Toulousers. 20 July 2026

Toulouse and another day. 20 July 2026. Pictures to follow or on facebook

Waking up itchy from last nights bites accumulated from the river. So worth it and … itchy.

Today the plans changed. Instead of Carcassonne trip by train we stay another free day in Toulouse and tomorrow to Carcassonne.

Five of us concoct a last minute plan to rent a small car and go for a swim – somewhere out of town. It takes a while to coordinate the rental. We are determined to make the dream come true on this free day.

Heading out on the open road in our electric car we agree on a name for our brave group. We are “Tou- lousers”

A little play on words we use all day. We hear the sounds of the song from Queen … “no time Toulosers – we are the champions of the world “. We can do anything!! This is a freedom road trip.

One of my favourite sites in France is rows and rows of Plane trees lining the sides of the roadways. I take another hundred pictures out the windshield with my iPhone.

OMG fields and fields of golden heads – Sunflowers looking down from the harsh sun and clear blue sky. Nestled in their green rows we were almost speechless at the abundant display of beauty. Perfection

Each suggesting musical preferences that we could all enjoy, through Spotify we enjoyed classics including Joni Mitchell and we burst into song and memory.

A necessary stop to turn around seemed a great opportunity to photograph sunflowers up close and find a sheltered field to P

We drive through small town of Castres. And stop. Photos of the River. Bridge. Baby ducks. Fountains

Monday everything closed. I have been here before, I recall. I think we had a picnic lunch here?

Singing along with Bohemian rhapsody through roundabouts, sometimes twice as we missed our off turn. Haha. Laughter and happy voices filled our car. Joy and freedom through small towns and backroads in south of France.

Miles of rich green lushious vineyards. We find a rest stop and talk to some horses. Canals, bridges, rolling hills, terra cotta rooftops, little charming stone buildings nestled in quaint communities.

We are determined with goal set to swim in the Mediterranean. We arrive at Valras Plage and park in a spot with with charger for our electric car. A mere block from the sandy vacation spot.

The beach was beautiful with soft light tan sand and broken shells. So many people enjoying the water, resting under umbrellas and baking in the hot sun. The water was not cold but provided coolish relief from hot sweaty day. We floated, some in bathing suits, some in clothes. Happy for the experience and grateful to share it together.

We swam in the sea for 20-25 minutes while car charged (we thought). But it didn’t. Now the other charger is in use so we are waiting and trying again with another cable. A full hour probably.

We decided to try to push onward and find a better charger on route back to Toulouse. We used an app and found just the right fast efficient charger. Deanna was an excellent driver, Rachel navigating and working the phone, map and keeping us organized and moving through this adventure.

Laughter. Singing. Fields of sunflowers. Picnic lunches. A swim in the Mediterranean Sea. So many highlights of this special shared day.

We dropped the car at 11 pm, home to hotel heliot at about 1230. Exhausted, satisfied and completely happy. Bon soir from Toulouse.

Lehavre France

Sep25

Wednesday September 24 2025

Waking up in the Cruise port of LeHavre. Requires a shuttle into town. Searching for an open tourist Information shop we walk to the sea. Yay. We found beach. After talking to the gal at tourism office we decide to go to Etretat cliffs for the day. We joined up with friends and took an Uber.

Beautiful drive through serene countryside on route to Etretat. 30 minutes one way by car.

Doors. Rooftops. Unique stone and brick buildings. Apple trees. Farmland. Black and white cows. Sculptures at roundabout of Vikings, stone farmer, fisherman with crab. Corn fields. Little villages. More roundabouts.

Upon arrival we take in the view of the majestic sea and round stone beach. Blue sky and wind today. The sound of the mighty surf pulling relentlessly in waves over the round stones is very loud yet soothing. I walk to the famous cliffs. Up. Up. Up. Some 358? Steps someone said. Lots of micro stops for taking photos and catching my breath, allowing heart race to calm. Beautiful at top. A stone church, a garden. Taking in the spectacular view of the sea, surf, cliffs. Ancient and eroded. What a sight!

Specialties of this area mouilles frites and buckwheat crepes!

Took city bus for 1 euro 80 each to LeHavre from Etretat. It took half hour by uber to get there and more than hour to get back with cool little stops off the highway. Beautiful regional experience. Bus dropped us at the train station and a quick brisk walk to our pick up point for Oceania shuttle into centre of town.

I asked for specialty restaurant again tonight so we will go back to Red Ginger. Yay. We did not attend the show tonight after dinner, we sat and talked to our dinner share people. Following we went out dancing up on deck 10, Horizons lounge Time now to sleep and gain an extra hour tonight with sea day tomorrow.

Day two – in the Scottish Highlands. Aye!

May19

Last night settled in to our hotel, we went for a wee walk after dark to see the night sky and stars from our hotel. It was late and we did not venture far. It felt good to be outside in the clear night air. Aye, lassie, it was grande! Quiet peaceful with only night sounds and blackness above holding space for the twinkle of nightstars.

We had a decent sleep and were up and on our way before 930 am for today’s great adventure, aye. We have been practicing our Scottish accent, so try to read this using your best brogue. Use expression and a lyrical kind of sound … aye.

As we drive to the highlands I keep my eyes out for sheep and cows and am happy to say out loud … “ sheep” when there are those to see. Black sheep, white sheep, many with baby sheep and we even saw one white baby sheep jumping all four feet straight up in the air. We will remember her! Cows less often, so today we picked up a stuffed emotional support cow … or is that coo?

You have heard of FOMO – well, we are FOMC. Fear of missing coos!

Rachel has a few ideas for our big day of travel … some waterfalls for some dips in the cold mountain rivers in highlands, Glencoe so I can see my plot of land that made me a “Lady”. (My mom bought it for me a few years ago and I brought the coordinates with me so we could find it). And then to Cavers to a small town where Rachel’s family has some roots. We plan to end our day returning the rental car and staying at IBIS Styles hotel in downtown Glasgow. Aye, those were the plans. We still have fruit and crisps and veggies in the car from yesterday so we snack on the road. Another sunny warm day in the bonnie Scotland highlands.

Rachel finds a turn to Glen Etive Mor waterfall area she wants to try. We pull off the main road to a single lane roadway, no wider than the car except for the passing areas every so often … sometimes oncoming cars have to go in reverse so two vehicles can pass. Lots of folks camping over the weekend along here … we comment on how beautiful it all is. The river, the hills, the greenery. The road is narrow and driving a bit stressful. No shoulders on the road when large trucks and buses are heading our way. I comment on the one lane road. “Rachel, this is not a road!” We press on enjoying the view. Wow. Wow. We are in the highland hills close up. We probably travel a km or two and stop.

We traverse down the hill and get to the waters edge. We quickly change clothes and get into the river down a bit from the waterfall. We can see it and others are jumping and diving off the rocks. Such a freedom experience to be way out here and in the cool clear water.

We get our feet dried off and shoes back on, up up the path to the car. We get settled back in and turned around in one of the pullouts … a notification indicates we have a tire malfunction…. Rachel checks and can hear the air fast leaving the front left tire. We searched for a spare…. None.

No cell phone service so we need to drive a bit to get back out to the road to call for assistance, driving slowly, hazard lights flashing.

Rachel makes some calls, it is a Sunday and not much open for garages in nearby towns and none has the tire type we need for this upscale Mercedes. Ok … they will send someone in one and a half hours. Determined to enjoy our time in the Highlands while we wait … we walk and find a lovely river. Dropping clothes again we enjoy the double dip! The second one in two days … beautiful. The stress drops away.

Around 230 pm a large flat bed tow truck rescues us and loads us into his truck and off we head to the town where we stayed last night. There to be met and car to be transferred to another tow truck to take us into Glasgow where we can drop the car at the airport for repairs. The tow truck drivers were all very nice and Peter, the last one helpfully took us to our hotel reservation in downtown Glasgow.

We went out for a walk in search of warm food. And found gluten free fish n chips. Here we are … two days in Glasgow. I will be on my own as Rachel is at a conference.

Aye, not sure what the days ahead will present … stay tuned.