Walk with us in Le Grand-Pressigny

30/09/2018

LE GRAND-PRESSIGNY -   Randonnée des Fruits d'Automne

Registration from 14:00, departure of the hike at 14:30. Coffee & gingerbread departing, refreshments midway and pot of friendship & fall fruit pastries on arrival. Dogs must be on a leash. Provide city shoes for the floor of the hall of the Grand Pressigny.

Price: € 3 / € 3.5
 

Tel: 02 47 94 95 69 

Hats off to our leader...

For Thursday's randonnee we headed over to Le Petit-Pressigny and a walk under a hot sun and blue sky. It was a day for hats and our stand-in leader won the 'hat of the day' award!

As we left the village it seemed like the ideal conditions for a good walk...

but when faced with open countryside and a hot sun it sometimes felt like a punishment - but beats the rain hands down! 

Another good walk in good company.

Something for the weekend - brocantes Saturday 29th / Sunday 30th September

Chedigny

Brocantes / vide greniers Saturday 29th September

* Up to 50 stalls ** 50 to 100 stalls *** 100 to 200 stalls ****More than 200 stalls    ? Unknown

Fondettes Vide-greniers ?

Brocantes / vide greniers Sunday 30th  September

* Up to 50 stalls ** 50 to 100 stalls *** 100 to 200 stalls ****More than 200 stalls    ? Unknown

Chedigny  Brocante *****

Joue-les-Tours  Brocante *****

Tours, Place des Halles  Vide-greniers ?

Villeperdue  Vide-greniers **

White-out...wot-we-bot

At Sunday's brocante we picked this lady up...only because she was white...no colour prejudice, it was simply to replace a boring piece we had in our unit in the study at La Guerche. We still need one more to replace the bottom left item.

Sunday's Fete-du-Lait (?) at Legueil

Always feel it's a shame when local villages go to a lot of effort to organise their events and mother nature steps in to put a damper on things (literally). 

Light rain showers on Sunday meant some stall holders at the 'vide greniers' had to get their treasure under cover plus it would have put off a lot of potential customers.

This stall holder appeared to be searching for clients!

There was no way the 'couchon grille' wasn't going to happen, even under the rain!

We have noticed over the years the emphasis on 'lait' seems to be diminishing with this year's only real (?) reference being a rather unhappy looking DJ going around in a cow-suit!

Approaching the season's end at the Old Walnut Mill

Welcomed our final guests of the season at the 'Old Walnut Mill' yesterday and although we had rain it looks as if the rest of their week is going to be blessed with some fine September sunshine. The cottage has played host to so many lovely people this year that it makes our job (which can be hard work in the height of summer) a pleasure.

Here is the departing guests comments from our guestbook:

22nd September 2018

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay at the Old Walnut Mill, especially as the weather has been so good. All the villages mentioned in previous pages are well worth visiting, especially if you follow Jim's very helpful instructions in his emails and on his website. (Particularly useful for visiting the beautiful Angles-sur-l'Anglin.) We enjoyed our shopping trip to Chambray-les-Tours at the large shopping mall Ma Petit Madelaine including eating at the new 'Holly's Dinner'

Many thanks to Jim & Pauline for the lovely warm welcome and for giving us such a lovely place to stay.

All best wishes,

Allan & Ann Slater,

Ashtead,

Surry

UK

Ending a relationship...

Yesterday we welcomed the last guests of the season to 'Le Bourg' in Barrou and our last guests as hosts of this delightful property. When they leave Miki the owner is putting in on the market. We have thoroughly enjoyed our experience of managing the property and gardens for her and meeting so many lovely people from around the globe...many who have now become friends.

The house consists of the barn conversion and 'little house' to the front, if you know of any interested parties please get in touch.

I can be contacted on admin(at)experienceloire.com

Breaking us in gently...

Our second  randonnee of the season took us over to Cussay where we had another sunny September day for our walk.

Part of the route we had done before but there was also a deviation which took us through a  small hameau with some lovely houses.

We did have some respite from the hot sun as we walked through some woods but it ended with more open countryside and sunshine!

At this point we were given the opportunity to take the short route home which meant spending a half hour less under a hot sun in open countryside - we chose the short route!

On this route we passed this old vine worker's shed which had been named the 'green monkey' for some reason.

As we were travelling with someone who did the longer walk we were forced to sit in the chade by a small lake and wait for them...tough!

Hot air in La Guerche

Spotted over La Guerche last night

Something for the weekend - brocantes Saturday 22nd / Sunday 23rd September

Ligueil

Brocantes / vide greniers Saturday 22nd September

* Up to 50 stalls ** 50 to 100 stalls *** 100 to 200 stalls ****More than 200 stalls    ? Unknown

Bonneuil-Matours  Brocante / Vide-greniers *

Chatellerault Vide-greniers Lac de la Foret *****

Brocantes / vide greniers Sunday 23rd  September

* Up to 50 stalls ** 50 to 100 stalls *** 100 to 200 stalls ****More than 200 stalls    ? Unknown

 Athee-sue-Cher  Vide-greniers ***

Bonneuil-Matours  Brocante / Vide-greniers *

Chatellerault Vide-greniers la sale Omnisport ***

Cousmes  Brocante / Vide-greniers ***

Ligueil  Vide-greniers de la Fete du Lait ****

Mirrebeau  Vide-greniers ***

La Roche-Clernault  Vide-greniers ?

Nazelles-Negron  Vide-greniers ***

Riviere  Vide-greniers **

Saint-Pierre-des-Corps  Vide-greniers ***

First randonnee of the season...

For the first Le Grand-Pressigny Randonnee club outing of the new season last Thursday we headed over to Bossay-sur-Claise.

It was no surprise to find that it started with an uphill climb, you can always trust in our leader Joel to break us in gently!

As there are ups so there are downs, although sometimes it feels that their are more ups!

Passed this etang on the way although I had to break from the pack to get this view.

The walk had the choice of 12 or 8 km...we decided on the shorter route and were happy to catch site of the village on our return.

Confusing publicity and a museum not visited.

Part of our 'Patrimoine Sunday' was to be a visit to 'Musee Maurice Dufresne' which we had mistakenly understood to be free for the day. The publicity led us and others to believe this but it was actually only free to enter the 'Retro Party' held in the grounds in front of the museum. The 'party' consisted of a rally of rather smart 'Alpine' cars and a brocante of retro car and motorcycle parts.

As I said we were not alone being confused by the publicity as when we got to the entry point of the museum a the young ticket collector was explaining to a French family and then us about the confusion. I am sure it wouldn't have been the last time he would have to do it! At least we got to see some rusty old steam engines!

We could have paid to go in but decided, on principle, not today and also that it was a visit perhaps kept for a rainy day and not this delightfully hot September day.

What we did on Patrimoine Weekend...

Did a bit of 'cramming' over the weekend that was a mix of work, rest and play. Changeover at 'Les Balcons' on Friday then apéros with neighbours in Barrou. A changeover at the 'Old Walnut Mill' on Saturday then birthday party at Le Grand-Pressigny in the evening. What was strange about our socialising was that on both occasions they were within walking distance of our houses but we had to drive 'home' to La Guerche...felt a little odd!

Working on Saturday meant we only had Sunday to take advantage of 'Patrimoine Weekend' when some doors that are normally closed open under the 'heritage days' banner. We managed viewing a couple of chateaux, visited one of 'Les plus beaux villages de France', failed to visit a museum and added quite a few churches, including one with a tree growing out of its wall!

More on this and other visits to follow.