Monday travel blues

Poppy says 'pack me too'

It was a busy weekend and a short one too for Ade. He arrived home from a week in London on Saturday afternoon and was off again to Belfast this morning. It is something we were used to even before we moved to France as his work regularly takes him away from home, and obviously work means money, but there are times when he is away a lot and (like Poppy) I wish I could curl up in his suitcase and go along too.

This morning's departure was a little stressed as due to the ongoing SNCF rail strike his train from Poitiers to Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris was cancelled and rather than a relaxing train journey where he could work on his course notes he had to battle the Peripherique in Paris and a six hour drive. Merci beaucoup SNCF workers. Thankfully he made it safely to Belfast, but I'm not sure the weather there is quite as nice as here.

Vide grenier at the chateau

Sunday morning was spent wandering around a vide grenier (literally empty loft) held at a local chateau. We made a few purchases, but the scary looking flat, dead fox peering into the box of cuddly toys was not one of them. Some of the things you see for sale never ceases to amaze us.

Vide grenier dead fox

Vide grenier delights

Sunday afternoon was the perfect weather for a bike ride and despite getting a puncture less than two kilometres from home we did a 40km circuit that included getting up close to some wind turbines, cycling past vineyards, fields of sunflowers where we saw the first cheery yellow head of the year, wheat, maize, pea crops and even flowering onion fields. I don't think I will ever tire of slowly wandering the back roads by bike as every trip out highlights the beauty of the countryside we are lucky enough to live in. It is a real recharge for the batteries

Cycling the back roads

The house seemed very quiet this morning, but I've picked some cherries, made some jam, baked a cake and a quiche, walked the dog and even dabbled in a spot of housework.