Exploring 22 with a friend from England

I have a lovely few days with Pats, a good friend from Cornwall, who has been staying with me. We have been really lucky with the weather this week and have walked every day and visited interesting places where I had never been before. I particularly liked the town of Moncontour.

 

The sunshine lit up the stone houses and brought the town to life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were lots of paths which we walked along taking us up out of the town straight into the countryside and we spent a very pleasant time wandering about there.

 

 

We also went up to Lannion market - a huge market - which had wonderful veggies and fruit and food being cooked at different stalls by people from different parts of the world.

 

I bought some lovely plums - huge ones - as big as oranges, fresh figs, an enormous bunch of watercress and could have bought much more.

 

 

 

From the market we drove towards Tregou Trevignec where a ex-neighbour now lives and stopped for lunch at a roadside restaurant where we had an unexpectedly good lunch at the Restaurant Basque in Louannec, La Villa Belza.  Excellent starter of warm goats cheese in a galette with salad and a good dressing.  This was followed by layers of sautéd potatoes with gammon slices, pancetta, mozarella and red pepper with aubergine, courgettes, tomatoes and another lovely dressing.  Pats finished her meal with chocolate mousse and I indulged in crème brulée scattered with pear.  The presentation and the quality of the food was excellent and was a mixture of Breton and Basque.  The waitress was friendly and the restaurant was clean and welcoming - a good find.  We had water with our meal and chose not to have coffee.  The bill was just under €30 (£24). 

 

Afterwards we drove on hoping to find the house of my ex-neighbour and did.  We had coffee and a chat with her and her family before walking down to the beach and back.

 

The tide was out and Pats sat very close to a rock which looked as if it could fall into the sea at any moment.

 

There were lots of camper vans parked up in the car park overlooking the bay - a lovely place to spend some time.

This morning we drove to Guingamp station so Pats could catch her train to Paris as the first bit of her journey back to London.  The sunrise was lovely as I drove back home afterwards.

These silos are at the end of the lane where I turn off the main road just over two miles from home in silhouette.

Three things I like:

1.   Having visitors and sharing my life for a while, visiting places I wouldn't go to if I didn't have a visitor to show around.
2.   Realising that it's the last day of Summer today and that a new season begins tomorrow.
3.   Trying new things - this afternoon - tai chi!

Walking around St André

I went for a walk the other afternoon,  from my hamlet through the woods, and these are some of the photographs which I took.

They seem to be doing a lot of logging on the slopes of the valley and not long after this point I lost the path and started up and across a field but couldn't seem to find a way out and had to backtrack.

 

There were lots of fungi looking like this one but I have no idea what they were.

I did find this though, a parasol mushroom.  I had it identified by someone very knowledgeable in mycology but by then it had dried out too much for me to want to eat it.  I shall know where to look for it next year now.

 

 

Unfortunately, my newly found expert in fungi is leaving Brittany to return to the UK to live, so I won't have his expertise on hand for this Autumn's bounty.  Hopefully I can contact him with photographs by email and get his help that way.

 

As I came back round my field I found that six of my newest Light Sussex hens were perching under the old table - I can count - two of them had jumped down by the time I got the camera switched on again!  There are so many feathers on the ground it almost looks as if a fox attack has occurred, but it's just where they've been moulting.

   

 

 



 

Scones, books and garden stuff

I'm writing this on Sunday afternoon and I've just made scones for the first time.  I looked at two recipes and in spite of the fact that I did bits from each one, they seem to have come out of the oven looking good enough to eat.

 

With the addition of butter, last week's homemade blackberry jam and Cornish clotted cream, courtesy of Andy and Flick who had just been to Cornwall, they were more than good enough to eat.  In fact they were scrumptious and I have just finished demolishing my second one.

 

 

Yesterday I went to Pommerit le Viscomte to collect some free books.  I arrived early and while I waited for the books to arrive at the parking by the church I took two photographs.  The first is of the church and grounds and the second of a sign which I thought was funny.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I was astonished when the people getting rid of their books brought out five large boxes of them.  I have now to buy some more materials for shelves.

 

 

I've been pruning in the garden.  Once I get a pair of secateurs in my hand I seem to have moments of something near obsession with cutting anything that's not moving.  It's the same every year though and nothing ever seems to suffer permanent damage so I continue with what I enjoy.   The buddleia bushes - almost trees beforehand - were the first victims, closely followed by the wisteria, campsis and grape vine.  The leaves on the vine needed removing to allow the last of the Autumn sunshine to reach the almost ripened grapes.

 

Here are some photos of bits of the garden and me ready to sunbathe.

 

 

 

 

Some of the tomatoes, courgettes and cucumbers that I harvested this week. 

 

Yesterday we cleared the polytunnel of tomatoes as blight finally arrived here.  I've never had blight before and I am lucky to get it so late as some people over here have had no tomatoes to speak of.  Anyway, we pulled out all the plants and I now have loads of the healthy green tomatoes to ripen.  I shall probably use the space for salad leaves.   I also started plaiting up the dried onions and brought some of them down to the garage for storage and so they're nearer to the kitchen.

 

 

Three things I like:

 

1.   Trying a new recipe and finding that it works.

2.   Meeting my neighbour's new grandson for the first time.

3.   Clearing out all my outsize trousers and making space in my bedroom.