Seaweed Bathing

On Sunday we had been out for lunch (actually eaten pizzas made in a WOOD burning oven - my favourite kind!) and I found a brochure for a place called Voya - a spa that offers many treatments including a seaweed bath. I remember my friend Rose talking about them and how good they are so I stuck the brochure in my bag and decided to find out if Jeane would be interested in joining me for a soak.
Fast forward to Tuesday morning then, obviously Jeane was interested because at 10h15 on a cold, wet morning we drove ourselves to Strandhill to immerse our bodies. We each got a separate bathroom which contained a steam room and a lovely old fashioned looking bath half filled with warm water and cuttings of seaweed. We were told to steam for up to 10 minutes and then step into our baths and relax, taking the seaweed and rubbing it on our skin and hair, we were also told that we could take a shower afterwards, the steam room was dual purpose, but that for the soak to be most beneficial a shower was not recommended.
We had 50 minutes and an alarm clock and bottle of water were also made available to us.
I sat in my steam room for 5 minutes and then could not wait any longer to try out the bath. Hind sight is 20/20 and if I do it again I will definitely bide my time in the steam room, it was lovely and steamy, when I opened the door and stepped in I could hardly see a thing, but sadly patience is not my middle name.
So to the bath then...I added more hot water before stepping in, water which is pumped in from the ocean, pretty cool stuff! The water was fascinating, it had been described as oily but it is not a word I would use...slimy, glycerin or albumin aka egg white would be a better description, I sank into the warmth and lifted my fingers, making slime webs and watching the water drip off excruciatingly slowly due to the SLIME, or as they describe OILS...
I rubbed away with the seaweed, hesitantly soaked my head and my hair went all weird and felt thick and heavy under the slippery water. I lifted my head and ran my hands over my hair and it was all spongy and felt oh so strange. COOL.
It was fun playing with the seaweed and I also marvelled at how great it felt rubbing my arms and legs, really soft and silky like, but sadly 50 minutes was a little too long for me - that is why I think longer in the steam room is a good idea, and I did end up climbing out the bath 5 minutes earlier than was necessary. There is only so much lying around and draping seaweed that I can do, especially as I had nobody to talk to! Having said that, there is a double room which I would have loved to book but it was occupied and there is the option of sharing, but that would only work for little children, or couples who like to be close as it would be a bit of a tight squeeze for two adults...
But I digress....
Before getting out the bath I removed all the seaweed (as we had been instructed to do) and placed it in a lovely wooden pail that had been provided, apparently the used seaweed is then sent off to an organic farm to be used as fertilizer. I towelled dry without showering (reckon I need all the benefits this seaweed bath can provide) and got dressed, which was slightly challenging as my skin seemed a bit sticky, I tied my hair back in a messy ponytail and went to reception to wait for Jeane. All in all a fantastic 50 minutes worth the €25 fee I paid and we floated out of there feeling pampered and okay yes, a bit sticky. The benefits are amazing and Malcolm says it is rather disconcerting as my skin feels like that of a baby now, Jess was rubbing my legs crooning and sighing and telling me how the silkiness of my skin could actually put her to sleep! So I would have to say 10 out of 10 for experience and performance for Voya http://www.voya.ie/ in Strandhill...and I can safely say that I will happily do it again and again...
I have provided the link to Voya as I found the benefits of seaweed bathing very interesting and adding them to my post would just take too long...so if you are interested pop over and have a look!

Bastille Day

I woke later than usual, Jess had taken it upon herself to close the shutters outside our bedroom window so my usual alarm clock, the light did not stand a chance. Malcolm and I started the day off energetically and went for a walk/run for an hour choosing a different route and discovering another village. I do not think that you can walk in any direction from our cottage for more than 2 km's without stumbling upon a village!
I had bought crepes on our first grocery trip and brought them out for breakfast on Bastille Day, the kids took great delight in eating them with all manner of sweet toppings...what the heck we are on holiday!
After breakfast I took advantage of the loungers on the patio and the sun and grabbed a book and got lazy. The kids went off on the boat again and after being a lizard for a little over an hour I got called up to the badminton court for another round of shuttlecock whacking.
At 13h00 we decided to head for Ruffec, a town 10 km's away to find a spot for lunch and to get a few things we had discovered were necessities...like mosquito spray and water.
We discovered a ghost town upon arrival and drove around marvelling at the quietness of the place. There was only ONE open restaurant and so we decided to drive to a bigger town, Angouléme 30 km's away. Again we were greeted by deathly quiet streets, it was so bizarre. We did manage to find a small convenience store and bought some water and candles, the only things on our list we could get hold of but it was still progress! We also found a boulangerie that was open and bought a boulle and a baguette, the baguette we could not resist ripping pieces off of it as we walked down the eerily quiet streets.
We did not see any open restaurants and so we headed BACK to Ruffec where we knew at least one place had been open, only to discover that he was closing, and we thought the French were ruled by their gastranomic habits. We were also very quickly learning that it is very frustrating not being able to communicate and that French lessons would be a top priority if we ever plan another trip to France - or take along somebody else who CAN speak French...free holiday anyone?
On our way home I remembered reading that there was a restaurant/pub called Dixieland in Verteuil with an English speaking owner so we dicided to make one last effort at actually eating out and headed in that direction.

Wow! There is a magnificent chateau there, which may date as far back as 1080 sitting atop the village its glinting turrets keeping a watchful eye over the town.

When we got to Dixieland they were closing...story of our day...but the friendly Englihman insisted that he would stay open and we could have a drink in the beer garden around the back. When we got to the beer garden at the back we were treated to a view of one of the turrets towering above us.

We had one drink, felt too bad to linger and then headed home for sustenance - another great evening for a bbq so it was salad making for me and lighting a fire for Malcolm while the kids honed their badminton skills.

Bon Jour

We landed at the single strip airport in Poitiers at 16h30 on Saturday afternoon. The airport is tiny, literally opens and closes according to the flight schedules!
We had hired a car and to Kirstin's delight it was a Toyota Verso WITH the extra seats in the back. We got Molly out and plugged in our destination "Chenon" and discovered that before we even began to tackle driving on the wrong side of the road we had to figure out how to start the car without a key, finally figured out that you have to push the clutch in and then push the button that says 'start engine'.
Anyhoooo...off we went and Malcolm soon disregarded Molly's gentle direction to turning in 100m and turned in 10m and she started recalculating...but then I saw what looked like a mall and we needed groceries so we carried on ignoring Molly and made our way over to see if it had a grocery store. The first good sign was an advert for specials on the door to the mall, and then the beautiful sight of a family unpacking groceries into the boot of the car! Yay! Food. The grocery store - Auchan was enormous, I think I would have preferred a small store, less confusion! We managed to fill a trolley with what we felt would be needed for a week and only after paying considered the fact that we had no space in the boot...oops. Somehow we managed to get everything into the car and this time followed Molly's instruction and found our way to the cottage. We arrived at 20h30 and the evening was so marvelous we decided to light a fire and have a bbq. I got to work on salads, the kids headed straight for the boat and before long we were all sitting at the long dining room table enjoying our first meal in France.

TWO MORE SLEEPS...

I cannot believe our summer holidays are upon us. School is closed, suitcases are being filled and weighed, last minute washing crisis, favourite jeans that have to be worn until the last minute...well I put my foot down and said all washing for the trip ceases by midday on Sunday...
I need to go through all the tickets, addresses, car hire information and get a pack together, we literally home for an evening and then off again at 05h00 the following morning...exciting stuff!
I am not sure that I will get a chance to do another post for a while, I may have to stroll into an Internet place during my Holland trip and send an update of all the cheese I have eaten....but no promises! Perhaps in between all my last minute bits I will get to tap a note out tomorrow, I mean the countdown MUST go on...but if not....ADIOS AMIGOS!!!!