4 Etoiles de Pau - Dressage Day

Friday the 23 October was the first day of the 4 star event in Pau.When I wrote my blog, last year, I was contacted by Jill in New South Wales who had read it. She was visiting family in the UK this year and was very keen to visit Pau as well. We started e mailing each other and I helped her sort out flights and booked her into a hotel very close to where the event takes place.
Her flight landed at Pau at 10am and I met her there and we went straight to the event. We had a very pleasant day, alternating between watching the dressage tests in the main arena and watching the riders warm up in the practise ring. In between we had a picnic lunch and a couple of glasses of wine. Lots of chatting and we got on very well. I was very interested to hear about her life at the other side of the world.
At the end of the day Oliver Nicolson was place first, Andrew Nicolson 2nd and Dirk Schrade was 3ed. We had both been very imressed with Dirk Schrade's test. When the dressage was over I dropped Jill at the hotel and came back home after we had arranged to meet again tomorrow.

Saturday 24^th October – Cross Country Day.

I didn’t have a very early start as the 4 star cross country wasn’t due to start until 1pm. I got there about 11.30 and despite going to the paying car park I still wasn’t asked to pay any car parking charges which was a bonus! There was a considerable queue at the entry and it must have taken a good 20 minutes to get through. Once inside the park I wandered up to the restaurant area and Jill found me almost immediately. She was very pleased as she thought she had found something that she wanted to take back home with her as a souvenir of a trip to Pau. We went and had a look, at one of the tack stands, and it was indeed a good idea. It was a folding mounting block which should easily go into her case and also be very useful. After she had purchased it we went and got some water and a sandwich each and walked over to the lake complex where we had decided to spend some time watching the first few competitors. Jill’s portable mounting block came in very useful as a seat and I had my shooting stick so we were soon settled and eating our sandwiches. It was very mild and I had left coat, brolly and hat in the car but we did have a shower at some point but fortunately it didn’t last for long. In the end I was thankful that I had left everything as I didn’t have much to carry around.

Although the event was due to start at 1pm it was in fact 2pm when the first rider,Mark Kylke, came through. He is a very brave man as he has 3 horses in the event today! We watched the first few horses through the lake complex and then moved around the course staying at different fences for a while. Thankfully, although there were more people there than last year, it wasn’t too crowded and it was easy to wander around and choose which fences we wanted to see. At the end of the day Dirk Schrade was in the lead. William Fox-Pitt had a stop at one fence and Oliver Nicolson was well placed.

One of Jill’s requests was that she wanted to have a “real” French meal whilst she was here and this had cost me some sleepless nights!! What a responsibility. After much trawling around restaurant reviews I had picked the “O Gascon” in the old area of Pau and booked a table for 7pm. The cross-country finished at 5pm and we made our way to the bar tent and had a drink and looked at the results. Then back to the car and we drove into Pau. We had an hour or so to kill so Jill was able to see the castle and stroll around the old area of town before going to the restaurant. Thankfully the meal, and the wine, was good and Jill thoroughly enjoyed the gastronomic experience. It was good that I had booked as the restaurant was full by 7.30 and they were turning people away. We left about 9.30 and rushed back to the car through some pretty heavy rain and I took Jill back to the hotel and we said our goodbyes. I felt quite sad leaving her as over the last couple of days I felt that we had become good friends.

Neither of us were there for the final day as Jill had to catch a train back to Toulouse for her flight to London and I didn't feel like driving down there again.

Dirk Schrade was the eventual winner.

Thursday 24th September. Back to my Roots

I'm leaving Nigel in charge and going back to the North for 12 days.
Nigel took me to the train station in Mont de Marsan and I caught the 10am train to Bordeaux.
Shuttle to the airport from the train station and I had a snack after checking in and before boarding the 2.40pm plane for Liverpool.
It was a good flight and as we left Bordeaux I had a wonderful view of the estuary of the Gironde, Royan, the ile d'Oleron and the ile de Re. It clouded over for a while but as we flew over Devon I was able to see the moors and then the Severn estuary.
Landed safely at Liverpool and caught the bus to Lime Street train station.
Train to Leeds where Christine and David met me at 7.15pm.
Back to their home, wonderful curry, lots of chat and off to bed.
Looking forward to my holiday and seeing Steve tomorrow.

Friday 25th September.

Lots of plans were made for today and lots of plans went awry!! Firstly Christine had a call from a close friend to say that her mother (who she was nursing at home) had just died and could Christine go round. Of course she had to go so our plans for the morning were put aside. It turned out for the best really as David and I went for a lovely walk, up Hope Lane, onto the moor and up to the trig. point. Then back down the other side of Hope Hill, across to the golf club and back, down West Lane home. Many memories for me, on the moors, as I used to ride over them every week.
David had to pick up his car, later in the afternoon, from the garage so they asked if I would like to have a look at Bradford town centre. It's many, many years since I have been there and I knew that it would be different but how different it was came as a big shock. In the days, back in the 60's, when I worked there it was a prosperous town, centre of the wool trade. Now it looks neglected and forgotten and is not a nice town at all. Many towns have been regenerated but poor old Bradford looks to have been forgotten. Not a place I would choose to go back to again.
Back home we had a call from Steve to say that he would be arriving in Shipley at 5.40 so we said that we would pick him up there. This is where the next lot of plans go awry. He was to be staying with Max and Beryl (his wife's uncle and aunt) as there is not a lot of spare room at Christine and David's and we were all having a meal there on the Saturday evening. However, about half an hour before we were to pick him up Beryl rang to say that she was feeling very ill, bad cold/flu and what should we do. None of us wanted to catch anything so the meal was cancelled, Steve would stay with us and hopefully we would see her when she recovered. We picked Steve up at the station and filled him in with the new plan. He wasn't too happy about sleeping on a spare mattress in my room, he says that I snore! So he ended up sleeping in the attic. Not as bad as it sounds as there is a ladder up there, it has a floor and is boarded in and he was very comfortable up there.
Once all this was sorted out we went for my first Yorkshire treat, fish and chips at Websters cafe in the village. They were wonderful, so wonderful that I had to have a photo of them!

Saturday 26th September.

David was off at 8am to play golf. The plan was that Christine and I would drop Steve off at the golf driving range on the way to the boot sale. However, as we were having breakfast, David came back after walking off the golf course after a minor dispute with his partner! So on to plan B. David and Steve went off to the driving range and Christine and I to the boot sale at Esholt. Not very big but a lot of interesting things to look at and I bought quite a few books which are even cheaper than those in the charity shops.
Steve and I were to go to Ken and Kays for lunch. I had rung Ken to say that Steve was here and could we pop over. Ken said that he was about to go down to the butchers and should he buy a pork pie for me! How well he knows me!. A good pork pie is always a treat for me when I am back in the UK. Christine dropped me off at Ken and Kays and shortly afterwards David dropped Steve off. Their friend, Eileen, from Portugal, was there as well and we all sat down to lunch. The pork pie was one of the best I have ever had so I had to have 2 helpings. Later in the afternoon Ken dropped us back at David and Christines.

Sunday

Another boot sale day for Christine and me, this time close to Leeds/Bradford airport. David and Steve planned to play golf, Steve wants to conquer Baildon golf course which is very different to the type of courses that he normally plays on.
The boot sale was much larger than the one we went to at Esholt and there were a lot of people there. A lot of rubbish but I did buy even more books! When we left there we drove over to the Chevin to have a look at the house that Mark and family are hoping to buy. It's a nice house with a beautiful view so I hope that they are able to complete the purchase. We then went down to Otley and had a quick look round the farmers market before having a coffee and a sandwich for lunch.
Back to Baildon and the "boys". David was extremely pleased to have beaten Steve at golf, it made his day!
A lazy afternoon followed, for me at any rate, as I looked at the papers and watched the European 3 day event on TV whilst David and Christine cooked a splendid roast dinner.
Steve is off early in the morning, taxi to the station is booked for 6.15am. It has been a real bonus to have him here for the weekend.

Monday

When I spoke to my brother, Ken, and told him that I would be in Baildon he asked me if there was anywhere I would like to go. After some thought I said that I would like to go to Morecambe.
When I was a child we spent our holidays, for many years, in Morecambe. The first few times we stayed at a hotel called the Strathmore, it must have been soon after the war as I was quite young. Then my father rented a flat, on Sandylands, for a month and mum and I stayed there and dad visited at weekends. Morecambe not only had donkeys on the beach, they also had horses and I spent a lot of time leading the donkeys along the beach in return for a ride back to the stables on one of the horses. I also went to a riding school at Heysham and remember some wonderful gallops on the sands. I learned to swim in the open air pool, the lido, which was where the Miss Great Britain beauty contest was held. So I have many happy memories of the town.
Ken and Kay picked me up on Monday morning, sadly the weather didn't look too promising. We drove a very different way to the way dad used to go as the roads have now changed so much. When we got to Morecambe it was starting to drizzle. We drove north along the promenade and I was very surprised to see that the Strathmore Hotel is still there although somewhat tarted up now. We drove back to the town centre and parked close to the Midland Hotel, a beautiful art deco building that has been restored to its former glory. Sadly the rest of the town looks very sad and down at heel. It seems that the area around the Midland is the only part that has been cared for. The open air pool has gone and nearby a statue of Eric Morecambe has been erected. By now it was raining quite heavily and after a quick look at the statue, and a photo call, we got back into the car. We drove on to Heysham and found somewhere to have a pub lunch before driving back to Ken and Kays at Micklethwaite. They later dropped me back to Baildon. A somewhat sad return to the past but I am glad that I have been. There were so many memories there but I certainly do not want to return.