Sunday 14th October

Sunday 14th October
Another great day on its way. 8 deg this morning but the weather forecast promised a sunny 20 deg.
We were not disappointed.
As the output of our creative side of painting and drawing had slipped a bit it seemed a good idea to get the paint box out and sit out in the (now recently weeded garden) to capture the views across the fields. Beatrice decided she wanted to get the aquarelles out and sketch the patio by the back door and surprised herself as to how well it turned out.
How satisfying that was, we both wiled away a good few hours until it was time to have lunch and a cool French beer.
Such a sunny day we drove into Rogny, parked the car and joined the many locals and some tourists out for their Sunday afternoon walk. We watched as the boats went through the locks (Ecluses) and chatted to a German skipper who was on his way up to Paris which would take him about three days, stopping overnight at Chatillon, Montagis and then on to Paris. It sounded great and the more I think about it the more we have to consider it as something we should do in the next year or two. We walked up past 5 of the locks and then came back on the other side of the canal into Rogny.
Back in the car we drove out to Aillant s/Milleron, where the boulangerie is and which we have never found to be open.
We also went out to where we had lunch last week when Marisa was with us, at the Rendezvous Pecheurs at Fontainejean.
Without too much trouble we found our way, taking us on the narrow roads through the fields and small villages.
Looking out across to the side of the road we watched Le Chasse and counted about ten men with their guns across their shoulders or carried out in front of them as they slowly walked through the waist high crops looking for their next meal. The loud roar of the guns echoed across the countryside along with the dog calls and whistles. It still takes us by surprise when we see them, although we are always hearing the guns around us on the weekends. Whenever we see the small Citroen green or white vans in the fields on the weekends we know they are around.
We have often seen the very colourful wild flowers growing by the roadside in their abundance, so this time when we saw them, we stopped and picked a handful to take home, in doing so we weren’t too sure if it was illegal, but no one was around so we went for it.
We successfully made our way home for dinner and to watch the ITV and see whether it will be Argentina or South Africa that will play England in the final of the rugby world cup .