Carolyn Tuthill reports:
Tuesday 1st June , a new month – a new adventure. Four of us arrived at Gatwick, Ingrid, Sue Ross & myself, chauffeured by Tony Riches complete with hat! Where we met up with Sonia & Ray from Adur bound for Montpellier to take part in BBC13 – The Fanny Tour.
First obstacle – huge queues at Gatwick, however passengers for Montpellier were called out and fast tracked through check in & security to enable us to board our plane on time. Left Gatwick in 15C (or less) arrived Montpellier in 25C+ and sunshine – result!!
Arrived campsite 6.45pm met by Jeff & Janet Fox and Bob & Coral Callard welcomed by John & Janet Price and many others whom we had met before. After we had been issued with our new white polo shirts which you will be seeing us wearing on the piste!
We joined everyone for a welcome buffet at John & Janet’s Chalet, where we were debriefed as to what was planned for the next 10 days.
Wednesday 2nd June – woke up to clear blue skies and warm temperatures. Joined Sonia my chalet companion, for tea on the balcony awaiting the arrival of croissants for breakfast (brought along by Ingrid from the shop!).
After a lazy morning, we went off to Portrignes which was a new venue for our first matches, after some good games with the local club, they entertained us magnificently to a feast of paella and copious amounts of wine – we even came back with three bottles of wine each!
Thursday 3rd June – today we are having a melee at the campsite terrain, so we can enjoy a leisurely morning followed by fierce competition amongst some 40+ players from all parts of the UK We were delighted that Sue Ross managed to get into the semi finals. Unfortunately she came up against Pauline from Oxshott, whom many of you will know, who beat her 13-12 in the closest of games.
Friday 4th June – Off to Serignan to experience a traditional French Market. Then on to the local market at Valras which was much bigger so we were able to buy quite a lot of the local tat!
After lunch we went off to Lespignan where Sonia & I were at last able to play together and managed to win two out of our three games before enjoying another French feast in the grounds of a sadly rather neglected, but once magnificent, town house which we would all like to buy! Between us we managed to win 4 bottles of wine in the raffle which is more than we could manage on the piste!
It has been lovely to become reacquainted with old friends, especially Daniel who gave us the lovely plaque last year which is now hanging in the Foresters. He was proudly wearing his Amities shirt which was sent to him after our return last year. He had been looking forward to seeing Benny & Margaretha, so he was disappointed they were not with us. However it encouraged us to communicate with him in our very rusty French! He sends warm regards to all who know him, and has taken many photographs, which we hope he will send us in the fullness of time.
I must mention that for the last 3 days (almost since the beginning of our trip) Bob Callard had been wearing a “fanny” medal. It is traditional that this medal be worn
when you are fannied, to be passed on to the next fannied player! Unfortunately for Bob – nobody had owned up to being fannied and he is still wearing the medal – soon Coral will have to start polishing it!
Saturday 5th June – Another sunny day – we played in the afternoon here at the terrain entertaining over 40 players from Valras – the nearest local club. Personally I went from the sublime to the ridiculous, playing first with the local champion and securing an easy win and ending up with a holidaymaker from near Paris who was staying on the campsite – this was destined to end in tears – he WAS playing with leisure boules!
No places in the final for any of us this time, but we went on to spend a very happily evening with our French quests for a meal followed by a disco. One good thing – Bob has managed to pass on the fanny medal!
Sunday 6th June - No boules today, instead Jeff & Janet Fox kindly took Sonia & me with Ray to Carcassonne. After driving through heavy rain we finally got to the beautiful old town where we spent the afternoon browsing round the shops after a great lunch in one of the restaurants. (the rain had stopped by the time we arrived) leaving a perfect temperature for exploring. On our return to Valras, we went to have a BBQ with Mary & Mike Sheppard (Southern Counties players whom some of you will know). After this Sonia & I came back to our little chalet and played rummi-cub again!
Monday 7th June – again free morning then off the Serignon to play the local team Had good games 2 of us and 1 French man playing in triples – I played with Ron from Oxshott and our Frenchman let us down by shooting when he should have pointed in for game losing us a place in the finals.
However Sue Ross was on the opposing team (who beat us 13-11) and went on to win 13-1 in the final. She will be bringing home a big cup! Her French team mate commiserated with me by giving me his trophy – so I too have something to bring home! We ended the day with Boeuf en daube en plein aire on the boules terrain – tables and chairs were provided!
Tuesday 8th June – another free morning followed by a doubles competition here at the campsite – this was eventually won by 2 Frenchmen whom Sonia and I had beaten 13-6.
Strange or what! All to do with how many wins and points for and against. Sue’s luck ran out and she is now wearing a “fanny” medal.
Wednesday 9th June – in the afternoon we went to play not too far away with the club at Valras. 1 French & 1 UK against each other. Twice I played against Sonia – managed 3 wins out of 4 and +3 not good enough. We all got a bottle of wine and Sue compounded her losing streak by picking up another fanny medal! After the evening meal we had Karioke – Sonia was in her element although most of us had a go!
Thursday 10th June – Feeling very fragile today! Decided I could not play in the singles this afternoon however this cleared the way for Sonia to reach the final where she played against the local stud Claude! (She did suggest he should be her prize). Unfortunately she was narrowly beaten by him but with true gallic chivalry later in the evening she was awarded the trophy which you will see on display!
Friday 11th June – Well it’s over – very emotional goodbyes to all our friends and looking forward to next year.
Footnote: Ingrid, Sue, Sonia & I had to open our cases at Montpellier Airport and ditch what we could as we were all overweight! All the silverware you see.
Hope you enjoyed reading of our exploits – lol Carolyn
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