The mundane isnt necessarily boring

We get a great sense of accomplishment from small things, and the mundane. Cleaning house, chain sawing firewood, pulling weeds, raking gravel. We did all of them yesterday.
Laundry went in, the vacuum cleaner got another minute go through to find out why it isn't sucking well, (and we are none the wiser), a long walk was taken in the meantime, and because we needed some firewood upstairs, we had to cut it. The shorter the cut wood (fire ready) that you order the more it costs. I'm a little dubious about this, as you then have to spend time and energy (fuel) to cut it smaller at home. Why not just cut it smaller in the first place? Surely the cost isn't that much more?

Kindling had to be cut/accumulated from the bark that was shredding from the Acacia wood, which is VERY hard. We transported it upstairs a few at a time...it is very dense and therefore heavy. The stairs are very old (original?) so one has to be careful going up and down them...some soft spots there!
We were on a roll now...There was firewood stacked outside on the tiles, inside the pool area, which really needed to be under cover in order to dry out. Waz transported that wood the short distance around the corner (about 20 trips, he estimated) while I got busy with the metal rake, raking the gravel back off the roadway. Looking around for something else to do, I got a bit 'weed happy', and before you could say 'Merde', they had all been swiped off the face of the earth:) and tipped over the fence into the mess that is already there....Sooo satisfying. We found out today that the mess is owned by our neighbor on the other side of us. We met the owner of the Aston Martin, this afternoon, and I asked if he minded if we tipped out green waste onto his property? Being the good English chap that he is, he said "Of course not"...having already done so, I showed him my contributions, to which he shrugged! He has just returned from a Grand Tour in the AM, of Spain. Nicer weather down there, he said! He indicated that he would put this house on the market this year. We aren't interested. He didn't take too kindly to my suggestion that it needed some work! lol....It has all been done, he said...well, on the inside! Hmm...says me...I think the outside could do with some work. Not worth it, he replied. Wouldn't put another euro into it! Good luck with the sale, then! That is exactly the attitude we are coming up against in our house search. It will require much work to make the outside look nice, so I would absolutely lowball him on the price! That's his house ahead. Blue shutters.

 'Rustique' it might be, but... And dont get me wrong, I have NO idea what his price might be, but I guess I just imagine that you would want to tidy things up a bit.

Lots of leaves under the back deck, and the Wisteria is trailing everywhere there. Not a good mix or making it easy to rake underneath. The Wisteria trails fouled the tines on the rake, but at least it kept me out of trouble...well, further trouble!

This photo was taken after we first arrived. Hard to see the weeds...the bright green things growing in the gravel are now GONE! :)


I forgot to take new photos...HOW did I forget to do that? It all looks very pristine now, and rather than cut the trailing  Wisteria, Waz and I trailed it over structures so that it will create a lovely green and purple view.

Our neighbors were friendly and chatty, and invited us for Raclette for dinner on Friday evening. We had Raclette last in Bretagne 2016, with our Irish friend Eidin. We readily agreed to the invite and look forward to their company and the food.  They have been coming to France for years, as visitors, and now own the lovely home next door, which they live in part time.

I have to admit to sleeping in, yesterday. Our 10am rising was followed by a basic breakfast of toast and tea. Apricot Jam for him, and that lovely new creamed local honey for me! How very English! After our day out, we were rather pooped. Touristing isn't for the faint of heart! The brain gets a little tired, taking in all that new information. We slept well, anyway.

After cutting firewood with a blunt chainsaw blade, it was decided that we would go to Villebois Lavalette to the Bricomarche there (Hardware Store) to see if we could find some appropriate files to sharpen the blade. Waz has done this before and knows how to do it, fortunately. It was recommended that we take it up to Verteillac to the Malaud store there (general store that sells almost everything!) where the owners of the saw would normally get it sharpened, but as the saw cuts on a curve, which is indicative of an incorrectly sharpened blade, Waz is seeking to rectify the situation if he can. This requires the correct equipment. We almost bought it the other day at Leroy Merlin in Angouleme, but didn't. Wish we had! You know how that goes!
Anyhoo...we didn't find anything but some files, and needed the handle which wasn't available. We are returning to Leroy Merlin soon, so we will find the necessary then.

Not far away is the SuperU, so we went there next.
Out of Croissants, we stocked up...buying 8 for 3.80euros. About $4.US. A couple of other purchases, not nearly as notable, and we were out of there at almost 5pm. Of course I chose a new way to go home...there are about 3 or 4, we have found. Some of the roads meet up, which is good, but seeing new things is always fun. The views across the countryside are stunning, so we thoroughly enjoy ALL of them. This is the small hillside town with the 10th/13th century Chateau on top!

For dinner I prepared the Chicken Aiguillettes which are pieces of young chicken breast. They cook up beautifully and quickly and make good salad left overs, which we ate today for lunch.
Plenty of veges, including that sweet cauliflower, some more carrots, left over potato cooked up crisply, and the leftover béchamel (white) sauce with mushrooms and lardons in it. Pretty yummy, actually. No photos. Problem with the photos is that I leave the camera upstairs and the kitchen is way downstairs.

After dinner we spent some serious time identifying houses to view. We needed to make appointments in the same area so that we aren't constantly going hither and yon. Petrol is expensive here....we filled up at 1.49euros per litre, yesterday. Our second fill-up in the ten days we have been here, making our total around 70 euros, so far. This is more than we would normally spend, but travelling long distances soon guzzles it up. We have travelled almost 800 kms, so I guess that isn't too bad.

Long into the night we worked to find appropriately priced properties that floated our boat...ha!  We found a couple in similar price brackets so that we have properties to compare. Nothing is ever as easy as Apples for Apples, but we think we have found homes that compare favorably with each other. This is important, otherwise we have no price point to start from when negotiating.

Lots of messages to Realtors went out towards midnight, in the hope that we would get replies today. We did! woohoo! AND we got appointments to view! yay!

Tuesday: We actually rose early this morning...8.45am. Yep, that's early! The alarm, however, went off at 7am, and we are now in the bad habit of turning it off without remembering that we have done so, lol.
Our morning was spent following up on and arranging meetings with Realtors to view properties. Currently we have three to view tomorrow, which will necessitate our leaving home early...well, comparatively...say 9.30?
We will return to the property we saw from the outside on Sunday, this time during the week when life goes back to normal, because nothing was happening there on Sunday.
We have two other properties closer to the Atlantic coast, to view, but still an hour inland. The closer to the coast you are, the more you will pay, of course. We dont mind driving an hour to visit the shore, frankly, if we can enjoy the gorgeous views on the way, and in our daily lives.

We also have a call out to another realtor who is a bit slow in replying, so hopefully we will see that property at the same time...or the next day.
We have made the decision to stay the night in Saintes, Charente Maritime, Department, because it is close by our prospects, and also because the Gallo Roman ruins there are fantastic. These include a Roman Amphitheatre.

Having secured viewings, we decided to go into Riberac to the Intermarche, because on the bottom of my last purchase docket there, it said I was eligible for 25% off my next total, before the end of the month. We are somewhat familiar with these loyalty cards, and I needed to visit the Service desk and ask them if this applied to THIS store.
We thought that we could stock up on meat in particular, being the more expensive items on any shopping list, and to get them 25% off, would be fantastic.
Alas, it wasn't to be. Here's how it works: If you sign up  for your loyalty card in the town of Timbuktu, for example, you have to remain loyal to THAT store. This means that the potential 25% can ONLY be taken at THAT store, and no other. Sheesh! It pays to sign up for a new card when you are settled, obviously!
So, in my best French, I asked the woman at the Welcome counter, what my options were. NONE! Quelle surprise! Oh well, when we are settled, we will get a loyalty card for our nearest Intermarche. This applies to every store and every card.

We did buy some meat regardless, and a lovely tail of Norwegian Salmon...I made a mistake though, thinking that the Salmon was on sale for 12.90 eur per Kg, but that special was for a WHOLE SIDE! WOW! Instead we had to settle for the 19.90eur per Kg. 8 eur for our dinner wasn't too bad.

Following that, we headed to Lidl for our Pain Cereal, and more Chicken Aiguellettes, which were on sale. We froze both.
Our neighbor in the parking lot was a classic!

On the way home we stopped in Verteillac for a Grand Crème at the newly re-opened bar (English owned and operated) there. This was the FIRST really HOT crème we have had for a loooong time. Well done!
It was lunch time, so the place was beginning to fill up with both English and French. The elderly Englishman sitting at a table behind us didn't speak any French..... I asked him if his Tagliatelli Carbonara was excellent (in French)....he just looked confused. Hardly surprising, really! lol.

Perhaps I should have ordered this Rose!

Fortified, we headed home for a salad lunch...remember those chicken bits?  Our afternoon was spent walking, cleaning some more....I am determined to get all the calcifications off the bath tub!! ....and mopping tile floors. Activity is good!

Dinner was the salmon tail with the last of the Hollandaise sauce, some carrots, brussels and the last of the left over potatoes, which got nicely crisped up in the pan with the salmon.
 An early night tonight, and early morning (its all relative!) as we head north to the Charente Maritime and Deux Sevres  to view houses.

You will be the first to know what we find! Bon Chance!

Night night!

Cognac or Bust

Well, Cognac wasn't actually on the agenda today, but plenty of other things were.

We rose late, poking our noses through the curtains and finding grey skies and fog...lots of fog.
Yesterday the fog burned off by 2pm, and the sunshine was gorgeous. I had high hopes of the same today. We ate a late but hearty breakfast, knowing we mightn't be getting any lunch for a long time. We packed snacks and did end up eating them in a parking lot, lol.
We left the house around noon, hoping like crazy that the fog, which had become thicker in the meantime, would clear in time for us to view the prospects ahead of us.

We decided last night that we really needed to stop looking at houses on the internet, and get out there and see them in person. So, having identified a couple last night before bed (not a brilliant thing to do, I might add...brain worked overtime all night as a result!), we wrote down the details and off we went...towards Angouleme.
Angouleme is 47ks from here, which isn't much in the scheme of things. We are seeking somewhere there are good medical facilities, transport (TGV line from Paris), good Commerces (as they say here)...shopping/hardware stores...basically everything you could want...and with some privacy and a little bit of land for our veg. garden. How hard can it be? Trust me...just as challenging here, as anywhere else in the world.
We have spent months, perhaps years, searching for our next home (here, there and everywhere), so today was a bit out of the box.
Our first house to check out was in north east Angouleme near the new Espace Carat, which is a brand new Cultural Center. Quite an amazing building. Modern! I didn't get a photo, and neither did Waz...too busy navigating! We took main roads there and then the ring road around the city center, so that we didn't actually GO to Angouleme, but around it.
On the north side we turned down a skinny street (nothing new here) with chicanes, which is also common here on steep or straight streets where they want to slow the traffic down. The home to view was very close to it's neighbor, which was obviously built by the same contractor. Not very attractive to us.

We have had to really think about what we expect to live in, knowing that we are used to a certain standard of living and we like our privacy.

The second home was going to fit the bill more, and we are working with a realtor now to discuss our visit there WITH him in attendance so we can access the property. Lots of possibilities with this one.

I have some photos but shouldn't show them here...well, why not?

Getting there was lovely. We felt stressless, happy and our wellbeing index rose 100%. We are in Cognac Country here. Vines forever.

 Winter Wheat crops and Turnips in the foreground.

 Love these trees lining the road, everywhere.

 Ok...Here is our first look in real life. The grey line on the side of the house that has been 'plugged' is where electric lines have entered the house. There is an electric box at the bottom of it, so one would think?

We like the light stone of the façade. The land is optional in several different sizes, so we will decide that when we meet the realtor there. It needs some renovation and interior decoration...new kitchen/bathrooms...typical updating. At least you get what you want! it also has an apartment underneath in what used to be a double garage. Plenty of ideas for that space, apart from keeping it as an apartment.
From the curb, it looks like so many homes in winter. Damp! Winter is the best time to buy a house. You can identify many problems at this time of year! Spouting, damp in basements, in eaves, ceilings walls, roof cavities etc. We have seen so many horror stories that we wouldn't want to touch with a barge pole.
This home is made of stone and has a slate roof in apparently good condition. We will inspect that minutely, you can guarantee!
 The property isn't small, but we dont want small. We like large open spaces, green space and preferably a view. This has a green view, rather than a far view over fields, which we were hoping for, but then we havent bought this house yet...there is plenty of time to find the right house for us.

 Having sussed out the house we took a tiki-tour around the next town. This is an old Well. From all appearances, it still works! Typical of the region, this is only 3kms from the house we looked at. It is where we might do our food shopping. There is a large SuperU here and many other commerces, as well as medical, transport link and cultural center.

 The town from the parking lot of the SuperU Supermarche.

 Satisfied with everything we had seen, we went back to the house on the way to Cognac, our last stop on the 'Tour'.
The sun had come out in the meantime, and the views were stunning. Part of the journey was on highway, and the rest was along rather slender D roads. Those secondary roads that we mostly take.

 After viewing the house, we went up one of the roads going up the hill behind the small town. This lovely home had stunning views over the surrounding fields...just like we want! This is huge however.

 This is the view opposite the house above. Lovely?

 Another town. Those Plane Trees will be lovely when they have leaves.

 The closer to Cognac we came, the more vines, the more distilleries we found...of course!

 We couldn't decide if this was an old building been refurbished, or someone had a wet dream!

 Driving into Cognac we got a good feeling about the place. Drove through the new part and into the Old Town.
On the way we spied a McDonalds! I know...here we go again! Seriously, it was 3.45pm, our snacks had long since been digested and we were in desperate need of a LONG coffee, and FOOD! We ordered a 9 piece chicken McNuggets, a large fries and two large lattes. 12 euros please. Ouch! Wolfing that lot down, alongside the many French kids/teenagers we departed for the old town.
We crossed the big bridge over the Charente River, which is like so many rivers at the moment...In Flood!

 Looking back across the Charente River towards the Chateau de Cognac. What an extraordinary building. It looks a bit gnawed at, close up...you will see photos later!
The new Promenade is actually baracaded, but that didn't stop the many Sunday walkers, today. The river hasn't breached the new seawall, thankfully, which would undo all the wonderful stone work.

 One of the Old City gates (portals), alongside everything that is Hennessy Cognac. Most of the buildings around this area belong to the makers of this iconic brand in Cognac. The old buildings have been beautifully restored.

 Looking downstream you can see how much water is covering places it shouldn't.

 This woman later caught a fish...small, but a fish nonetheless.:) We were curious to know what kind of fish you would find in such a river. It had a yellow stripe, is all we could see from the bridge.

 Fun mosaics along the promenade. Not sure what the lizard motif is all about, but there are several going in along this walk.

 The portal looks like it needs a good clean, like so many buildings in the old City.

 Another restored Hennessy building.

 I poked my camera inside some glorious wrought iron gates, for this shot. How lovely!

 The Chateau de Cognac isn't in very good repair. It backs onto the Hotel de Cognac, where you can stay, and also where they begin the tours of the Hennessy properties.

 The top of one of the fountains. So much grime covering the stonework. What a shame.

 Some restoration work has been done, over the centuries, to the Chateau, but it could do with some more money being thrown it's way.

 Directly below the Chateau are what look to be Roman Baths. There was no sign saying what they are, and we may be quite wrong in our assumption there.

 Satisfied that we had seen enough for one day, and travelled plenty, and faced with more than an hour's journey home, we set off just after 5pm.
The sun came out over the fields, and we couldn't help but take photos. Stunning!

 A large Maize Silo on the outskirts of Cognac.

 Yes, that is retreating fog, in the background. It didn't retreat quite enough, because the sunshine was short lived. We made the most of it.

 Grape Vines in the foreground.

 Our GPS could have taken us a more direct route home, but we enjoyed the D roads more than some highway. We did take one detour, but I did one of my famous 3-point turns to return to the designated road.:) I am also famous for 'off-road' travel, U-turns, going up roads the wrong way, ok...risk-taking in general. I hear some pretty heavy sighs coming from the Navigator's seat:)

 Isn't this sublime! The fog closed in quickly after waz took this photo.

 Just after this photo, we were back in grey and heavy fog. Nearer to home, I kept getting light flicks from oncoming cars, and I got a bit paranoid about my lights being on high beam, but things became clear not far along...Cops! Radar detectors pointing the opposite way, and up a long hill. They had just pulled someone over when we went past. I stick to the speed posted, as I had a bill for 90 euros for being photo'd doing 4kms over the speed limit, last year. The fine was received in the mail in Jacksonville, 3 months later. lol. Be sure your sins will find you somewhere in the world.

 We arrived home just on 6pm. It obviously took longer to get there than it did to get home. Good job!
Our neighbor is back...this is his Aston Martin!

Well, dinner was formerly frozen personal Pizzas I picked up in a Patisserie in Riberac last week. Good thing I thought to thaw them, this morning.
I think we will have a day at home tomorrow, to catch up on some house work, laundry and just pottering around. A walk might be good too, as long as it isn't raining.
We now have an appointment with the Realtor to view that house on Wednesday. I'll let you know what we think. More photos then too!
Night night.

Taking the Long Way Home

Well, actually, it was taking the long way there, and finding that we were but a short way from home, on the return...VERY close to home, in fact.
When you leave home, you can go left or right at the cross roads. We went right, and perhaps we should have gone left. However...and this is a BIG however, we wouldn't have seen everything that we saw today, and that includes chasing after a Moulin de Vent which Mon's brain told her was a Mill for Sale, but was in fact a WINDMILL! Duh! the difference being an E at the end. Vent means wind, and Vente or Vendre means For Sale.
We also wouldn't have seen a couple of deer fly across the road in front of us, which was a real thrill. These are rural parts, you know!

Our first tiki-tour of the day started after our breakfast of muesli, fruit and yoghurt...not necessarily in that order, and actually all mushed up together, to be honest. No, I didn't photograph that!

After visiting Villebois Lavalette briefly yesterday, we decided to return today and walk the small town center.
Getting there took us through Goute Rossignol, a small hillside village with a post office, a church, restaurant (not open in winter, typically), but some interesting houses, which we came back to take a look at on the way home for lunch.
We also went through Fontaine, and  Pas de Fontaines, both Hamlets with some interesting architecture....aren't they all? One might say so.

The spire of the old church (they are all old!) in Gouts Rossignol can be seen for miles (kilometres, actually). The small town overlooks glorious countryside in all directions. The entry to the town is stunningly lined with these trees, which Im sure are very showy in summer.

 The fog took a while to burn off this morning, and now it is about 11am. The fields are a patchwork of brown, newly turned soil, and the early growth of Winter Wheat. Lines of poplar skeletons, as on the left in this photo, add to the whole scene.

 Past Gouts Rossignol we come to another small settlement of Fontaines.

 We got a bit excited about this building....what we couldn't do with that! Especially as it had a lovely view.

 Next up was Pas de Fontaines with it's mill at the bridge, and mill races underneath.

 Out the other side of that village and we are headed up that hill, ahead. Those are rows of Grape Vines. Not a lot in this area, but they are here, and tend towards small plots.

 Winter wheat crops are bright green.

 Grape Vines. These didn't look like they had been pruned, so perhaps they aren't important anymore and being left to grow out.

 High on a hill is this Farm house and outbuildings, also know in France as Dependences (Day pon donce).

 The flags are outside the Mairie in Villebois Lavalette, looking up the hill to the old church, and beyond that is the 10th thru 15th century Chateau we visited yesterday. The town rises up the hill on both sides.

 Interesting buildings all the way up the hill.

 We finally parked opposite a Boulanger, where we poked our noses in and found it wasn't worth a visit. There was a better one further up the street, and we indulged for our lunch. We carried the box all the way around the town with us, taking it in turns to carry the box, because the wind was ghastly and we literally froze!
This is the old Market square known as Les Halles. It is used as that today, and today was market day. Not much in the way of produce, but we did buy some honey from one of the vendors. It is excellent...I had some on my baguette with lunch, at 2pm.

 Cyclamen for sale...6 euros per pot! Gorgeous colors in this otherwise grey place. The fog still hadn't lifted, and it was freezing.

 Under the ancient canopy of the Halles, there were few vendors this market day.

This was the smallest honey pot offered, at 225gms, and 3.50 euros for the pot. Waz had the change, fortunately.

 The town well

 Where we are about to ascend.

 There were a few stops along the way to take photos, and to take a closer look at a large looking house on our left. Waz and I enquired of it from the realtor, a little later on. The elderly man from Lyon wants waaay too much for it, of course. No yard, and no real views, from this stunning vantage point.

 Waz taking photos of the 1600 something house that has been nicely restored.

 I wish the fog had lifted, this early...being noon!, but locally the sun was shining, but with little heat. It was FREEZING! Holding onto our box of patisserie  necessitated sharing the duty, as our hands got colder and colder.

 And then the sun came out on the field! Gorgeous, on the winter wheat field.

 I forget which century this church was built, but it is more than 300 yrs old.

 Lovely stone details of course, above the portal.

 Looking left from the Eglise towards the Chateau, which is 10th13th century.

 We walked around the grounds of the Eglise, and then left towards the Chateau, thinking we would see more than we actually saw. So cold now, we hurried back to the Halles, and into the warmer office of the realtor. We REALLY like these parts....today! We are fickle though, and upon hearing some of the house prices, decided we needed to look further afield....as in north of here.

 The view is really spectacular, and I really cant do it justice with this camera and the fog to boot.

I was interested to find all these Bird's Nest Ferns in this cold place. Yes, they had some frost damage, but generally they were healthy if not frightfully large specimens as they are in a rainforest. We find many subtropical plants in these parts. Summers must be good!

 Opposite the chateau is a ruin that has been somewhat saved. it is PART of a ruin now used as a gate/portal. Lovely. Repurposing at it's best.

 The rest of the Manoir.  It might even be THE Manoir du Chateau.

 There is a path that goes all the way around the Chateau, and on any other warmer day we might have gone the full distance, but I had memories of another such walk around a Chateau in Hautefort, in December, and decided to head back to the car. Wise choice.

 After meeting with the realtor in his office opposite the Halles, and ascertaining that there was no property in our price-range that we would want to look at, we took to the streets again, having stowed our pastries safely for the drive home.
We needed to find the SuperU supermarket, which is new, on the outskirts of the town. This photo was taken from the parking lot there.

 A few essential items later, from the supermarche, and we stopped in Gouts Rossignol on the way to see what we could see. The sun had come out of the fog and the rest of the day looked promising for further exploration. Meanwhile, we were hungry! and it was almost 2pm...again! We have a habit of doing this with our mornings.

 We didn't exit the car, on our short drive through GR, and the pastries in the rear of the car were getting warm. Ha! I just made that up!:)
Good thing I had thawed out some vege soup, and good thing we purchased a Baguette in the SuperU, because that made up our lunch...along with a little of the new creamed honey and dessert, with a lovely cup of French Press coffee to break the sweet.
Waz chose a Buchette de something...a bit like a Paris Brest, only log shaped. If you have ever had one of these, you will recall the delicious taste.

 I chose something I had never eaten before, and may never eat again, but it was stunning! Something Raspberry....forget the name!

 How to describe it? On the bottom were two different crunch wafer things, then a layer of raspberry mousse, followed by a layer of chocolate cake, one of thick caramel, more mousse and then the whole thing enrobed (my favorite word when it comes to anything chocolate!!) in sticky, shiny chocolate glaze with two wee dots of something shimmering gold. WOW! Fantastic. BUT...I should really have eaten dessert first! Seriousement!

After our lunch and because it was still fine and warming up somewhat, we decided to make the most of it and do some more Tiki-Touring.
La Tour Blanche was somewhere we wanted to return to, after viewing it through streams of rain on the windshield, last time. We approached from a different direction this time.

 I spied this Father Christmas attempting to escape his bonds. No wonder, it's the end of January already! sheesh!

 We were going this way because I saw a sign that said MOULIN VENT. Of course this was a red rag to me. I mistook the VENT for VENTE. Vent is WIND, and VENTE is sale. The rest of the story is a bit funny, but we made an excellent discovery as a result...as you do!
This is what Waz calls the Dead Center...you know, the Cemetary! Makes sense, right? There are some serious crypts here!

Following those Moulin Vent signs...and the search for a Mill for Sale (brain fart happening obviously!) we went around the back of La Tour Blanche...which literally means White Tower.
In the process we found the old Lavanderie, or Laundry, where the women of the village would gather to do their laundry.

There is a small river nearby that flows through here. The Lavanderie.

And we discovered an old church...well, Chapel, actually. Love the insignia on the side. No idea what it means, but ...

There was a Water Mill along the road further. This little Chapel is Notre Dame de Pitie. The building to the right is the Maladerie.

A little further along...and by now Waz was making rude remarks about not getting home before sunset!!!...another ruined Chateay! Not sure what this brick chimney was for...we can imagine>?

From the back, the Chateau looks interesting...lets see what the other side looks like.

Behind us, this biker had gone to the cemetery as we were turning towards the supposed mill.

Aha! The gate to the Chateau. This is Propriete Prive...Private Property.

Voila! There she is! What a beauty!

Being Saturday, there were plenty of Peleton of bike riders. I'm guessing that is the correct plural?

And...ROCK! Plenty of rock. This is a Plateau covering a rather extensive area here.

Oh look! There is that extraordinary Chateau we saw the other day.

I just had to go up the road to find out what was up there, didn't I?
Against my navigators better judgement, I went up the driveway. There was no Private Property sign, to my defense, so we went!
OOps...someone in residence! Make a 3 point turn and down the hill we go!

Oh look! another Eglise (church). This we HAVE to see.

We are on our way up the skinny road to Eglise Saint Pardoux.

The view from there was gorgeous. The sun was mostly out! yay!
We went up that road, and past it looking for somewhere to turn around. You really need to make a good decision when going up some of these skinny roads, because there are ditches on the sides, and few places to turn...maybe a 15 point turn? hmm...

We kept driving along past the church...and voila!  This is a lovely home...former ruin.

Back on the main road, and remember those rocks? People build homes into the rock, and sometimes build storage facility in there.

Right then. Here we are in Mareuil, one of the other places we wanted to knock off the list. At 4pm we were thinking of a coffee, but being Saturday, many places were closed. This one wasn't, however we had already had our sweet treats for the day.
Mareuil wasn't as pretty as we thought it might be, but the surrounding countryside is absolutely glorious.

We parked in the Centre Ville, and walked for a bit. The restaurant on the left is for sale, and like many other places in the middle of the village, was vacant. Lots of these towns have little in the way of commerce, anymore. The young people leave as soon as they can. Lots of retirees, and we found two Brits chatting in the middle of the parking lot. Got chatting to them and all they could think of on this cold day, was going somewhere warm, lol.

Center of Town. Centre Ville.

Leaving Mareuil (mar rer eey) we happened upon the Chateau de Mareuil. Well, its another ruin! But a rather attractive.

We were pretty tuckered out after this excitement, so off home we toddled. The GPS took us home in 2 mins flat. Hmm...If we had gone out that way, we wouldn't have seen all the lovelies we did, today. Good thing we took the long way.
The neighbors have Daffodils growing outside. Lovely! Must be coming up Spring!? We can hope.
Ciao for now.