We arrive at Théoule at 10:30 for our appointment with Claire, Martyn, Debbie and Neale organised. Claire has organised everything, the walk, the restaurant and where to park.
We set off upwards on a route that we have previously trodden with Claire and Martyn. The route takes you upwards to The statue of the Notre-Dame D’Afrique and then back down to Théoule. It took us 1 hour 46′ to cover the 4 ½ mile route which included 750 ft of ascent.
I spent quite a lot of time talking to Neil during the walk and found his company very pleasant we had a few laughs as we walked along. As usual the girls split off from the boys which is so predictable. I did spend some time walking beside Claire. I mentioned that we had visited the Bawa house in Colombo, but didn’t manage to say much more than that as she took over the conversation telling me all about their visit to Sri Lanka and how they has stayed at the Bawa designed hotel and the gardens they visited. I gave up thinking about interrupting her. It just didn’t seem worthwhile. Maggi received some interesting gardening ideas from Martyn who followed it up by sending some pictures.
We arrived at Les Roches Rose the local restaurant where we have eaten before. As usual on a Sunday you could hardly move because the place was packed. We are offered a 3 course meal for €19 so you don’t expect cordon bleu cookery, but you do get a tasty, hearty good value lunch. The number of customers tells its own story.
Debbie and Neil had brought their two golden retrievers with them from England. They are both quite large dogs. Despite the shortage of space at the restaurant there was no objection to these two big dogs lying across the path that the waiters had to negotiate. After lunch which finished around 4 pm we all walked back to our cars and said good-bye. A very pleasant day out.