Day 2 in France

After a brilliant breakfast we hit the road. Down through Rouen and on towards Chartres. We passed very close to Illers Combrai which is twinned with Coniston. I wish I had realised earlier so we could have diverted for a quick visit, but by the time I had realised, it was too late. So by mid afternoon we were arriving in Beaugency. This is the view from our town centre hotel, L'Ecu de Bretagne.

Beaugency is a beautiful old town on the banks of the river Loire.

The ancient bridge that crosses the Loire in Beaugency. We had a walk along the river before dinner and sat for a while watching the power of the river, the arctic terns and sandwich terns, the Martin's, swifts and swallows as a snowy egret fished in the edges of the fast flowing river.

It is always exciting to cross the Loire, particularly on the journey south. The next day's driving would take us from the Loire to the Dordogne, through the areas of Creuse and Limousin. So with the destination of Souillac on our minds, we returned to L'Ecu de Bretagne, happy to be in the heart of France with so much more to come. On day three we drove across the 14th century bridge that spans the Loire at Beaugency and headed down through the heart of France towards Limoges and on to Souillac. I have to say that the fabulous motorway network in France makes travel so easy. We were covering the distances with ease, a great change from the past when it always seemed to take much longer than expected. The advantage then was that you got to see more towns and villages than you do from the motorway. It's a choice, speed, or variety and interest and sometimes a bit of both makes the day more interesting. We arrived in Souillac early afternoon and checked into a lovely small hotel in the centre of the town. It was built in the 15th century and had some beautiful features, including a grand stone staircase. The Pavillon St Martin was run by a very nice couple who couldn't do enough for us. Which brings me very neatly to breakfast, which was about as amazing as breakfast can be. A very full choice, including the first crop of this year's strawberries.

Not the best picture of the Dordogne, but it's the only one I took on our brief stay there.

Seven Weeks In France

The long anticipated journey into France began on April 5th with a stop over in Oxfordshire. We had planned to travel down to Folkstone in one go and through the channel tunnel on the 6th, but we were ready, so why not make the journey easier and set off a day earlier. we had never used the tunnel before, but it was an easy, seamless and enjoyable experience, delivering us straight onto the French motorway system with ease. Within 45 minutes of our arrival in France, we were in the town of Montreuil Sur Mer, our chosen stop off point for the first night.

Les Ramparts, which incidentally, was also the name of the hotel we stayed in. The plan was to drive down to the Languedoc where we had booked a cottage for a month and then to spend another couple of weeks or so, before making our way back north. The whole stay would probably be seven or eight weeks, it was totally flexible, according to what we wanted to do. It was good to be back in France, we had stopped off in France a few times before, but many years ago. A walk around the town, or more specifically the ramparts reminded us of how long it had been as much of it was unfamiliar. However, we were looking forward to the next day, which would take us to the Loire valley.

One full day in Wales.

After our walk onto Cadair Idris we were mindful of the fact that the weather was likely to go downhill. So in the afternoon we decided to try some photography at the Cregennan Lakes. It's a beautiful place, but the afternoon is not the best time to be taking photographs. However, we had little option but to make the most of it.

The beautiful Cregennan Lake.

A short walk up onto the nearby ridge of Pared y Cefn hair is rewarded with a wide panorama and excellent views of the lake.

And further out to the south and west the view looks out over the sea near Barmouth, the Mawddach Estuary and Fairbourne.

To the north are the mountains that make up the Cadair Idris group.

Wet Wales!

The plan was to have a week of walking and photography in southern Snowdonia. We had visited Dolgellau on a couple of occasions for a short break during the winter, but the plan this time was for a week of walking, on Cadair Idris and in the surrounding area. For some time the weather forecast for the week looked good, but as the week drew closer, the forecast got wetter. After a very wet Sunday we managed a walk onto Cadair Idris, using The Foxes Path from the Gwernan Hotel, we walked up to the first of the mountain lakes. the heavy rain on the previous day meant we couldn't go further as the amount of water in the lake's outlet stream proved to be too much to allow further progress. The following two days brought more heavy rain, so we made the decision to return home, but these are the pictures that I did manage to take while we were there.

On Saturday evening the rain stopped and for a while the weather looked promising.

The pond near our cottage with lilies in flower.

The nearby Gwernan Lake.

On Monday morning the weather looked good enough to walk up to the lakes on the western side of Cadair Idris. A beautiful view up the valley from The Foxes Path.

Llyn (lake) Gafr, on the slopes of Cadair Idris.

A Walk to Grizedale

After a visit to the Polling Station to vote for us to stay in the EU, we set off to the head of the lake, around to Lane Head, where we took the track up into the forest. A beautiful day and fantastic views of the lake and fells as we climbed higher. After a brief walk along the top, the path begins the descent to Grizedale. We had an early lunch at Grizedale Hall before retracing our steps back over the forest and down to Coniston.

The view towards Tilberthwaite from Lane Head.

SY Gondola taking on passengers.

One of a group of Marsh Orchids that we came across in the forest.

A Walk For A Summer's Day.

The afternoon looked good, the clouds opened up, blue sky appeared and the air was clear. We decided to walk through the Tilberthwaite Valley, taking the higher path from Tilberthwaite Farm, over to Little Langdale. We returned via Stang End, Hodge Close and Holme Ground. Beautiful views, fabulous wild flowers and fantastic company. A glorious walk.

Garden Birds

We have always fed the birds in our gardens wherever we have lived and got much pleasure from observing them as they feed.