The first village I can remember without a church but it had an Abbey in need of love and some money. There were some old paintings painted on to the walls but were slowly disappearing, unlike this ‘8 house village’ which you entered through a gate as though it was someones private place. Anik came to our place, (which was the other half of her place, sleeping upstairs and kitchen and dining down) to cook [...]
Another home to ourselves and this time supplied not by the church but by the local council. Cooking facilities, lounge and 3 bedrooms to choose from, and once again paid by donation. There was time to look around this ‘rivers, creeks and bridges town’ but like each day, it is brief. For us it’s about little discoveries as we go to our essential shops, stopping for awhile at special places. Yesterday was the first long [...]
There were 3 women in this pretty 2 storey home on the Rue Abbaye. These nuns welcomed us into their home like no other. While one chatted to us about the abbaye’s long history, another brought us cold apple juice and lemon cake, and the other joked around with us. They told us about their recent guests, particularly wanting us to know that some Aussies had recently been there, a young Korean couple whom we [...]
A man in a hat called out from the top balcony as he rested his arm on a piece of metal. On the floor below, a young woman looked curiously over the shoulder of a seated woman as a man held tightly onto some object behind them, next window along sat a cat, while a bottom floor window held strange objects and the other – who could tell? It was one of the best trompe [...]
Our home last night was once a flour mill and has been cleverly converted into a smart hotel. Dinner was over a noisy stream, and the view was of the same river, a weir, and a water wheel - a bit of luxury on the track. The reception people spoke no English so a chance to try a bit of French with the help of his google translate. We left late because it was such [...]
A big day so we left very early. An enormous chateau dominates this Napoleonic town - a large celebration bringing crowds of devotees. It so happens that this well known soldier joined the army here at 9 years of age and stayed for 5 very informative years. Bullied because he was poor, he pulled out his ace card - brilliance at maths - enough to take over the ‘bully rights’. Beyond the chateau and we [...]
A broken cafe awaited us at the end of a very long and straight entrance to our village for the night. An older woman first knocked on a house for sale and then at a door at the back that wasn’t meant to open. Finally a man appeared from nowhere as we removed the cobwebs from our plastic chairs. So happy to see someone but didn’t have any coffee, his cafe had beer, we had [...]
A lazy walk through a lazy village (or better still, a laid back one), with a tiny and falling population, we had a smorgasbord of PdB houses. A chance now to take in more sunsets, visit the donkeys and white cattle and far off views beyond the bevy of buttercups. After dark (now 10.00) the church was lit up and the war memorial before it was glowing white, blue and red. Next door Chantel welcomed [...]
She told us she didn’t speak much English even though her father sent her to England to learn it. “The English speak so fast and there was no way I could ever understand” our host seemed to respond with some regret, “but I know German well because they didn’t talk so fast.” But she did speak our language, that of the ‘Pelegrín’ or ‘walker.’ You can tell this when they allow you your room well [...]
A small red ball reminded us that three things have been happening. Primarily there’s too much comfort in bed to go looking for it; our lodgings are not facing that way; or the mist and cloud are keeping it for themselves. But it was brief - it hasn’t been playing ball most of the day. The covers stayed on in the morning which made for easy walking, lots of grass to hide the mud, gravel [...]
