A walk in Descartes..

On Monday we took Eileen on one of our walks in Descartes, along the voie vert ,the river Creuse and onto the public gardens which were looking remarkably lush considering the recent very hot spell.

If you go down to the woods today...

 Well actually yesterday or Saturday in La Rond du Chêne you would have come across these scenes of a reenactment of the base camp of French Resistance and SAS fighters ('Operation Moses' – August/September 1944) to conduct guerrilla actions against the occupying German army who were active around La Roche-Posay and Chatellerault.

There was also the unveiling of a memorial to commemorate their actions which ultimately led to the surrender of General Botho Elster and his very large German column at Issoudun. 

Back on the road again...

We did our first real walk (7km) yesterday since the current heatwave started and although it was a bit misty but with the temperature at 20 deg. it was ideal.

The sun started to break through as we returned to La Guerche and as we passed a rather sparse field of sunflowers we noticed they seemed to have survived the drought rather better than some we have seen.  

There was also some unexpected flourishes of colour.

What lies ahead...

We have walked through this arch many many time over the years, sometimes simply to take in the views of the village, visit the Prehistory Museum or when leading a walk through the ground to show it off to visitors - well worth the hike up the hill!

A cotton ball end to a lovely day...

 

This was the sky last night over La Guerche after we had returned from a lovely tasty lunch with friends over in Le Grand-Pressigny.

Fun with 'Mistiti' at Les Tilleuls...

Popped over with friends to hear 'Mistiti' at 'Les Tilleuls' in Barrou last night - she is a larger than life entertainer who has a number of artistic personas ranging 'classic French', 'Punk','Irish' and as last night's performance 'Rockabilly'.

She quickly got the audience on her side with her energy,song choices and costume change. 

As ever 'Les Tilleuls' created a lovely ambiance for the concert which had to finish before Mistiti could do an encore as we had our first real (very welcome) rain shower for months...did not dampen the enjoyment of the evening however.

How lucky are we...

 

These were our seats last night for aperos before joining some dear friends for dinner.

Monday's walk...

 Yesterday morning David led us out on a short walk around his property just outside Le Grand-Pressigny (it is currently for sale BTW) on another hot day here in Southern Touraine.

Bizarrely we had to give way to one of his neighbours on a scooter early on in the walk!

He managed to include a wee bit of welcome shade.

A cable had dropped from its post which offered the walkers a chance to try a bit of limbo dancing under it with only Maureen up for the challenge.

Then it was back out into open countryside and a few 'are we nearly there yet' moments!

The end of the walk saw us gathering under one of David and Jane's barns for a shared picnic.

A ray of sunshine...

Captured this sunflower on our walk this morning, currently with the lack of rain most of the fields around us looking a little sad so it was good to see some sunflowers are holding up. 

More on our actual walk tomorrow.

Quinze août part II...

Yesterday, Angela and Dennis reinstated the 'Quinze août' festivities at their home in Mairé, albeit on a smaller scale than previous years. As ever they were very generous hosts and the food contributions from friends made for an excellent afternoon/evening of music, food and friendship.  

David and Geoff provided the music for the afternoon to an appreciative  audience consisting of English, Scots, Irish, Welsh and Americans - very international !

Quinze août 2026 part I...

As tradition has it, yesterday morning we headed over to the annual brocante at nearby Lesigny. This year it was really just for the walk and the opportunity to meet and chat with friends and neighbours as we really do not need any more 'treasures'.

On the face of it we did not feel we had enough time to linger at this stall.

It is reassuring to see the winter 'furry boots' being discarded as it always reminds us of back home in Scotland *

*Checkout the connection here.

Franquette at 'Le Lavoir'.

Joined friends over at 'Le Lavoir' in Preuilly-sur-Claise last night for another set by the classy duo 'Franquette' good night in good company.