This morning I left La Ciotat after spending 2 weeks playing
Petanque daily with either Jules le Noir or Cercle des Boulomanes
Ciotaden – the two clubs in this great town on the Mediterranean Sea.
Yesterday, I said goodbye to the members of those clubs. It was an emotional
experience for all of us because we had experienced a bond, not just between
myself and the two clubs, but between the Heart of Texas Petanque Club and
those two clubs. I look forward to helping Arsene encourage the club members to
come to our tournaments in Texas because I had the impression from the two club
presidents that it could very well happen.
 |
| Milou - at Jules le Noir Petanque Club |
 |
| Herrero, the president of the Petanque club - Cercle des Boulomanes Ciotadens |
 |
| Pierrot MARQUES - President of Jules le Noir Petanque Club - La Ciotat, France |
 |
| The original charter for the Jules le Noir Petanque Club - the place where Petanque was invented in 1910 |
 |
| Club house - Cercle des Boulomanes Ciotadens in La Ciotat, France |
 |
| Jim and Alain - vs - two others |
 |
| Raymond Ager - an English guy who moved to La Ciotat - primarily to play Petanque. |
 |
| Jim, Paul, Paul and Raymond Note the display of ancient Petanque boules on the left. |
 |
| Jim, the clubhouse cat and Paul |
 |
| Raymond and Milou |
So why was today such a unique experience? This afternoon, I
was driving on the Departmental road (older highways that are slower than the
new Autroutes or toll roads). I have always liked driving on them for the
obvious reasons that you get to experience more of France at a slower
pace. So as it was getting to be time
for me to start looking for a hotel or camping grounds, I was driving down the
road and had just enough time to see a handwritten sign that had the word
"camping" on it. I turned the
car around and found it and it indeed was advertising a camping grounds. I
tried to call the number but it did not go through so I followed the brief
directions that led me onto a much smaller road through a tiny town, several
kilometers off the main road. I followed multiple signs that lead me to an even
smaller road with the final sign directing me to a 1-lane road through a
vineyard and into a very remote camp ground with just a couple of camping cars.
It was on the side of a hill, overlooking the Canal du Midi – one of my
favorite features in France.
Well, I got to talking to the owner who was a bit older than
me and had retired from the French military. Gerard was a very nice fellow,
with a friendly personality - well suited for running a camp ground. He made
the necessary effort to understand my level of French (not all French people
have that skill). When I shifted the conversation towards Petanque, he asked me
to walk over to his car and out of the back of a very old Renault and amongst a
bunch of tools (I don't remember even seeing a spare tire), he pulled out a set
of rusty Petanque boules and we played a game right there in the driveway. The
game helped make for a most enjoyable evening socializing with a new friend.
 |
| Gerard's Renault, containing tools and boules |
 |
| Gerard, owner of camp grounds in the countryside, near Trebes, France |
 |
| Gerard, his friend and our friend, Mr. Pastis! |
In Trebes, I played some pick-up games one day and the next,
I was able to play in a triplets/mixed tournament. Philip, Bridgette and I
managed to get as far as the semi-finals in the consolate bracket – and we each
won 4 Euros ($5.25)! Who cares if the admission fee was also 4 Euros…I'm
counting that as a WIN!
 |
| Jim, Brigitte and Jerome at La Petite Boules Trebeenne Petanque Club, Trebes, France |
After three days, I left the Trebes area for Carcassonne to search out the two boulodromes there. I found the first one but it was vacant with lots of leaves on the outdoor terrains, so I went to the other one. As luck would have it, being Sunday afternoon, they had a tournament and I got onto a team with a couple of guys and we did poorly.
 |
| Looks easy but this was very difficult terrain in Carcassonne, France |
 |
| I would call this terrain in Carcassonne, France, a gravel pit on top of deformed concrete! |
 |
| David Faro, President of Cite Petanque Club, Carcassonne, France |
We were quickly sent to the consolate round where we lost our first game there too. Not sure why we got to continue (double elimination in the consolate round?) but we won the 2nd consolate but lost the 3rd – no prize for my team! I did meet the president of Cite Petanque Club, David Faro –> http://citepetanqueclub.free.fr/ This was definitely a working man’s petanque club. Not many older players. The members and the terrain were very different from the Jules le Noir Club in La Ciotat. Several times it was difficult to see the jack because of the big rocks.
NEXT INSTALLMENT: My return to Toulouse, France - where I lived in 1975.
