Summertime

After 50 years or more of watching tennis at Wimbledon on television it was a treat this year to experience the real thing. The whole experience was fantastic - from driving through Wimbledon and parking on Wimbledon Golf course to watching matches on Court No 3 (where we had tickets) and wandering around other out courts and then to watching Andy Murray on Henman Hill. We resisted the strawberries but savoured every other moment including a jazz band in the Champagne bars before going home. The rest of the Championships on television was even more exciting than usual, especially Murray's match under the new Centre Court roof and floodlights until well after the 10 o'clock News should have finished.

The view on Court 3


Relaxing on the Hill

The last week of term was all about photographs - Parents' Society Dinner Dance, Year 8 trip to Techniquest, Sports Day, Leavers' Service and Lunch, Leavers' Ball, Lower School Prize Giving - literally thousands of photos (the best of which are in web galleries on the school website).

I was so pleased to be setting off on holiday to Corsica so early in July-a really good time to visit this wonderful island. A bad back (probably caused by the hire car - an experience I don't wish to mention here) took the edge off a wonderful holiday.

Corsica's main appeal is its scenery; a wildly beautiful landscape of mountains, forests, myrtle-scented maquis and countless miles of sandy beaches. We managed to experience all of this and, especially thanks to our stay in the second week with our Corsican friends Thierry and Jeanine, in great depth.

The first week we stayed at the Hotel du Golfe in Tizzano, an idyllic venue on the south-west coast of Corsica 18 kilometres from Sartène. The hotel was literally "les pieds dans l'eau" with a comfortable room and balcony looking out to sea.


View from the balcony of our room at the Hotel du Golfe


The beach at Tizzano in the background

The beach was only 5 minutes away (but with my bad back not manageable in the first few days). Apart from our hotel and the beach there was only one other hotel and four restaurants which, although expensive, gave us a good choice. Corsican cuisine, surprisingly, is not fish based but modern tourism has had an impact and here in Tizzano there was plenty of choice - the best of which was moustellle.

From Tizzano we visited Sartène, a medieval fortified town, and like most villages and towns in Corsica, perched way up the mountains; Bonifacio with marvellous views to Sardinia; and the pretty port of Propriano but which, as a seaside resort, was not really to our taste.

Sartène



Bonifacio

After our week in Tizzano we headed north stopping for lunch and a dramatic haircut in Ajaccio.


The haircut

We would have liked more time in Ajaccio as there were lots of touristy things to see but we had set our sights on reaching Corte for an overnight stop.


Napolean was born in Ajaccio and there are monuments to him everywhere

The mountain drive from Ajaccio to Corte was stunning - we even spotted a wild boar grazzing in the woods. A night in Corte (and the following morning sightseeing) was definately a better choice than Ajaccio. Corte isn't a pretty town but it's old buildings with peeling facades are fascinating and Corte seems to contain so much of the Corsican spirit. It is home to the University of Corsica but in summer it is full of tourists and, in particular, its is a hiking centre (half way along the Mare a Mare Nord trail) and a great place from which to enjoy day walks. The citadel is well worth climbing up - just to enjoy the magnificent panorama.

Our second week was spent in equal parts in Thierry and Jeanine's home (in their magnificent appartment looking over the town) in Bastia, in Jeanine's village of Santo-Pietro-di-Tenda and finally in Thierry's grandmother's house in Mausoléo next to Olmi Capella in La Balagne region. The highlight of the stay in Santo-Pietro was the village fete on the 13th July with its calf roast, fabulous Corsican folk music group and firework display. We also had a great trip out in their boat from St Florent swimming off the beach near the Punta di Curza, visited their olive grove and swam in their uncle's swimming pool in the village.

Santo-Pietro seemed quite isolated to us until we reached Mausoléo, which has a population of 8 in winter! However, we were not at all lonely as we seemed to be on a major hiking route and hikers and their donkeys passed by the house in the evenings as we were having our apéritif. We had a wonderful walk following one of these routes through the gorges de Tartagine (but without the donkeys!). All of this was so different from our normal lives and the memories will stay with us forever.

Temperatures consistently higher than 30 were also so far from our normal existence, especially as we came back to Bristol which had a new record high rainfull for July of 162.1 mm. The previous record was in 1888! August has not been so wet but just as dreary.

It's been a busy time since the holiday to Corsica getting the Old Colstonian database ready for a telethon, then the actual telethon and the subsequent changes, and more recently examination results.

Photographic opportunities have been few and far between but the most exciting was a flying visit to Colston's by Andrew Flintoff only days after his heroics at Lord's and Bristol Balloon Fiesta. The back has got better with the help of my osteopath Martyn Morgan and I now seem to hit the golf ball so much further.


Bristol Balloon Fiesta

It's been fun seeing so much of our godchildren this holiday - and we are especially pleased about Lydia's 3 As at A level.

I really enjoyed watching Y.E. Yang's victory in the USPGA Championship but not as much as the last Ashes Test at the Oval - I haven't watched so much of a Test Match before, including nearly every ball on the Saturday - pure decadence!

If you have time on your hands a selection of photos of holiday to Corsica can be viewed here:

Corsica Selection