wondering what the green drink is in the glass in the last photo, it’s a ‘Perrier Menthe‘… Most refreshing, and I’ve become quite addicted to them!

Wednesday 10 August 2011 – It’s a beautiful ‘hot August night’ and we head in to Perigueux for the infamous ‘Juillet et Aout Marché de Nuit’.  I say “infamous” because for the last 2 weeks it’s been cancelled due to appalling weather here.  In fact last Wednesday (3rd August 2011) was pretty grey and dismal all day (not at all typical for August) and then at about 6.30 pm the heavens opened with what can only be described as monsoon like rainfall (it was so heavy we couldn’t see the gites from our house – about 10 meters).  We’ve seen our fair share of storms (or orages as they’re called in France) since living here and as spectacular as they are with the almost non-stop lightening and thunder we’ve never known one this bad.  Our gîte guests thought it was quite entertaining if somewhat scary but seeing the write-up the next day in the local newspaper, the ‘Sud-Ouest‘, it would appear we got off quite lightly with just a flooded kitchen!

Hitherto, back to the main subject of this post – the Marché de nuit!  We had a lovely time strolling around the cobbled streets of the Centre Historique in Perigueux.  It’s not very often we come into the city during the evening, everything looks so different, the ornate street lights highlighting the traditional yellow stone of the buildings and all the pretty lights of the market traders making it all so inviting. It is the busiest time of year for tourism and they all seem to have descended on Perigueux this evening.  The place is buzzing with a great atmosphere and everyone seems to be smiling and having a good time.  We stop-off  for a coffee a catch the marching jazz band ‘Le Grand Ordinaire‘ warming up at the next table.  I have taken a video which I posted on my FaceBook page – you can watch it by clicking this link!

Le Grand Ordinaire

We spend a good couple of hours mooching around the market and the lively ‘old centre’ before heading back to the main high street and a short walk to the car which we’ve parked on the car park at the Allée de Tourny at the top of the town near the Préfecture building.

Blvd Michel Montaigne, looking south

Blvd M. Montaigne, looking north

It suddenly struck, me as we strolled along the high street ”what a complete contrast’ it is here to the streets of some UK cities this evening.  The news we’d been watching on TV about the riots and looting in London and Birmingham etc.  Seeing our familiar ‘old towns’ being destroyed was shocking and upsetting and made me realise just how peaceful Perigueux was tonight.  I know France has had it’s own share of social problems with the Paris riots back in 2005, I just hope it never happens here!

Anyway, If you’re thinking of holidaying in the Dordogne you really must try to get to Perigueux during the Marché de Nuit season – Every Wednesday evening during July and August (weather permitting) from 8.30 pm to midnight in the Centre Historique!

It’s funny but when choosing which village or town to visit we obviously try to pick one we haven’t been to before.  Montignac, like many of these ‘hidden-gems’ we discover on arrival, is in-fact somewhere we have been before, albeit, if only passing through.  It’s starting to become a  joke between us… I guess we should be thankful that at least we can remember and that one of us isn’t starting to suffer from Alzheimer’s.  I have thought of that though and realised I can always refer back to my blog in the future to remind ourselves of where we have and haven’t visited yet!

Montignac is approximately an hour and a half from La Treille Gites and according to via michelin 97km (60 miles).  The town straddles the River Vézère, has lots of cafés, bars and restaurants but the main attraction of the town is that it is home to the world famous Lascaux caves.  I’m ashamed to say that we have not yet visited the caves due to them being a replica which has put me off and today was just a reccy visit with Ruben in tow.  One of these days I will go as according to this write-up they are pretty spectacular – even if they aren’t the original!  There was a lot of publicity around the town advertising the Festival of folklore that starts next week… another reason to make a return visit!  It was a good time to visit as the town was adorned with thousands of garlands of hand-made flower buntings draped across the streets, shop door and windows (I’ve spent many an hour myself making similar garlands for our own village festivals).  We had a promenade along the river and then headed into the ‘Vieux Quartiers’  and the ‘Circuit Historique’ to check-out the old town.  Lovely narrow cobbled streets with rickety ancient village houses again all adorned with the obligatory colourful plastic flowers. We even came across an ancient CV that looked like it hadn’t moved for decades in an overgrown back yard… I bet a few passers by would love to have a go at restoring it!

I’m sure there’s so much more to see around the town of Montignac that I’m sure we’ll be making another trip soon!

If you have time you may want to head back up the D704, turn right onto the D6089 and pop into Terrason which is also a very pretty town well worth a visit.  We made a visit to Terrasson in July 2009, you can read my blog about that too if you want!

I received an email this morning from the on-line version of the Connexion Newspaper (ex-pat journal) with a link to an interesting article that struck a chord with me.  From my previous posts you’ve probably realised that I’ve been having a bit of a battle with our local tourism board regarding registered our gites but also I’ve never been very impressed with their approach to promoting local tourism in this area… it’s obviously a nationwide problem with the whole of France according to this article.

Having a quick look through the site it’s early days but there appears to be quite easy to navigate.  Obviously Paris  is featured prominently but Aquitaine is there too, I found it by clicking the ‘Discover France‘ tab and then clicking on the section of the map with Bordeaux highlighted.  There isn’t too much info about the Dordogne yet although the Cathedral at Perigueux does get a mention.

There’s a Facebook fan page link on the site that I’ve clicked and you can too if you want to keep up-to-date with what’s happening with the site.

We’ll be keeping an eye on this site to see if it improves or gets left by the wayside.

Probably the main attraction of Aubeterre is the monolithic and subterranean church of St Jean – carved out of the white rock with excavations going back to the fifth century, the inside is enormous with a ceiling height reaching up to 20 meters at its highest. A must see!

Entrance and ticket office to St Jean

The alter inside the troglodyte church

Looking-up inside the subterranean church

As well this amazing site the village itself has justifiably earned it’s place amongst les plus beaux villages de france with it’s pretty white stone houses with wooden balconies nestled into the hillside above the River Dronne and a hidden-away shady village square where the busy café’s and bars jostle with each other for terrace space.

Lunch at a shady terrace café at Aubeterre

Wooden balconies on white stone houses

The colourful pretty streets of Aubeterre

After visiting the village and it’s church you may want to head down to the River Dronne and it’s very impressive beach to cool off and bath in the cool waters…

White sandy beach at Aubeterre sur Dronne

A game of volleyball on the sandy beach

Here’s a couple of great links to interesting sites for more information about Aubeterre… http://www.northofthedordogne.com/aubeterre.php

http://www.aubeterresurdronne.com/pages/fr/a-voir/l-eglise-souterraine.php

Although Aubeterre is in the south of the Charente region it is only 20 miles from La Treille making it an ideal day-out ‘not too far from base’  in the direction of Riberac.  Here are the directions via michelin website!

Floralies in full bloom at Saint Jean de Côle

St Jean de Cole is listed as one of  ‘The Most Beautiful Villages in France’

We finally made it… seven years it’s taken us to make the pilgrimage to this annual flower festival and WOW what a show!!!   The weather was perfect, gorgeous blue skies with just a few fluffy white clouds giving the occasional welcome shade.  Actually we nearly didn’t make it, It wasn’t until about 11am this morning that I suddenly remembered that it was being held this weekend.  Fortunately we had no other plans so we packed Ruben (the mutt)  into the car, made sure I had some cash in my purse (sure to buy something, right) and got off.   The pretty village  St Jean de Côle is approx 45km NE from La Treille and a pleasant drive through the villages of Bourdeilles and Brantome.  It’s actually listed on the prestigious ‘Les plus beaux villages de France‘ list (The most beautiful villages of France) due to it’s ochre walled houses, the medieval bridge spanning the river Côle and the beautiful Chateau Marthonie. You would be impressed if you were to visit the village at any time of the year but if you are lucky enough to be in the Dordogne during the 2nd weekend in May you should definitely put this village on the top of your list of ‘places to visit‘. Here’s a few photo’s I took during the couple of charming hours we spent there.  Just click on any of the pictures to enlarge them!

Floralies entrance

Chateau Marthonie

Flowers everywhere!

Chateau Marthonie

Pretty flowers everywhere!

As you can imagine it was quite a popular Floralies this year due to the gorgeous weather (the previous

Place Saint Jean

2 years may have been less so due to poor weather – one of the reasons we put off coming before).  We strolled through the village, stopping for a coffee on the way.  At the far end of the village we arrived at the medieval cobbled bridge that crossed the River Côle.  It was picture perfect and the lady seated at her easel in the middle of the bridge painting the village scene was lovely.

A riot of colour

The pretty place Saint Jean

Just a small selection of Geraniums

The Medieval Bridge

The Bridge

Jeff & Ruben cross the bridge

Lady Painter on the Bridge

There were quite a few visitors with dogs (all well behaved and all on leads) and some were letting them have a paddle in the river.  How could we deny him???  So, with Ruben now refreshed and happy having made some new doggy friends we retraced our steps back across the bridge and back through the village, stopping on the way to buy a very tasty ice cream cone.  We of course had to buy a couple of plants (who could resist with such choice on offer) and I opted for a small raspberry fruit bush (my favourite fruite) and a flowering shrub. I’m rubbish when it comes to plants and should have chosen one with the label on so I would know what I have.  I’ve just spent about 20 minutes going through my Gardening Encyclopedia’s trying to identify it but it’s impossible… there’s sooooo many , they all look the same so I’m sorry I can’t tell you what it is but here’s a couple of pictures of it…

Un-identified shrub

Close-up of the shrub

If anyone out there knows what it is please put me out of my misery and let me know?

An ornamental snail

There were quite a few other alternative stalls selling antiques, arts & crafts and exquisite hand made jewellery.

Antiques andobjects of art

My treat

I treated myself to this pretty blue bead bracelet and matching earrings.  They were made on the spot by ARABELLA from Villeneuve sur Lot.  Apparently she has a stall here every year. Which sounds like a good excuse to me, to comeback next year for the matching necklace!

I’m really pleased we finally made it to the Floralies and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting the Dordogne region.  It’s just another great reason to visit this area of France and see all that it’s got to offer.

Don’t forget if you’re looking for great accommodation that’s central for all the of attractions of the Perigord Vert in the Beautiful and scenic Dordogne choose ‘La Treille Gites‘ and you will not be disappointed!

See you soon hopefully!

Chancelade is a little village that we sometimes pass through (depending upon which route we take) on the way to Perigueux.  We’ve never actually stopped to look around Chancelade, always assuming it’s just a uninteresting suburb of Perigueux and ‘there’s nothing much there’.  Perhaps it’s because it’s winter time and the tree’s are pretty bare but passing through it last week I happened to glance to my left and through the tree’s lining the road noticed what looked like a lawned picnic area in a picturesque valley.

We took Ruben with us, parked-up opposite the Hotel de Ville and following signs for the Abbey strolled down to the find this elusive ‘picnic area’.   Actually it was a lovely peaceful remembrance garden with it’s own small charming white stone chapel, a cenotaph with several plaque’s listing the fallen from both World Wars and the Guerre d’Algerie 1954-1962 as well as a ‘Tree of Liberty’ that was planted in 1989 to mark to Bicentenary of the French Revolution.

Chapel and Gardens

Cenotaph at Chancelade

Arbre de la Liberte

The door of the chapel was open so I had a peep in, it was quite sparse with just 2 rows of pews but lovely and bright considering there were only 3 narrow windows at the far end.

Chapel Interior

Across the road from the garden is what I guess is the main attraction of Chancelade…

L’Abbaye de Chancelade I’ve linked to a site with lots of photo’s and information in both French and English so will not try to pretend I know anything about the building.  It was quite enough today for us to just be here enjoying having a stroll around the quaint gardens in the fresh air and enjoy the warmth of this early Spring sunshine.  The Abbey is only fully open to the public during July and August.

Lavoir at Chancelade Abbey

Abbey Gardens in the Sunshine

Abbey garden wall

I love a surprise and wasn’t disappointed with the interior of the Abbey.  Fortunately the main doors were open so I stepped inside and walked down a set of wide steps towards the alter.

Just inside the entrance to the left was a rickety set of wooden stairs leading to who knows where…

Looking back half way down the alter I discovered where the stairs led to…

Staircase inside the Abbey

Gorgeous balcany

This absolutely gorgeous balcony overlooking the aisle and alter down below.  Above was an amazing vaulted ceiling…

I would just love to attend a wedding in this Abbey – it would be perfect! The alter area was equally lovely and not too over ornate as some churches can be.

Abbey Interior

Think we’ll definitely be coming back in July or August to discover what else the Abbey has to offer.

Carnaval Poster

On the way out of the village was a poster announcing the upcoming annual Carnival being held next Friday (11th March) and starting at 15h45 precisely…  Another sign that Spring is definately well on it’s way to the Dordogne!!!

Bidart, Pyrenees Atlantiques, France

A couple of weeks ago we said goodbye to our last gite guests of 2010 and within a couple of days were heading off for a well deserved break of our own.  When we eventually move on from La Treille we need to decide and find where we’d like to live next.  To be honest we’ve absolutely no idea where we’d like to go… except for an inkling that to live by the seaside might be nice.  So, with that in the back of our minds we’re off on a kind of reccying mission to find a new ‘home town’.  Although we have put La Treille on the market we haven’t actually sold yet so it’s absolutely pointless us looking at property at this stage.  Also watching other ‘gite complexes for sale’ in France I’ve a feeling it’s going to take some time, perhaps even a couple of years to sell, especially as we are in no rush and will not be dropping our price to bag a sale.

After just three and a half hours we arrived in St Jean de Luz in the Pyrenees Atlantiques.  We probably not doing it justice but our immediate impression was that it appeared a little grubby.  We moved quite quickly and drove up the coastal road to Bidart – now this we did like!  Unfortunately for us it is a very hilly commune and although this added to it’s charm it was a no no for us.  We have a list of what we do and don’t want for our new town and hills are definitely not on it.  Anyway, we spent a couple of ours having a nosey around and as we drove away I was looking back with tinge of sadness that it wasn’t to be. Here’s a few snaps of Bidart…

The Beach at Bidart

Bidart seaside village

Hilltop walk at Bidart

Driving north up the coast we next came to Biarritz… a hustling bustling town that’s quite busy even at this time of year (early October).  There were even a couple of surfers braving the chilly sea.  I love Biarritz.  I’ve only been once before, about 5 years ago me and my mum stopped off here during a booze run to the Spanish frontier & duty free town at Irun.  Property here is ‘tres cher’ so we weren’t kidding ourselves that this was a possability but it was nice to have a look around and browse in the many touristy boutiques and well known department store ‘Galeries Lafayette’.

The beach at Biarritz

Beach & Promenade at Biarritz

It reminded me of Brighton with it’s art deco styled buildings and narrow little shopping streets.

I’m sorry the photo’s aren’t too good, there’s a new camera on my Christmas list this year!

River Nive at Bayonne

We stayed at Biarritz for a couple of nights and then moved on to Bayonne. Bayonne is a town divided by the rivers Nive and Adour.  It is made up of Grande Bayonne and Petite Bayonne (divided by the river Nive).

There’s a very impressive Gothic style Cathedral ‘Cathedral Saint-Marie’ that we spent an hour or so strolling around.  I think this will be a new pastime for us in the future.  We’ve both recently read the wonderful novel ‘Pillars of the Earth‘ by Ken Follett and have become quite interested in church architecture.  The stained glass windows, ceilings and cloisters in this cathedral were pretty amazing…

The Twin Spires of Cathedral Saint-Marie

Just one of the stained glass at Saint-Marie

Interior of the Cathedral Saint-Marie

Close-up of the vaulting

The Cloisters at Saint-Marie

The beautiful cloisters at Saint-Marie

I’d also read about an interesting art museum at Bayonne featuring many classical artists.  The Bonnat Museum is sited in Petit Bayonne, I dragged Jeff along for a bit of culture. Unfortunately for us the top 2 floors were closed off to the general public for Restoration works which left just mostly the Bayonne artists paintings to look at – interesting but not quite what I was looking forward to.   It’s one of the largest art galleries in southern France so I was quite disappointed.

Le Musee Bonnat

Leaving Bayonne we made our way up to Capbreton.  This was our favourite seaside town in the Landes department and I know I said we wouldn’t be looking at property but we couldn’t resist looking in a couple of estate agents windows.  We even stepped into one and asked the assistant if it would be possible to buy a property in this commune with the budget we thought we’d likely have… he gave the Gallic shrug and said, quite smugly “most unlikely”.  We walked out feeling like we shouldn’t even have had the gall to ask and feeling quite low although I kind of knew that would be the answer.   Anyway, it had a lovely centre ville that was just being re-vamped with new paving, a beautiful sandy beach, huge marina and much more.   I didn’t take any photo’s, probably because I was feeling rejected still by the estate agents rebuke and thoroughly regret that now as it was quite a lovely place and we’d definitely go back there,  if only for a holiday.  Here’s a couple of pictures I found on Google…

Capbreton

Capbreton Centre Ville

Moving on again we drove all the way up the coast to Biscarrosse.  I’m sure there were quite a few more sea side towns in between Capbreton and Biscarrosse but they were all starting to look the same.  We decided to try to get to Biscarrosse before nightfall.   Biscarrosse just happens to be the nearest seaside beach resort to La Treille and for some reason we’ve never been there…It didn’t take us long to make-up our minds that we didn’t like it at all… it was all too ‘open’ and not enough character for us.  We were that disappointed we stayed for a quick coffee and within half an hour were back on the road.

Next stop Arcachon.  We’ve done ‘the dune’ before so made our way directly to Centre Ville where we quickly found a hotel for the night. Oh just in case you were wondering what I meant by ‘the dune’ – The dune du pilat is the biggest sand dune in Europe – check out the link for some amazing photo’s!  The next morning we had a stroll around the centre ville for a spot of retail therapy and were just contemplating whether to stay another night of leave for home when Jeff suggested we hop on a ferry and short-cut across the bay to the Charente  to have another look at Fouras… why not I thought!

Fouras is a pretty seaside town on a peninsular about half an hour south of La Rochelle.  It has it’s own fort ‘FortVauban’ and has five different beaches surrounding the town.  It has a proper ‘seaside community’ feel to it and when we first discovered it last April we both immediately felt at home here and promised we’d come back to investigate further.  The only thing is I thought that perhaps it would be a bit warmer the next time we came, oh well. We booked into the Hotel La Roseraie for 2 nights and spent the next couple of days exploring every inch of the commune.  It really is lovely and I’m sure this would be the place we’d choose to live when we eventually move on from La Treille.

We left Fouras and headed for home.  I can’t say that this has been a relaxing holiday but definitely very interesting and at least we’ve eliminated quite a few places we definitely wouldn’t want to live.  Having been back home a couple of weeks and reflected on what we learnt I for one am still very unsettled as to where exactly we’ll end-up.  I think the best thing I can do is to not worry about it until we’ve sold, after all it could take years!