We're All Going on a Summer Holiday...

It's Autumn and cold so I'm throwing back a couple of months here, all the way to August! Back to when I was jobless and had all the time in the world to play after graduation: I went to Paris and back and then had a three week holiday in the south of France; 3 weeks, 3 destinations, 1 massive mountain climbed!

We started off in Collioure, near the Spanish border. It's a picturesque town, often seen in paintings by the likes of Derain, Matisse, Picasso and Rennie Mackintosh for any Scottish fans!

We ambled around the market, sampling some of Paella Joel's best paella, unfortunately we didn't get any pizza from Pizza Luc when market day came round though - we were busy cycling for our breakfast on Sunday and chose paella on Wednesday, the other market day.

Family mad enjoyed cycling everywhere, we decided to cycle up to the Madeloc, but I lost patience and stopped about two thirds of the way, so took some pictures of the view instead (but don't worry, I did plenty more cycling this holiday…).

We lazed on the beach to relax between bike rides, and enjoyed the best of the fish market. Obviously we didn't decide that we wanted barbecued shark's head though when planning our meals.

I took it upon myself, with some help from Keith Floyd and a scrubbing brush to clean the deep fat fryer, to serve moules marinères with frites one evening as well, so got the mussels fresh from the fish market one day, as well as many other goodies.

We drank some wine... tried out the local white Banyuls, a sweet wine, which made a great aperitif one evening.

Katie and I decided to make cocktails, which included a watermelon, a blender, some lime cordial and vodka and a day in the freezer, which worked out perfectly.

We met for breakfast by the beach one day after a run (I walked to the beach instead of joining the running group back up the Madéloc).

Spot the clock tower!

However, I still haven't bought my own lobster, named him Lobby and kept him in the bidet... one day!