Tag: travel

October in France (again!)

But this time with The Small Persons.

Mishmash of seasons – spectacular light, weirdly blue skies, lizards, temperatures around 27 degrees, ripe quinces…..warmest October since 1945, when records began. (And the second warmest October was last year…)

A magic slice of summer, no frosts yet at all. But of course there is a downside – there are daffodils with leaves a foot high, and lilac bushes with not only leaf buds but four actual flowers….in NOVEMBER?? This has got to be bad news for next spring. Rather scary. We’ll see.

Soon be possible again?

Fontainebleau – and forest – last November. Just made it before the NEXT lot of travel restrictions kicked in.

After a very different Christmas dodging Covid (unsuccessfully, as it turned out in the end…) I can’t help feeling excited at the prospect of getting back to France again soon. But maybe this is premature. I’m enjoying being back at work but actually I still don’t feel anything like normal, so perhaps I’d better conserve energy for the moment – maybe some gentle spinning is on the cards!

France, Summer 2021, after all.

Discovering splendid municipal architecture in Évreux, and castles in Lapalisse and Châteldon (the home town of Pierre Laval, though that doesn’t get much of a mention in the tourist office!)

I am also quite a fan of the N7, but I think this rather large sign in Lapalisse is new:

Likewise this rather alarming roadside cross that has appeared right outside the front gate… I think over the last year European money has restored several of these 19th century calvaires which had disappeared during the late 20th century.

We’ll get used to it!

Reading, walking, eating….and several sessions with the dye pots, mostly sock yarn this time.

I also took some pictures of a corridor my daughter decided to decorate some years ago:

We are holding a memorial event to celebrate her life on Sunday. This is necessary, but not easy. I think I will take my late September tree pictures on the same day – still a really useful prop!

On/off? Yes? No?

It turns out it’s ‘yes’ after all. We changed our minds every day – so many factors for and against – but finally we decided to keep the ferry booking we made way back before lockdown. We’re off to France tomorrow.

Piles of bags – and bags of piles – everywhere. One bag for clothes, one bag for books (thanks to kindle) and all the rest for yarn, tops, dyestuffs, winding gear….

I did have some pictures but WordPress continues to be weird. Nasty little pink boxes that say ‘An unknown error occurred’. No further help. So no image possible. Ridiculous.

You can probably tell I still hate this new Block Editor. I do keep trying.

I’ll wave from over the Channel – internet and WordPress permitting. Exciting, if rather anxious, times!