La carnaval

Tuesday was Mardi Gras, which is kind of a big deal in France so we thought we would muster up some community spirit and go along to see what the town's annual carnival was all about.


We arrived in the town square just after 6 to see the marching band, clowns, jugglers and the carnival float (a tractor pulling a papier mâché walrus and a cage with people dressed up as lions, tigers and bears).

All of the children were in their disguises and were going crazy throwing confetti at each other.

I bet you can't guess who this is?!

The adults were handed long torches that were lit and we marched through the town to the local sports ground.

Stu just LOVES this kind of thing

We were then treated to a spectacle of fire jugglers and fire breathers in the run up to the grand finale where the poor papier mâché walrus was burnt at the stake.

RIP walrus

A little biz bizarre but there was free mulled wine so I won't complain. And of course the French like to have a special sweet treat to mark the occasion, this time it's the turn of la bugne,  which is a bit like a doughnut but not as fluffy.


I couldn't help thinking about how such an event would go down in Whitley Bay. I'm just not sure free wine and flaming torches would mix well there for some reason!