A picture paints a thousand words
So Wednesdays will now be wordless
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| Lac Éguzon |
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| Crozant |
Wednesday 31 July 2019
Tuesday 30 July 2019
29th July
Flock of Great tits in front garden at least six birds, can’t remember ever seeing a flock before. Saw more Booted eagles over the weekend.
Over the weekend whilst Sharron was here we visited Warrior in the cattery to see how she was getting on, pleased to say she seems very settled and happy. I don’t having to keep her in a chattery but it was a much better option than trying to keep her in the gite.
After we left her we attended a fete in a nearby village that celebrates the potato. The weather was not very good so I think it was a bit subdued but it was interesting browsing the stalls. We came away with some prune liquor, some sparkling Eau d vie, charcuterie and a selection of cheeses. We also tried some of the local potato pie which was delicious.
I went to explore the local lake at Éguzon today. The lake was formed in the 1920’s when a dam was built on the river Creuse to generate hydro electric power. It is used as a recreational area for water sports and as a nature reserve.
I parked near the man made beach area where there is a swimming zone with water slides etc and followed the trail around the edge of the lake.
The trail is well marked but fairly rough going, it hugs the edge of the lake and gives access to landing stages a jetties. At one point I had to squeeze past a party of primary school kids and their teachers who were obviously on a nature walk. I then retraced my steps back to the beach where there were more local children, slightly older learning to sail.
When I left the lake I went for a drive around the area and visited the nearby town of Crozant which has a ruined castle on a bend in the river, I will post pictures of it tomorrow.
Saturday 27 July 2019
26th July
Lizards on the patio. Treecreeper on apple tree. Two deer or road to St Sebastian. Bat feeding frenzy around street lamp, I think Pipistrelles and Noctule from size and frequencies on detector.
Well the Canicule is over, 4 days of 30 degrees plus temperatures, It was so hot that I hardly ventured out apart from an early morning trip to the supermarket. Outside apart from the lizards nothing else seemed to so itself during the day the birds making the most of the early morning or evening.
This morning I had to go to La Soutteraine to meet Sharron from the train. She has been back in the UK for a week and is coming back here for the weekend. Her journey was an overnight coach trip to Paris then train down. I hadn't been to La Soutteraine before so I left a little early so I could have a wander around the town. When I got there I parked beside the church in the middle of the town.
Sadly the church is covered in scaffolding but there is a lovely old medieval gatehouse. This is the biggest town I have been to since we got here and there were some interesting shops and bars.
We drove home, had a little lunch did a shop at the supermarket then went out for a drive to explore a bit more of the countryside. I haven't done much exploring as I haven't liked leaving the dogs on their own but as it was a lot cooler today it was safe to shut them in the house for a couple of hours. We drove out towards Argenton and looped back via St Sebastian which was when we saw a couple of Fallow deer cross the road. We stopped for a drink at a local bar 'Le Cottage', very odd place, never sat in a bar full of teddy bears before, sofas covered in throws, feather boa around the lights really odd. We were the only people in there which also made it feel stranger.
The last couple of nights I have watched a massacre going on outside the front of the house. The is a street light that attracts moths and other insects, this makes it a feeding station for bats. Having finally remembered to get a battery for my detector I picked up feeding calls Ain the mid 20 kHz and 40 kHz ranges. Going from this and the fact that one of the bats is quite large I think there are Noctule and Pipisterelles feeding.
The other insect story to report is that I had to remove my first Tick from one of the dogs. Bella came in from the garden with what looked like a piece of blue/grey sweetcorn above her eye, I removed it quite easily and all three have now been dosed with an anti tick compound.
The other exciting news is we now have a date for moving into the house, I am not going to announce it here yet as we haven't told members of the family yet, but the end is in sight.
Sadly the church is covered in scaffolding but there is a lovely old medieval gatehouse. This is the biggest town I have been to since we got here and there were some interesting shops and bars.
We drove home, had a little lunch did a shop at the supermarket then went out for a drive to explore a bit more of the countryside. I haven't done much exploring as I haven't liked leaving the dogs on their own but as it was a lot cooler today it was safe to shut them in the house for a couple of hours. We drove out towards Argenton and looped back via St Sebastian which was when we saw a couple of Fallow deer cross the road. We stopped for a drink at a local bar 'Le Cottage', very odd place, never sat in a bar full of teddy bears before, sofas covered in throws, feather boa around the lights really odd. We were the only people in there which also made it feel stranger.
The last couple of nights I have watched a massacre going on outside the front of the house. The is a street light that attracts moths and other insects, this makes it a feeding station for bats. Having finally remembered to get a battery for my detector I picked up feeding calls Ain the mid 20 kHz and 40 kHz ranges. Going from this and the fact that one of the bats is quite large I think there are Noctule and Pipisterelles feeding.
The other insect story to report is that I had to remove my first Tick from one of the dogs. Bella came in from the garden with what looked like a piece of blue/grey sweetcorn above her eye, I removed it quite easily and all three have now been dosed with an anti tick compound.
The other exciting news is we now have a date for moving into the house, I am not going to announce it here yet as we haven't told members of the family yet, but the end is in sight.
Tuesday 23 July 2019
22nd July
Turtle doves appear to be in every tree around the garden, real rarity in the UK, must be down to the lack of intensive farming here. Getting a lot of horseflies in the house, guess it is due to the sheep and cattle housed nextdoor, they are annoying the dogs.
The heatwave has returned with temperatures in the low 30's and predicted to hit 40 by the end of the week. It has been to hot to do much other than walk dogs early in the morning and late evening, catch up on some reading, online French course and drink vast amounts of green tea.
I have also had time to reflect on the differences I have noticed between here and the UK, I know I have only been here a week and I am still on an initial high and this is rural France but here goes:
1. Much less traffic on the roads
2. Better behaved traffic ( The French have a lot of unmarked police cars and hidden speed cameras).
3. I haven't had to pay to park anywhere yet
4. People are friendly, if you walk into a cafe everyone says hello.
5. People are proud of their communities, I think down to the autonomy of the local mayor.
6. This is an interesting one, I have always been a classical music fan and listener to Radio 3 and occasionally classic FM. I am now listening to the French equivalent. They play mainly the same composers (not heard Elgar yet!)| but different pieces of their repertoire. This must reflect the national taste I guess, it is great for me as I am hearing lots of works I don't know.
7. Much of the food in the local supermarket is locally sourced and I haven't seen a straight banana anywhere.
Finally a couple of photos I took whilst walking the dogs.Was in a bit of an artistic mood, but they also show good nature conservation practice of leaving fall trees to decompose naturally, giving a home to all sorts of invertebrate life such as beetle larvae. Stag beetle larvae for instance live in decomposing wood for up to 7 years before emerging, our habit of tidying up is why they are now so rare.
The heatwave has returned with temperatures in the low 30's and predicted to hit 40 by the end of the week. It has been to hot to do much other than walk dogs early in the morning and late evening, catch up on some reading, online French course and drink vast amounts of green tea.
I have also had time to reflect on the differences I have noticed between here and the UK, I know I have only been here a week and I am still on an initial high and this is rural France but here goes:
1. Much less traffic on the roads
2. Better behaved traffic ( The French have a lot of unmarked police cars and hidden speed cameras).
3. I haven't had to pay to park anywhere yet
4. People are friendly, if you walk into a cafe everyone says hello.
5. People are proud of their communities, I think down to the autonomy of the local mayor.
6. This is an interesting one, I have always been a classical music fan and listener to Radio 3 and occasionally classic FM. I am now listening to the French equivalent. They play mainly the same composers (not heard Elgar yet!)| but different pieces of their repertoire. This must reflect the national taste I guess, it is great for me as I am hearing lots of works I don't know.
7. Much of the food in the local supermarket is locally sourced and I haven't seen a straight banana anywhere.
Finally a couple of photos I took whilst walking the dogs.Was in a bit of an artistic mood, but they also show good nature conservation practice of leaving fall trees to decompose naturally, giving a home to all sorts of invertebrate life such as beetle larvae. Stag beetle larvae for instance live in decomposing wood for up to 7 years before emerging, our habit of tidying up is why they are now so rare.
Sunday 21 July 2019
20th July
Saw my first bats this evening, typically the battery in my detector was flat. Moonless evening ironic as today was 50th anniversary of moon landing. However Jupiter looked magnificent.
Went out early today to go to a brocante in Saint-Agnant-Versillat about 30km away. the whole village centre was sealed off for the event. I love the way the do this, the local mayor agrees to it and that's it, diversions put in place and its sorted. As well as stalls temporary bars and food stalls pop up and lots of stalls with the usual range of items, I think that some of the stall holders think the more woodworm an item has the better it is. Having been involved in running our local feast week back in the UK it is really interesting to see how it is done here, you get the feeling that there aren't as many rules and regulations to follow...
My find of the day was this
lovely old leather Gladstone bag, I will use it for my drawing materials, although I think I might have to fight Sharron for it.
I have been going mad not having a field guide of any sort for identifying insects mine having gone into storage. So this afternoon I drove to one of the nearest big towns, Argenton sur Creuse to try and find a bookshop. I did find one but they didn't have a proper field guide I did however get a lovely book about insects that will help. The book is of course in French so it will help me in two ways as I will need to work out what it is saying.
It was worth the drive just to go to Argenton sur Creuse, As its name suggests it is on the river Creuse and the views are amazing
although no unusual for this area of France, it is a bit like the Forest of Dean and the Wye valley but with Oak forests rather than pine.
Went out early today to go to a brocante in Saint-Agnant-Versillat about 30km away. the whole village centre was sealed off for the event. I love the way the do this, the local mayor agrees to it and that's it, diversions put in place and its sorted. As well as stalls temporary bars and food stalls pop up and lots of stalls with the usual range of items, I think that some of the stall holders think the more woodworm an item has the better it is. Having been involved in running our local feast week back in the UK it is really interesting to see how it is done here, you get the feeling that there aren't as many rules and regulations to follow...
My find of the day was this
lovely old leather Gladstone bag, I will use it for my drawing materials, although I think I might have to fight Sharron for it.
I have been going mad not having a field guide of any sort for identifying insects mine having gone into storage. So this afternoon I drove to one of the nearest big towns, Argenton sur Creuse to try and find a bookshop. I did find one but they didn't have a proper field guide I did however get a lovely book about insects that will help. The book is of course in French so it will help me in two ways as I will need to work out what it is saying.
It was worth the drive just to go to Argenton sur Creuse, As its name suggests it is on the river Creuse and the views are amazing
although no unusual for this area of France, it is a bit like the Forest of Dean and the Wye valley but with Oak forests rather than pine.
Saturday 20 July 2019
19th July
Had a ringlet butterfly (Aphantpus hyperantus) land on my finger this evening. Also had a saddle back bush cricket land on the back of chair.
The local farmers have spent the last couple of days bringing in the hay harvest. This area of France is known for it's cattle but one forgets that cattle must be fed through the winter, so a good hay harvest is important. Back in Cambridgeshire hay was seen almost as a by product as the main use of the land was for arable but here it is the other way round with only occasional fields of wheat or barley. One other nice thing is there is a lot of wild mint in the fields which gets harvested with the hay so the smell is fantastic.
This beastie landed on the back of a chair on the patio. It is a saddle backed bush cricket |(Ephippiger cunii), or grillon or cri-cri in French
It is a large cricket about the size of my thumb and of course totally harmless. It is not a species found in the UK so another first for me.
As an amateur naturalist this area of France is amazing, the region has predominantly a mix of Oak and Chestnut woodland and very little chemical use judging by the number of wildflowers and the lack of dense stands of stinging nettles which thrive on phosphates. I can't wait to get into our own property and begin to record the wildlife living there.
The local farmers have spent the last couple of days bringing in the hay harvest. This area of France is known for it's cattle but one forgets that cattle must be fed through the winter, so a good hay harvest is important. Back in Cambridgeshire hay was seen almost as a by product as the main use of the land was for arable but here it is the other way round with only occasional fields of wheat or barley. One other nice thing is there is a lot of wild mint in the fields which gets harvested with the hay so the smell is fantastic.
This beastie landed on the back of a chair on the patio. It is a saddle backed bush cricket |(Ephippiger cunii), or grillon or cri-cri in French
As an amateur naturalist this area of France is amazing, the region has predominantly a mix of Oak and Chestnut woodland and very little chemical use judging by the number of wildflowers and the lack of dense stands of stinging nettles which thrive on phosphates. I can't wait to get into our own property and begin to record the wildlife living there.
Thursday 18 July 2019
17th July
I think there may be more than one family of Green woodpeckers in the garden. Tree sparrows are really active, watched young being fed on front fence. I need to find a bookshop where I can get a butterfly book, lots around I don't know. Temp topped 28c predicted that it will be higher by weekend.
Not a lot to report today so I thought I would show some maps of where we are and some photos taken near the gite.
Not a lot to report today so I thought I would show some maps of where we are and some photos taken near the gite.
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| View along the dead end lane where we walk the dogs |
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| Lovely old stump in hedgerow left to decompose and so will become a home to insects and fungi |
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| Hedgerow alive with wildflowers |
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| Sunset over hayfield |
Wednesday 17 July 2019
16 July
A family of Green woodpeckers are resident in the garden, one adult and three juveniles. Many of the books I read before we came to France commented on the lack of birdlife due to shooting and farming, the bird and wildlife in this area is however amazing, this must be due to the highly wooded environment, mainly cattle farming and low pollution evident in the high numbers of lichens present on the trees.
Up at six to take the dogs on their morning walk, been taking them out this early everyday to avoid the heat and the hassle of meeting strangers.
Strange day today, the first time Sharron has returned to work since we moved here, she is returning to the UK via Paris where she has some meetings. This was always going to be the downside of moving over here and we know it will be the the pattern for the foreseeable future, but it doesn't make it any easier. I drove her to the local station which is about 3 km away and we said our goodbyes, she won't be back for about 10 days or so.
So now I am fending for myself, a stranger in a foreign land. So first stop a bar for a coffee and then to Le Croquinoix Sarl a boulangerie in Eguzon to pick up bread. I parked in the town centre and went in a cafe called Le Bienvenue which was exactly as I hoped it would be, I sat at the bar and said hello to all the locals as they entered while I had my coffee. It is the done thing to say hello, even the owner shook my hand as I sat down, it is nice to feel welcome when you are a stranger. I am almost a regular in the boulangerie, I bought a Pain and a coffee eclair for later.
After picking up my bread I drove back to the gite, this was the first time we had left the dogs on their own, but I deed not have worried they were flaked out in the living room.
This afternoon I went out to the next village to investigate a Brocante we drove past, not a lot to see some nice pieces of furniture in need of restoration but until we move into the house its not worth buying anything.
This evening I stayed up quite late as there was a partial lunar eclipse from about 10pm onwards I took dogs for a walk at about 9:30 then stayed up until about 11.30when the eclipse was at its maximum. I think a partial eclipse is actually more beautiful than a full eclipse as you see the circular shadows of the earth across the moon. I could not help thinking how fitting it was on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.
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| Bella sunbathing |
Strange day today, the first time Sharron has returned to work since we moved here, she is returning to the UK via Paris where she has some meetings. This was always going to be the downside of moving over here and we know it will be the the pattern for the foreseeable future, but it doesn't make it any easier. I drove her to the local station which is about 3 km away and we said our goodbyes, she won't be back for about 10 days or so.
So now I am fending for myself, a stranger in a foreign land. So first stop a bar for a coffee and then to Le Croquinoix Sarl a boulangerie in Eguzon to pick up bread. I parked in the town centre and went in a cafe called Le Bienvenue which was exactly as I hoped it would be, I sat at the bar and said hello to all the locals as they entered while I had my coffee. It is the done thing to say hello, even the owner shook my hand as I sat down, it is nice to feel welcome when you are a stranger. I am almost a regular in the boulangerie, I bought a Pain and a coffee eclair for later.
After picking up my bread I drove back to the gite, this was the first time we had left the dogs on their own, but I deed not have worried they were flaked out in the living room.
This afternoon I went out to the next village to investigate a Brocante we drove past, not a lot to see some nice pieces of furniture in need of restoration but until we move into the house its not worth buying anything.
This evening I stayed up quite late as there was a partial lunar eclipse from about 10pm onwards I took dogs for a walk at about 9:30 then stayed up until about 11.30when the eclipse was at its maximum. I think a partial eclipse is actually more beautiful than a full eclipse as you see the circular shadows of the earth across the moon. I could not help thinking how fitting it was on the 50th anniversary of the launch of Apollo 11.
Tuesday 16 July 2019
July 15th
Pair of Nuthatches and Long tailed tits in Oak tree next to house. Moles in the garden. White admiral butterfly in garden (new to me) also Melodious Warbler (also a first) in hedgerow. Very similar to Reed warbler but very yellow underside, log pinkish tail, less obvious eye band.
This is the gite we are renting while we are waiting for our house purchase to go through, it is not very big but more than comfortable for us and the dogs for a couple of months. Sadly it was not ideal for our cat, Warrior, as we were having to keep her in the bedroom with the windows closed to prevent her escaping. The temperatures here are in the mid 20s going up later this week so we had to do something. Sharron did some research and found a British run cattery about 30mins from here and so this afternoon Woz got relocated until we get to the new house. It was sad to see her go as the poor thing doesn't know what is going on but definitely for the best.
The other evening I was messing around with my GoPro and made a video of nightfall at the gite. If you want to see it, it is here Nightfall video
This is the gite we are renting while we are waiting for our house purchase to go through, it is not very big but more than comfortable for us and the dogs for a couple of months. Sadly it was not ideal for our cat, Warrior, as we were having to keep her in the bedroom with the windows closed to prevent her escaping. The temperatures here are in the mid 20s going up later this week so we had to do something. Sharron did some research and found a British run cattery about 30mins from here and so this afternoon Woz got relocated until we get to the new house. It was sad to see her go as the poor thing doesn't know what is going on but definitely for the best.
The other evening I was messing around with my GoPro and made a video of nightfall at the gite. If you want to see it, it is here Nightfall video
Monday 15 July 2019
Bastille day
Nice walk with dogs at 6am, no new birds but really missing my field guides. Lots of wild flowers I can’t identify. On our evening walk saw a flying beetle which I think was a rhinoceros beetle but couldn’t get close enough, but as with most large beetles it flew like a brick.
Sunday in France can only mean one thing, Brocante, these are the French version of the car boot but tend to be organised by the village or town, Éguzon-Chantôme our nearest town jaws holding what was described as an art brocante, so I had to go. Having parked up I wandered into the town centre which was packed with people hunting bargains..
I very quickly realised that there wasn’t a lot of art related items on sale, but that didn’t mater. As a Brit wandering around every stand has something novel to look at and it wasn’t long before I found something I liked.
It is the French game Les petites chevaux an early version of Ludo. It has a green beige surface in a folding wooden box, it was only €10 so I bought it.
I returned home to watch the most exciting cricket match I have every seen, and once it was over we sat in the garden and listen to the fireworks in the distance, nice of them to celebrate England’s win.
Can anyone identify this for me? The flower looks like borage but the leaves are wrong, I don’t have my books with me, the soil is acid.
Sunday in France can only mean one thing, Brocante, these are the French version of the car boot but tend to be organised by the village or town, Éguzon-Chantôme our nearest town jaws holding what was described as an art brocante, so I had to go. Having parked up I wandered into the town centre which was packed with people hunting bargains..
I very quickly realised that there wasn’t a lot of art related items on sale, but that didn’t mater. As a Brit wandering around every stand has something novel to look at and it wasn’t long before I found something I liked.
It is the French game Les petites chevaux an early version of Ludo. It has a green beige surface in a folding wooden box, it was only €10 so I bought it.
I returned home to watch the most exciting cricket match I have every seen, and once it was over we sat in the garden and listen to the fireworks in the distance, nice of them to celebrate England’s win.
Can anyone identify this for me? The flower looks like borage but the leaves are wrong, I don’t have my books with me, the soil is acid.
Sunday 14 July 2019
My Birthday
13 July
Family of Black Redstarts in garden, also colony of tree sparrows. Driving to Eguzon this afternoon a pair of Booted Eagles were low over the road. Saw a comma butterfly and a Beautiful Damoselle along with some unidentified insects, can't wait to get my natural history library out here.
As I am writing this sitting outside in shorts and tee shirt at 7 am (6 am uk) there are Turtle doves churring in the trees all around the gite and a hobby just flew out of the trees behind the garden.
Anyway I made it to another Birthday and thanks to everyone who wished me well on Facebook etc. My target was to get to France before my Birthday and I just made it.
I started the day taking the dogs for a walk around 6am, it is so peaceful here and we are lucky to have a dead end road right next to gite ideal for their morning trot, stroll or lumber depending on which dog you are watching at the time. we all managed to arrive back more or less together.
Mid morning Luc our landlord arrived, I hadn't met him before and a nicer more laid back person you couldn't want to meet. Basically he is more than happy for us to do as we like, even told me I can use his power tools to fix or change anything we need to. He also began my education on the workings of the Fosse (septic tank), these are no long just a pit in the garden but a very high tech item, in fact I think French Universities probably run degree courses on them. So I have learnt how to feed it enzymes and bacteria, how to flush it if it smells etc.
The most exciting thing I did today was to go and visit the house we are buying. This was the first time I was going to see it having put my faith in Sharron and my sister in law Debbie. I was going on my own as Sharron needed to stay with the dogs. Maison des Lis is about 35km from here so I put the address into the Sat nav selected shortest route (when will I learn!!) and set off for a exploration of the back lanes of the Haute Vienne, incredibly pretty but sometimes you felt you where driving through someones garden.
I have of course seen many photographs of the house along with live streaming video when they were viewing, however the day they viewed it was pouring with rain. So when I pulled up it was the first time either of us had seen it in its full glory. It was stunning, I will save the details for when we actually move in but as you arrive the garden is a mass of colour. I had a tour of the house every room is beautifully decorated. The kitchen is huge compared with what we are used to, you can easily feed 6 around the main table.
Outside the land is perfect; a meadow edged with oak and Chestnut, 2 wells, ponds paddocks etc. There is a huge barn and other outbuildings and a stunning swimming pool. We are also purchasing tractors and accessories with the house including this wood saw, which is slightly bigger than I expected.
I spent about 3 hrs there and had to sample Gill's excellent chocolate brownie, she is a great baker. When I eventually left I was laden down with a bag of Miribelle plums, Lettuces and Coargettes from the garden, along with lots of ideas for projects I can do when we move in, such as making a lot of nestboxes to place around the garden.
The drive back was much less eventful as I headed for Eguzon to pick up food for my Birthday meal, a nice Steak for me and some trout for Sharron. Also a very nice bottle of Cremant de Loire, nicer than Champagne and a fifth of the price.
After dinner we took the dogs for their evening walk and retired.
13 July
Family of Black Redstarts in garden, also colony of tree sparrows. Driving to Eguzon this afternoon a pair of Booted Eagles were low over the road. Saw a comma butterfly and a Beautiful Damoselle along with some unidentified insects, can't wait to get my natural history library out here.
As I am writing this sitting outside in shorts and tee shirt at 7 am (6 am uk) there are Turtle doves churring in the trees all around the gite and a hobby just flew out of the trees behind the garden.
Anyway I made it to another Birthday and thanks to everyone who wished me well on Facebook etc. My target was to get to France before my Birthday and I just made it.
I started the day taking the dogs for a walk around 6am, it is so peaceful here and we are lucky to have a dead end road right next to gite ideal for their morning trot, stroll or lumber depending on which dog you are watching at the time. we all managed to arrive back more or less together.
Mid morning Luc our landlord arrived, I hadn't met him before and a nicer more laid back person you couldn't want to meet. Basically he is more than happy for us to do as we like, even told me I can use his power tools to fix or change anything we need to. He also began my education on the workings of the Fosse (septic tank), these are no long just a pit in the garden but a very high tech item, in fact I think French Universities probably run degree courses on them. So I have learnt how to feed it enzymes and bacteria, how to flush it if it smells etc.
The most exciting thing I did today was to go and visit the house we are buying. This was the first time I was going to see it having put my faith in Sharron and my sister in law Debbie. I was going on my own as Sharron needed to stay with the dogs. Maison des Lis is about 35km from here so I put the address into the Sat nav selected shortest route (when will I learn!!) and set off for a exploration of the back lanes of the Haute Vienne, incredibly pretty but sometimes you felt you where driving through someones garden.
I have of course seen many photographs of the house along with live streaming video when they were viewing, however the day they viewed it was pouring with rain. So when I pulled up it was the first time either of us had seen it in its full glory. It was stunning, I will save the details for when we actually move in but as you arrive the garden is a mass of colour. I had a tour of the house every room is beautifully decorated. The kitchen is huge compared with what we are used to, you can easily feed 6 around the main table.
Outside the land is perfect; a meadow edged with oak and Chestnut, 2 wells, ponds paddocks etc. There is a huge barn and other outbuildings and a stunning swimming pool. We are also purchasing tractors and accessories with the house including this wood saw, which is slightly bigger than I expected.
I spent about 3 hrs there and had to sample Gill's excellent chocolate brownie, she is a great baker. When I eventually left I was laden down with a bag of Miribelle plums, Lettuces and Coargettes from the garden, along with lots of ideas for projects I can do when we move in, such as making a lot of nestboxes to place around the garden.
The drive back was much less eventful as I headed for Eguzon to pick up food for my Birthday meal, a nice Steak for me and some trout for Sharron. Also a very nice bottle of Cremant de Loire, nicer than Champagne and a fifth of the price.
After dinner we took the dogs for their evening walk and retired.
Friday 12 July 2019
The Journey
10th July 2019, the great departure.
The house seemed remarkably quiet when we got up with only Harvey downstairs. Heidi, Bella and Warrior left ahead of us yesterday with a pet courier company. The idea of that was to make the move less stressful for all, but of course that would never actually be the case. Warrior had decided to stay out all night which wouldn't have been an issue if the courier had arrived at lunchtime as planned not 8:30 as they did, after delaying him with a cup of tea, searching the garden, outbuildings, street etc she marched in about 9:30.
So at about 8:30 the movers arrived; quite a lot had been prepacked over the last 3 weeks so we were confident that we would be out by 2pm. Our movers were great and very careful wrapped everything and as 2pm came and went I found myself sneakily packing boxes when they weren't looking, which speeded things up a bit, but does mean we will be playing guess the contents in a few weeks' time.
Half way through the process I discovered that my GoPro and sound recording kit was somewhere in one of the vans, not on the 'do not pack pile' in the living room. After a frantic search of the van and the opening and resealing of five boxes we found it. Other useful items from the 'do not pack' pile are however now in storage:
Watercolours and pads
Sun hats
Large scale road maps of France (why would you think we didn't need that?)
Two bath towels left over the bathroom door for the last minute post cleaning, pre journey shower
While the packing was going on Sharron was continuously taking car loads of rubbish to the tip (obviously hadn't decluttered as much as we thought we had - or maybe we were just increasingly desperate for the removal to finish?) and trying to clean the house, the latter activity being frustrated by the random way the vans were being filled, almost everything was removed then left while they moved on to another room. The other issue that needed handling was Harvey; already confused by the absence of his mates he now had strange people removing stuff. For everyones' benefit we moved him in and out of the garden and isolating him from the workers.
Finally about 5pm the last van left, that gave us an hour to clean what we could, shower and get away, we did what we could but not as much as we would have liked.
The drive down to Folkestone and on to Le Shuttle went well; Harvey particularly liked the dog exercise area... so many unfamiliar smells.
Now by the time we got to France we had been on the go for 18 hours non stop, so we probably weren't as careful as we should have been entering the destination in the sat nav. But we knew it would be about a 6-7 hr drive and the time and distance looked about right, so off we went. At about 2 am we pulled over for a couple of hours sleep. Trying to sleep in a car so full you can't recline the seat and vibrating for the snoring from the large dog in the back was impossible; I think we slept for about 30 minutes each.
So on we went, reaching our destination at about 09:30 which was good, as we were meeting the owner of the gite at 10:00. The gite in the beautiful Indre countryside, not the equally beautiful Indre et Loire countryside - which was where we actually were. Who knew there are at least a dozen hamlets in France with the same name...
We were at least three hours from where we should have been. After several panicked phone calls to the gite owner and the notaire to reschedule, and the animal couriers who we we also meant to be meeting, we found out - thankfully - that the other two dogs and the cat would not be arriving til the next day
Three hours of driving later, we finally arrived. The gite is lovely and the location perfect; really quiet and green. However we didn't have much time to enjoy it as we had a 4pm appointment with the notaire in Bellac about an hour away, so off we went again. This was the first time I had met our vendors; I still haven't seen the house we are buying. Documents signed using an electronic signature pad, unlike the paperwork we'd had to initial every page of at home, we set off back having officially bought a house.
Satnav hiccups meant a 1.5km off-road section on the way home; not what we expected but it got us to where we wanted to be.
We got there via a stop for provisions in Eguzon. I actually managed to buy a loaf by myself only using what I think was French - I hate to think what the man in the shop thought.
Finally after a delicious bowl of pasta and a couple of well earned drinks, it finally felt that we have arrived.
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The wait is almost over
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