The unbearable heaviness of pack.
Sometimes when I set out, my pack feels so light that I wonder if I have forgotten something. Not today!
Everything is closed tonight at the village where we are staying, so we had to carry our supper and tomorrow's breakfast with us. That included five bottles of wine that I am aware of. There may be more. By the end of the day I was carrying leaden bricks.
Patrick led us astray today, but said it was meant to happen because when looking for directions he ran into someone who spoke Occitan. He is passionate about his language, and says as we go to sleep, "Bona neit e totas las piusas dins ton leit," thereby wishing fleas upon us rather than bedbugs from us.
We passed some pigs which were running free in a field. Happy pigs!
I've seen all the farm animals I would expect to see: horses and cows, sheep and goats, ducks and geese and chooks. And donkeys.
I've seen some more exotic animals as well. A llama, black swans and two kangaroos.
The kangaroos were protected by an electric fence, not to keep the animals in but the humans out.
Electric fences are everywhere in France. You have to be very careful. This morning i was leaning over a fence to pat a horse and almost touched the wire. Quite often the fences are enclosing only an empty field, and are obviously intended to keep people out.
The strangest animal I have seen was a curious snake-like creature that was stretched across the road in front of me in the forest. But it was too long and too thin to be a snake. It was a chenille processenaire, a procession of caterpillars crawling head to toe, appearing as one, across the road. They may be part of the same cycle as the wasp-nest-like cocoon that I've noticed in the pine trees.
As I arrived in town, I passed a sign which said, "Pas de Pub". And there wasn't. And I was desperate for a cold beer. Fortunately, there were some in the fridge at the gite.
The gite in Anoye, like others, has helpful translations for foreign guests.
Throw in the toilet only what they have to contain.
If you want to do a laundry, ask the dip pots of washing at the grocery store.
The grocery store of breakdow will be open around 18h.
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