Saint-Sornin

Although the lockdown continued we were now allowed to leave the house for three hours and exercise within a radius of 20km. So, we dug out our local walks book and drove to Saint-Sornin for a very pleasant few hours.

Out of nowhere a lake appears...

...followed not long afterwards by le Château de Garenne. We didn't like to get much nearer although there were no 'keep out' signs.

A welcome splash of colour on a farmhouse wall 

There's water everywhere in la Vendée...

...especially in winter months.

A very tempting sign when you're a big mushroom fan!

Back to Saint-Sornin...

...and its pretty church in the early evening light.

Time to get home before we're in trouble.

Life goes on

Still in lockdown but the market is open twice a week, everybody masked up of course.

Can you spot Tine getting some veg? She's been market shopping regularly for Jean & Monique too.

Look who we find down by le Pavillon: Matt, Cynthia, Anna & Séb, enjoying a bit of late November sunshine...

...whilst Alicia & Sacha scramble on the rocks.

This cormorant was really struggling against the wind. I can't see his mask though!

Still in lockdown we took Sacha to the playpark at La Faute...

...ensuring we were only outdoors for our hour's exercise.

Cooped up at home? There's no excuse but to give the kitchen a lick of paint...

...and very happy we are with the results.

Daily walks in lockdown

One good thing about the 2nd 'confinement' was that we were allowed to go onto the beach, still only during the permitted hour a day's walk though.

So another excuse for beach photos!

Low tide one day meant the fish trap (écluse à poissons) was very visible

That's the jetty in the far distance, lots of people round as you can see...

...and a closer look too!

Methinks there's a spot of rain in La Rochelle

Sometimes I have company on my walk...

...some company I can do without!

An arty shot over la Plage de Générelles...

...and an art installation of lost footwear at la Grière.

Kitesurf practice on the boating lake...

...and a view back over 'le plan d'eau'.

In town and St Nicolas' church in all its glory

But what do we have here? Yes, the dreaded processionary caterpillars about to break loose...

...and here's what they get up to, eating everything in their path.

Back to La Tranche

... but in isolation for a week (9 days in reality with weekends and waiting for results).

But we weren't alone...

...this praying mantis came to check on us.

We missed Cynthia's birthday but our lovely florists came to the rescue  

Free at last and our first port of call? The Starfish of course!

Just a few days later a new lockdown is announced and Matt reduces the price of his 'bière pression'. I couldn't help but be amused by 'de pression' becoming 'depression'.

So it's back to a glass or two chez nous

As I type this the Starfish is still closed with no date in the near future for re-opening.

Once again we were only allowed to leave the house for basic reasons, armed with an 'attestation' with the date, reason & time.

As you can see this time the weather wasn't as kind as in the spring so we made good use of the local toy library borrowing some of their jigsaws

Result!

Garden, BBQ & au revoir

There's a chronological detour here: photos taken earlier in the day before our visit to Courtal de Peyre Auselère.

Up above the house Nicole tends a fantastic garden. When you see all the weeds it's hard to realise just how much the garden produces!

There's much hard work gone into creating these steps

Tine pointing out a cabbage amongst the weeds

The view from the garden looking down on the terrace (that's our car further below)...

...and Nicole & Tine making their way down the steep steps.

Ah, Daniel's busy preparing the bbq...

...wonderful saucisse fraîche (similar to Toulouse sausage), bought by the length!

It's better than watching television

Hope you like the video showing our surroundings. Amazing, eh?

Nicole masked up and ready to go

The hamlet's inhabitants share this wonderful contraption to carry things up and down the steep pathway to the car. You can spot our case but you can't see all the bottles of apple juice underneath, destination Anglet.

Sadly Nicole tested positive with Covid-19 the day before our departure, and we had to abort our planned stopover in Figeac on the way back to La Tranche as we had to isolate for a week before getting ourselves tested.

Thanks to Nicole's care and attentive wearing of mask neither of us succumbed to the awful virus, and Nicole & Daniel are now both 'as fit as fiddles'!

Courtal de Peyre Auselère

Our last trip out was very special, a spot down in the valley below l'Étang de Lers where farmers used to bring their animals to lower ground from June to September. There is evidence of its use as far back as the 17th century but it fell into disuse this last century.

For my Yorkshire readers the stream seemed like a lesser version of the Strid near Bolton Abbey

Snowy peaks omni-present all around

There are about 40 'buildings' ranging from cabins to shelters to stables...

...some hidden under giant rocks.

Back to the car via the stone bridge over the stream

We then climbed to l'Étang de Lers, just above the snowline.

Winter in October!