honest, this is the last day....as we're home

but on the way, we went to a National Trust property, Tatteshall Castle in Lincolnshire - original Tudor castle, complete with original fireplaces .... and a huge church next door, fantastic!


The tapestries weren't in the house originally....

Calais Port

an uneventful drive up through france, thank goodness - even getting through paris was relatively pain free (no traffic jams!)

Here's a photo of the beach at Calais - it's next to the Ferry terminal so you see them come in and out as well

last day

of our holiday was spent washing cleaning etc, as you do - at least I won't have to go home and immediately start the washing machine up! partner went for a walk ....the one we got lost on the other day, to find the bit we missed!

apparently this is a deer...

brantome 2nd visit

with huge number of photos and some video here. Enjoy.

Brantome is on an island formed by 2 rivers and is very photogenic. We also took a boat trip, thus the video.

the town started life prior to arrival of monks, but the monks arrived and set up in the caves in the 8th century! they were followed by the benedictines who built an abbey out from the rocks. all that is left of the Abbey is the church, and part of a later residence now housing the Mairie and the Tourist Information Office.

tomorrow is our last full day here and we set off home on Monday. :-(

brantome

where i went today, on my own - picking partner up from perigeuex station at 1720, decided to go to brantome - called the venice of the dordogne - on an island, lots of bridges, very pretty.

loads of photos but all on the phone, but we're going back tomorrow - i didn't do the museums and stuff and partner will love it! so photos tomorrow

hot

we went round the chateau at jumilhac again today, this time with our friends who hadn't been before, and got a tour of the garden. no photos, as partner has taken camera with her to bordeaux.

the offending tooth fell out all by itself this morning so i was able to cancel the dental appointment, thank goodness. so good to be able to eat without pain!


the library here is excellent, Balisek, Gerd Heuschman, De Kunffy, and so on....

company

our friends from bordeaux (american wife, french husband) came up to see us today, so nothing to report save that it was a scorcher.....and we enjoyed dinner!

dead mouse....

found in my walking boot as i went to put it on - it had to have been there since before we left home, euch! think partner had been catching simba's mice in my boots again..

the plan was a walk. down to jumilhac and then up and round and back home.

got to jumilhac and there was an antiques fair/flea market going on, so some time pootling round that.

then we got lost, so had to go back on ourselves a good way and all of this wasted about 1 1/2 hours or so ....and the going back involved going up. i really didn't think i could do the rest, but managed it, then turned the horses out and sat down for 2 hours with some tea and painkillers. my left knee, my right hip, then my left hip, then my shins, and i developed a blister i haven't looked at yet. 12 km, not including the extra bits.....

churches, rain and wildlife

not necessarily in that order...

being Sunday, not much open. we decided to go to Jumilhac, the nearest village, which has a chateau - owned by the family that began it, pretty well - they repurchased it in 1927 and have had to do it up big style (with help from the state, I gather).

the Church next door originates probably in the 11th century (that's the 10's...)

then we went to Saint Yvrieux a few miles away for a rather posh lunch - could have gone home, but didn't really want to despite being hungry!

got wet. after lunch, another church! then back to the ranch and I groomed the horses and we read and then went for a late walk

the view from our walk
and a sample of the local wildlife...

Tomorrow is Bastille Day - all France is on holiday. we thought we'd go for a longer walk (there's a circular one starting pretty much here) - hope i survive it! lots of hills.

and I MUST find a dentist when they open on Tuesday, that's if the tooth doesn't fall out before then!

spanish walk

i rode spanish walk today. WOW. and everyone's right, the horses do enjoy it.

I asked partner to video, which she did.

unfortunately, camera was held in such a way that the video comes up horizontal, and i can't find any method of rotating it the right way up. plus, not sure she's actually got the spanish walk.

sorted out some balance issues (mine ....) halt rein back, circles smaller & larger and in hand work done in a way that won't kill my back!

here's the teacher:

kings and queens of england

the abbaye de fontevraux - the burial places of Henry 2, Eleanor of Aquitaine, richard the Lionheart, and Isabella (wife of King John Lackland).

a very imposing abbey!

and now I'm at Trudy's in the Dordogne....

The Cadre Noir, troglodytes & new tack...

The Cadre Noir - last year the thursday presentation was cancelled as they were away, this year it went ahead.

They said, no filming. lots of people took photos....oops.

Interesting - the longlining/two rein lunging, however you want to call it, was done the same way Max showed me - this horse could jump! and a bit of a lightbulb moment re the longlining generally....



Troglodytes - the area is known for people living underground, having dug the rock out (it's not hard), some people still are - so we're not talking archeological, we're talking relatively recent.

and new tack - lunging roller with turrets (a birthday present for me from partner); leather lunging cavesson; lunging roller with turrets for stephanie.


Steph, your's is the stripey one...
t

alencon

fountaincould not resist this unusually coloured cat!
this is where the tourist office is
oops, sorry, should have rotated this - the gate to the Duke's castle, still used as a prison to this day.
15th century building - of which there are more than a few! - it was just after this that we dropped the camera
more photos on the phone, but i left the cable & software at home. happily, we have another camera, and a camcorder.....

a little accident in alencon

i thought partner had hold of her camera. she thought i still did (she'd asked me to pass it to her). result - we dropped it. it appears to be dead, in that the lens won't retract fully and it won't focus on anything when out. ouch. we are not amused!

in the meantime, we had a nice afternoon in alencon on the way down to saumur, and are now in saumur.

i can be online, or i can load pictures ... will post the pictures later! the wi fi workaround involved plugging in an external network adapter and whilst there is a spare usb port, the adapter is too wide and i can't get the card reader plugged in!

Calais

we made REALLY good time down to Folkestone - we were booked on the 1950 train, and got on the 16.50 train (eurotunnel let you on an earlier one if they're not busy!). I'd expected a horrid journey, but the forecast weather didn't materialise, there were no hold ups of any consequence, only the odd 50mph through roadworks.

so we're in France, hurray! and the hotel has free wifi, great, we're in the same chain's hotel in saumur the next 2 nights so hoping they also have wifi

no photos yet as nothing to photo LOL