Birthday celebrations in Frontignan

Ahoy shipmates from Frontignan!  As I write, I'm another year older but none the wiser!  I had a great birthday last Friday.  I awoke to a cuppa in bed and bunting around the cabin.  Jacqui from "Splodge" came by with a lovely beach sarong as a prezzie - thanks guys - it's perfect.  I am counting my blessings: where else would you rather be on your birthday than in the sunny Med, with a light Mistral to keep you cool with good friends and loved ones?  We both miss our families and friends but you can't have it all, eh?

A bit later, Skipper and First Mate ventured into Frontignan for a canalside walk.  We then had lunch at the lovely 'L'Epicurien' restaurant which specialises in traditional Mediterranean and international cuisine.  We had a lovely 3-course meal and some wine - delicious!  The owner has cooked for the Estonian Government for 8 years and won the regional Languedoc Gold Award for cuisine 4 years ago.  We would recommend it to anyone in the area.

The birthday girl with Skipper at the excellent L'Epicurien restaurant

We did intend to go wine-tasting but after our meal and a half-litre carafe each of wine we were replete and we wouldn't have had sufficient time to enjoy the degustation and get to the horse riding centre in good time (and in a sober enough state) for riding so we've taken a raincheck on that.
We checked in at L'Asqueliers riding centre based around a big etang (lake) with sandy shores and backed by woodland and the horses were lovely.

The Camargue horses at L'Asqueliers Riding Centre

Sadly, over an hour later, we hadn't even seen our horses and figured they were out on the previous ride.  Eventually they returned and were about to be turned around with the next lot of riders - 20 of us!  They started to allocate horses with no attempt to check for ability or language.  We can gallop but not with any sense of control and felt there was a high chance our horses would follow any others that did gallop - a dead cert on a beach!  There seemed to be very little interest in the riders, particularly matching horse with rider's ability so, all round, we felt all round that it was best to leave and get a refund.  So close and yet so far... we'll try again in France - failing that we'll do some riding with Spanish horses.

On the way back, though, we did manage to fit in some wine-tasting so not all was lost.  Frontignan is renowned for the muscat grape most commonly used in dessert wines - too sweet for our palate but First Mate tracked down a Muscat Sec - aptly named 'Stony' (for those of you that don't know, my maiden name was Stone).

First Mate with Stony Muscat Sec - cheers!

A bit later we had some drinks ashore with Alan and Jacqui from "Splodge", Alan's son Nathan and his fiancee Gemma who were visiting for a few days.  We'd also met another Brit, John Allan from Newlyn, Cornwall on his Moody Eclipse.  He and his partner have been away for 3 years on and off and sailed around the Biscay, down to Gibraltar and up the Mediterranean coast.  The final leg of the trip is exactly the same route as our trip to date - except John is doing it single-handedly!  He asked for tips and we said definitely lose the mast as that was the biggest problem we faced in the locks and in finding moorings.  Also to get some help for the lock-heavy part of the trip but we reckon he'll pull it off alone.  You meet some intrepid people in boating - bon voyage John! 

So, a fab birthday even though we didn't get to ride the horses in the end.  Another time and place ....

First Mate in new frock - another polkadot number!

The coming week is our last in Frontignan.  I'll write soon with an update.  Until then, hope you're all well and thanks for the calls, the comments and emails - love to hear from you all.  xx