France - Sunday to Wednesday (Home, Levaré & Le Mont St Michel)

Sunday, 26 November 2017

Sunday morning came and went quickly, because I was up late and Kevin wanted to Skype.  His call was hijacked by Mikayla, with whom I spent most of the time chatting (little chatterbox she is ;-)) so his turn came after I had spent some pleasant time with Angus and Adele as well.  I think we were on Skype for a good two hours, which made Kevin late for dinner and me for breakfast.  But it was so nice to catch up with home!

Monday, 27 November 2017

On Monday the weather had cleared enough to try another walk not too far away.  I found a nice round of caches in Levaré and since it was only roughly a 7 minute drive I gave it a go.

This walk was a very pleasant one although the wind was rather inclement, but when you walk at a stiff pace you don't notice it as much.  Gloves were in order though, and I was happy that I had bought the special ones in South Australia that you can use with a touch screen!

All but 1 of the 5 caches were found, which was a good result for an afternoon walk.  The first one was supposed to be hidden right at the spot where I parked the car, but I couldn't find it, although the hint was very clear.  And no, I didn't park on top of it! ;-)  It was supposed to be hidden near this map:

#1796 - LEVARE #2 (cache)

#1797 - #3 LEVARE (cache)

#1798 - LEVARE #4 (cache)

#1799 - LEVARE #5 (cache)

If I had found the first one I would have had the round number of 1800 finds, but it wasn't to be.

Sometimes it's so nice to just walk somewhere, because you see a lot more:

Straight hedges, as only the French can trim them!

Warning signs near housing lots

There were plenty more different ones

Like in Poland, little chapes and crosses are often seen along the road sides

A natural well (I think).  Have seen more of those in France

Water quality report at the well

Historic photographs on the wall of a hotel

The church at Levaré

Tuesday, 28 November 2017

For a moment the weather look alright on Tuesday morning, so I made the quick decision to drive to Le Mont St Michel, which I nearly regretted, because it rained almost all the way down.  I actually planned to turn around and head back home again if it would still be raining upon arrival.  Well, that never happened.  The sun had broken through just before I saw the mount and it stayed dry for almost the whole day.  Only a few drops fell in the afternoon when I had just walked into a café for a hot chocolate!

I had only seen picture of Le Mont St Michel, but never really thought I would ever visit it.  It's not within easy reach if you don't live in Europe and not near any of the cities one usually visits.  But, here you go, you never know what's around the corner.... or in the sea, for that matter!

I was already impressed when I saw the mount from a distance when visiting the German War Cemetery, but it really is something special.  No flat roads or street.  As it is, there is only one narrow street and even that goes up, or down, depending on which way you're going....

The rest is all steps, steps, and more steps.  A few up, a few down, a lot up, and more up and finally you arrive at the Abbey on top, which I visited as well, because also the Abbey, and the story behind it, was very impressing.

I can't say much more about it, so let's show you the pictures I took:

Walking to the mount along a very long footbridge

The one and only little street

Various views from the ramparts

View across the bay and the footbridge

Little sparrows that were after the crumbs of my lunch

A cemetery

Climbing higher and higher

A walk way high up in the air

At the Abbey looking down on the bay and the bridge

Arch angel St Michel on top of the spire

The cloister, being restored

After restoration this will be a kitchen garden again

Such a beautiful view

Intricate carvings

Glazed and unglazed clay tiles

A wheel used to hoist up all the wares to the top

The sled, attached to the wheel

The wall along which the sled slides up and down

And how it's done in our times!

One of the many, many stairs

The roof: all wood

Photo taken from the barrage (dam) in the river Couesnon

On the way to Le Mont St Michel I made use of the free shuttle bus as I didn't quite know my way around.  On the way back I decided to walk.  I would have the cold wind in my back anyway, so it wasn't hardship.  I wanted to have a look at the dam in the river Couesnon at the mouth of the river.  It is built in such way that the silt from the mainland is not deposited close to the mount, but taken out into deeper water.  If the dam had not been constructed in time and engineered to take the silt away, Le Mont St Michel would eventually have become part of the mainland.  That would have been a catastrophy.  

The walk back to the car took a good half hour, so I didn't regret not having taken the bus.  It was the end of a very special day again.

When I was home again I dropped of some of my home-made potato-and-leek soup downstairs, because Michèle had given me so much last time (soup, carrot cake and apple sauce) and I wanted to show her a different version of the soup as well.

So I sat down with my own Potage Parmentier as the soup is also called, and had a meal with the French version of sauerkraut.  I don't quite know what the difference is, but I bought it from the deli and it is spiced differently.  Tastes fine.

Potage Parmentier a la creme

Bon apetit!

Wednesday, 29 November 2017

A nice quiet day again, catching up on blog and house exchange correspondence.  A sunny, but very cold day, which started with the windows well frozen over.  All I did was walk to the shops and back.  One can't live without coffee!