beware of french squirrels

it’s four a.m. and i can’t sleep so here’s another summer anecdote from my mapping project in france

we were gathered around a laptop in camp watching the inbetweeners one lazy sunny afternoon, when we started to feel bits of tree fall on us from above

after much puzzlement and chunks of pine cone in our eyes we realised that a naughty red squirrel had positioned himself directly above us and was pulling apart the tree just to drop on our heads

i guess he took offense at the word “clunge”

my photography »

latour-de-france is so pretttty ♥

discovered i had a sneaky hitch-hiker while unpacking the last stuff from my france suitcase

out scampered a huuge (and probably french) brown huntsman spider who proceeded to hide among the stuff on my bed while i was home alone, i had to take refuge downstairs until mum got back

screw you jean-luc, you cheeky little stowaway

the day i drunk a lot of ants

while in france, we bought grenadine syrup to flavour our water but lost the cap to the bottle at some point - one evening i fancied a drink so poured some syrup into my flask in the darkness, shook it up and took a big swig

as i swallowed i felt these little bits in my mouth, picked one out

oh god

i held my flask up to the light and saw a black tornado of ants swirling around inside it, and further inspection of the actual grenadine bottle revealed an ant:syrup ratio of about 2:1

in hindsight the extra protein probably helped, but oh goodness me

my photography »

flying home over mountainous france

my photography »

a very hot day in the south of france.

this is a cat i made friends with in france

i was having lunch on a bench under a tree near a random little swimming-pool-and-snack-bar in the middle of nowhere. he sniffed out my tuna snackpot and came over to steal the remains



and then fell asleep on my hat



i didn’t want to make him move because he looked so happy, so i got an ice-cream and ended up having a two-hour lunch break

all packed up!

after exactly six weeks of rock-licking, camping, fossil-hunting, tinned food, drunken nights, weird insects, amazing scenery, french chavs and “r-r-radio flaixbac!”, we’re finally going home to blighty in the morning!

i promise i’ll try to bring the sunshine back with me ♥

king in de castle!

we spent a gorgeous day in the city of perpignan yesterday, winding our way through the maze of crazy narrow european streets and exploring the huge old medieval castle. when night fell later back at camp, we all made our way to the local town for an outdoor club experience called “obsession”, danced all night, and have had an incredibly hungover sunday - all sitting around the camp groaning, snacking on junk and watching the inbetweeners, madagascar and superbad on the laptop. c’était brill ♥

plunge pools and horse steak

the last two days have been above body-temperature, so in the interests of “health and safety” we’ve taken them off to recuperate! cue a trip to the ice-cold plunge pools in the limestone gorge, and a barbecue tonight at which we will be feasting on rump de cheval and chargrilled red pepper. hnng can’t wait ♥

ridiculous geology shorts tan is go

can’t wait to even it out a bit on the beach on saturdaay ♥

bbq: the francais way

last night was deleeecious. after a half-day of mapping we all stockpiled on meat from the supermarché and stuffed our faces at the barbecue that the fantastique campsite owner, monsieur bob, held for us. if you guys ever get the chance, you have got to try horse steak, cooked medium-rare so it melts in your mouth.. almost as good as ox!

forty degrees celcius

i never thought i’d be able to cope in this weather, especially not with having to walk 10km a day hammering at rocks

but we’re doing great, our maps are taking shape, and the camping life is still fabuloso. i’ve taken a ton of photos which i’ll prep and post as soon as i can get my laptop charged enough to last more than ten minutes! blimey

we went to the local music festival the other night for some reggae, amazing. walking the 6km there and back with only beer for sustenance was so very worth it ♥

bonjour de la france!

sorry about the lack of postage, internet here isn’t amazingly available (and i’m just so busy licking rocks and chasing lizards) - just a quick update to say i’m having a bon time! hopefully now i’ve settled in, i’ll be able to pop over here to reception to use the wifi for a few minutes most evenings to actually keep my blog alive, as well as posting some of the awesome pictures i’ve taken so far.

it’s SO DAMN HOT and i’ve definitely already burned, but we’ve already had some great times in our little tent village among the pine trees and have been cooking up some yummy meals on the diddy camping stove.

i lurb you all and will write again sooon! ♥

off to france!

just doing some last-minute packing before i leave for my very long journey, eek

au revoir for now, everyone! ♥