If you dont laugh, you cry!

It happened to us yet again!

We made elaborate plans to go and buy a trailer. This is becoming a bit of an obsession, I have to say. We are getting to the desperate stage of the NEED!
This time, we weren't going to dicker around and go local, but drive for an hour to THE SOURCE of all trailers in the Charente. Civray and the Blanchard Motoculture  was our destination, and so with the 'girlfriend' (GPS) talking to us in her clipped English accent, we hit the N10, past Angouleme and out into the interior going east.
We passed from the vines of the Cognac region to the wide open plains of crops, sunflower fields that went beyond what the eye could see, and machinery going non-stop harvesting, spitting hay bales out the back end either in great rectangles or baled golden marshmallow rounds. We delighted in all of it, exclaiming rather pointlessly (as you do) each time there was a new vista filled with bright yellow sunflowers.

 The hay rounds look like exotic animals out there in the field...well, they are, aren't they? lol.

We needed this day out, and we knew, when we left home at 10am, that we would be there (destination)  for 11.15, enough time before noon to suss out what we wanted in their yard, and to return in the afternoon to take it home. Yeah riiight!
We had discussed how we might pay for it (and if they would need time to clear a cheque...that they appear to prefer, in these parts...bah!), and that we didnt really want to have to return for it another day, if that was necessary. Who knows how it is done, this is our first trailer purchase. We do know that they circumvent the law in mysterious ways to make them road legal and to avoid having to pay for and administer (them, not us) a number plate of it's own, vs having the car plate on the back....THAT my friends, is a whole OTHER story!
 Not today!

We got stuck behind this tractor on the undulations in the Deux Sevre, where we now were. We had passed from the Charente into the higher country of the Deux Sevre and then into the Vienne Sud.

 We should NEVER listen to the GPS lady. Even though Waz had given her instructions to take us the most direct route, she didnt. I think she likes to trick us, and even though we both pointed down the road at the turn right, and said that if we just went one block further we might have an easier time of it....but...She has a persuasive way about  her, and follow her we did....through this, and other places like it!
As always, these places are pretty, if convoluted, and this route sure was. It brought us out to the same point, but ...you get the picture.
The houses on the left are building into the rock, and the house on the right is actually a mill, with a water race on the other side of it that was glorious. I couldn't stop the car to photograph it, because there was traffic and skinny road and people walking along the edge of the water.

 Just 500 metres down the road was our destination. YAYAYYyy…..maybe not!

It wasnt lunch time, so why is it all closed up??
Merde!!….Ok, Plan B. Waz had written down all the addresses, and the phone numbers, but we hadn't called. We laughed a good deal about what we would say to a machine that spouted (typically) their opening hours, without you ever reaching a warm body. So, even if we HAD called, we probably wouldn't have known they would be closed on this, a Friday. Unusual....the story goes on...

So, now Waz is putting the next address into the GPS, and we are off. Not before we stopped down the road for a foot long (they are all foot long baguettes) sandwich...this one, was a Nouveau. Roasted chicken, onion jam, gouda cheese and a small bit of lettuce (emphasis), all for 3,60 (Euros) each.
One good thing about where we were....we had intended to do a tiki-tour of this area at some stage, so here we were.
Small towns, cute hamlets, small(Skinny) roads with big trucks, with us being the ones to slow down or stop so that they could pass!!!...and OLD buildings in towns with no commerces of any kind because they have all left. No business! There are usually bright and shiny new supermarkets on the outskirts of these towns, which of course has killed the small business. Usually all you find is a Mairie (Mayors offices), a post office or depot, and a boulangerie or depot de pain. Sometimes not even that. A shame. It reminded us of similarly barren small towns in the USA.

This is what we are looking to purchase, just so that you know...only we want a dual axle trailer, but with the same kind of cage on top.

Ok, lets move on...We arrived at the next Blanchard Motoculture store to find that it also was closed....guess why??
On Vacances! On holiday.
This store will be closed from the 14th thru the 22nd July inclusive. Ok!

Where to next? Well, lets look on the GPS map, shall we...pick a place.....ok...How about Sauze Vaussais?? (So zay vo say).This place had been on my list of places to visit.
And, lets sit under a tree in the shade and eat our sandwich. Why not!
Opposite our seat is the Mairie. They are usually very imposing buildings and this was no different.

 At the end of the parking lot is this lovely bell tower. You can see that it is now 12.30pm.

 Not much going on in this town...we watched tourists driving past, turning 360s in the parking lot of the Salle des fetes opposite us before carrying on. No obvious signs of life to attract them to leave their vehicles.

 The seat we sat on outside empty shops, all along the road. Waz is off to discard our trash in the bins you can just see under the trees.
We did a short walk to the sign above and took a look at where else we might go. Nothing inspiring, and we were getting a bit in need of a coffee by now. We walked down the road to a bar that had chairs and tables outside. Hmm...maybe not....but there is a boulangerie just down the road there....dessert?? ok!:)
 Our Religieuse was so old that it was weeping. The custard didnt look or taste like custard anymore, and while it was supposed to be coffee flavored, it wasn't. All the coffee had flown out the door. The choices in the store were few, and it took a while for the owner to appear. We found him returning to the bar down the road, after we made our purchase, lol.
 There really was very little activity in this place.

 We were happy to leave that place behind.
Most of the towns in this region we had looked at with a view to living there. The Haute Vienne and the Deux Sevre are well known to be sunny and with an otherwise good climate. They are also at elevation, which was attractive to us.
We were on a high plateau, and the next choice of town was Chef Boutonne. We had been attracted to many homes in this place and now that we have visited, we could possibly have enjoyed living there. Lovely parks, larger town with active Centre Ville, and pretty views out over wide open countryside. Some forests on the way there and out, and pretty towns.
We didnt stop to take photos, with there being too much traffic on the roads, and nowhere to stop per usual.
Further down the hill now and we went through the small towns...Longre had this interesting church in the middle of it. We love the white stone buildings, but were interested to find that the soil is red/brown.

 Aigre was lovely. We would return there and do some more investigating. Where Chef Boutonne is on top of the high plateau and therefore no river at all,  Aigre has water running through it.

I missed stopping for the money shot of this Chateau , but you might appreciate how lovely this is.
The tower in the middle of the photo is one of three that I saw, on the corners of the walled property. It is in the middle of nowhere, but there were enormous outbuildings with machinery inside, and newly harvested fields all around, so we assumed it was very much a working farm.

Next village was St Fraigne . I swear Waz's eyes are permanently going to be looking skyward any day soon...he did 'that thing' with them again, as I quickly stopped off the main drag to take a photo of this fun display outside the Mairie, obviously depicting what this town is all about....hard work in the fields, I would say.

 It is a lovely little town on a river.

 I have always called this tree the Helicopter Tree. I dont know it's real name, but those pods have wings that they float away on, going around and around as a helicopter blade would:)

 This house is for sale. It has a lovely walled garden with a huge Grandiflora Magnolia in the middle of it, and lovely big gates (just out of the photo on the right). I took the time to stop and photograph. Must look it up!!! All kinds of lovely details carved into the stone.

 On our way home now, and going via the SuperU supermarket in Rouillac. We are back in Cognac country, and just passed the HUGE modern facility that is Martell Cognac. This is the Chateau owned by the Martel group. There is another distillerie open to the public, on the right side of the driveway, here.

 Undulating countryside around here...glorious!

 We kept getting flashed by our car display, telling us that the key card was running out of battery power. Not wanting to find that our car wouldn't start in the near future, we stopped off at the SuperU for some batteries.
Batteries changed, we came home via St Cybardeaux, where the home is that we wanted to purchase and made the first offer on. Still a lovely place! That home is now under offer we are informed.

The back roads are lovely, going through little hamlets, small towns and most of all we are in home territory. Every time we leave home and return, we are reminded of why we chose this location to call home. Hard to beat, in our opinion.

 The soil is chalk-like and white. The views are stunning. This is five minutes from home.
We had driven through St Meme les Carrieres, which is just above the Charente River and the lovely town of Jarnac, just 13 ks from home. We are now on the road that runs past our house.

 This area is known as the Etapes de Cognac (The steps or stages of Cognac). Les Vignes et Pierres. The vines and the stones (literally). As I have said before, we are in the Grande Champagne area of Cognac.

Home just after 3pm. Having driven for the past 5 hours, stopping in various places, but mostly just passing through, we were pooped! Coffee, a new book and more unpacking.

I was desperate for some cole slaw for dinner. Cold sausages and veg for dinner. Lovely to be able to pick the herbs straight out of the pots on the terrace.
I chop white and red cabbage. I like a slightly chunky cole slaw. Mint and chives are essential. No raw onion for me! Apple, walnuts, red/green or yellow peppers, some plump cranberries for their sweet/sour...not too many and just as a surprise in the mouth. The mint gives it all a lovely fresh taste, and often I will put lemon zest in the mix too. The dressing is a light Crudite dressing from the supermarket...I dont have the ingredients yet to make my own. Next time.

 Voila! That food I cooked yesterday came in handy for dinner after a full-on day. We love the Toulouse style sausages, and even cold they tasted amazing with the nectarine accompaniment. Of course Avocado are in season and reasonably priced right now.

 Sitting in the front terrace enjoying our meal, we were closely supervised by one of our pigeon pairs. Mrs didnt come down off the wires to visit, but Mr was very interested in our activities:) We both pointedly licked our lips at him, and talked about roast pigeon. He wasnt deterred!

As Blanchard Motoculture is going to be open on Monday we MIGHT go back there. We might not too, and in the meantime, the pile in the middle of the yard grows. Never mind, it isnt going anywhere until we take it there!

The hilarity of this trip was that we are heading into French Holiday Season...yes, capitals are necessary! We just didnt think they would be starting early, in July, lol. AND it appears that we are obviously NOT MEANT to be buying a trailer right now. We keep being thwarted in our quest. Hmm....perhaps we should take note??

I'm off to open some more boxes. I have been hanging 'things' on the clothes line to air, not wanting to do ANY more laundry in the machine. Our water and electricity bills will be sky high because I have been laundering everything fabric coming out of the boxes. I hung plenty of items on the line yesterday, and propped them on the table, hung them over chairs on the terrace so that they might air nicely in the breeze, thereby ridding them of that ghastly smell they have all accumulated.

It appears to have worked for most items. I have now folded and put some of them away. Dont ask me where the rest are going.

I also sprayed one cabinet completely with anti-mold, yesterday and left it on the terrace to dry out. It doesnt appear to have damaged the wood, but it was absolutely covered in mold. Yuk!
Fortunately my efforts with our leather sofas appear to have worked. No mold smells this morning, and it has been cleaned twice with leather cleaner, AND with anti-bacteria wipes. Let's hope that with use and good air circulation, mold will stay away.

I didnt know I had SOOO many tablecloths....and today I had forgotten how many of our grandmother's beautiful crocheted doilies I have. Now what do I do with them? I see so many lovely cloths being sold at Brocante sales, and swear that our grandmother's efforts wont end up in one of them. Hmm….

Onwards with my trusty box cutter, and to deal with the increasing mess...yes, it is increasing as we open each box and wonder where to put it all~!:) Quite a good dilemma actually, as we weed through a lifetime of collections...and we havent yet started on the artwork! aiee!! Another day!