France Buffevent

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  • Day 38

    Day 3-6 Retreat

    May 8 in France ⋅ 🌙 14 °C

    So I followed the same schedule basically every day.

    I forgot to mention that they have a lazy day every Monday.
    Now this isn't to be used to do laundry etc but to do nothing. Rest, read, journal, walk, sleep....meditate and so on if you catch my drift it actually is difficult to not do things....I learned I do like structure and following a schedule. Very interesting....

    I forgot to mention that they would ring the bell all day long and it was for us to stop what we were doing and breathe and be present in our body..... There were also signs everywhere as a reminder to get out of our heads and into our body🤗

    The first service meditation was in the kitchen. The chef was hilarious!! The first thing she said was: " No Cooking....No Chopping...Just Scrubbing!!!!"
    She gave us 3 carts filled with large service pans that were very laden with grease......the fix was vinegar, baking soda, steel wool and elbow grease. We were having so much fun until one of the Sisters told us to be quiet and work in a meditative fashion.....

    That same day I was chatting with Anna and a Sister reminded me of the Noble Silence and ralso to wash my dishes as if it were a baby Buddha.....

    I also should mention that every night I had to get up to use the outhouse.....But....it was thrilling because not only did I see the beautiful stars 😍 I heard the Owl.

    I continued to hear the Owl every night but it's call was not loud enough to be picked up on Merlin....until one night👏🥰

    I identified it as a Tawny Owl. There were several in the area calling to one another......such a thrill!!!
    I also heard the Nightengale as well😍 I think my next trip should be a bird call ID trip😉 It is so gratifying identifying their calls.
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  • Day 11–12

    28.05 Day 11 . . . Abrupt Finish

    May 28, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    An entire night of coughing was Teresa’s night - and mine . . . Loup however slept like a log!! 🙄
    The morning revealed Tre to be even worse than last night and it’s not something I would ever dare say to Tre under normal circumstances, but she looked well rough!! 🤮
    After some discussion and consideration that Tre could possibly have Covid we decided we should head for home rather than push on south to Switzerland and Italy. The thought of getting further away from home and Tre getting worse, coupled with her having to sleep in the van (although it is well comfy and warm) seemed stupid. I know Tre was also worried that as I had started coughing, I may get unwell and she would be left with the van and Loup to contend with feeling rubbish herself.
    All advice indicated if Covid to rest, drink lots of fluid and take paracetamol.
    So decision made, we cleared the room and packed Rox . . . Loup into his travel bed.
    From Sunshine to rain and back to sunshine was the weather pattern for the journey. . . With three brief 10 minute stops for Loup and visits to the facilities we drove for 8.5hrs - Tre sleeping on and off throughout and repeatedly apologising to me for ruining our holiday 🙄🙄.
    Arriving home Loup ran the garden to check all was well, I unpacked a few things from Rox while Tre headed off to bed, rattling from the numerous tablets she’d taken all day.
    So that was it our three week plan cut to 12 days. That being said we have had the most brilliant time visiting family and friends and then spending time with Simon Jax Jonathan and Emma at Stone Valley - always a thoroughly enjoyable experience if not a little boozy at times.

    Italy will have to wait - but we will get there 😎

    The lyrics of today’s song are not apt, but the title did make me chuckle as Tre coughed sniffed and snoozed throughout the journey home.

    Ferocious Dog - Broken Soldier
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  • Day 17

    Have a little faith in me

    May 28, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    Ja dat bijzondere woordje faith, had ik wel nodig. Voor 8 uur op de fiete ri. Saintes. Prima route met de nodige heuveltjes en tegenwind. Alleen Melle was lastig door te komen. Veel(vracht)verkeer en
    heuvelachtig. Probeerde natuurlijk wel de landweggetjes, maar Google was ook nit in vorm. De camping van 2017 was fermee vanwege wateroverlast. Camping verderop(8 km)ik, goedgelovig, na 100 km daar heen, fermee aussi. Nog 1 optie...gite achter de kerk, nog 'un lit...libre.' inchecken, stempelen en douchen en met de 5 Johnny Walkers uut eetn, pelgrimsmenu veur 12 Euri. Morgen doe ik echt rustig an, geen geintje....have a little faith in me😘🙏
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  • Day 16

    Take it easy

    May 27, 2024 in France ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    Bietje lastig op gang komen vandaag
    Om 8 uur stond iemand van de gemeente voor de tent...pour payer. Grapjas...ik kom zo.Qua fietsen ging het niet zo geweldig. Klim,klim, klimmetje en tegenwind. Die combi heb ik 75 km volgehouden, toen waa't kloar! Zag dat er in Velay nog een kampong was, was niet ferme :) Maar ik moest me melden bij de mairie. 2 ambtenaren hebben me ingeschreven als ingezetene voor 1 jour, voor 3 euri en 70 cent. Vive le bureaucratie, eerst douchen en dan aan het bier. Weinig foto's zie maar en oordeel zelf. Ik ben mooi Portiers en die heuveltjes voorbij en die boord is van 15 dagen:)Read more

  • Day 1–2

    18.05 Day 1 . . . Here We Go

    May 18, 2024 in France ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    So today’s is the day we set off, possibly for about three weeks in total.
    The plan - from home to the UK. Visit family and friends for a few days. Then to The Stone Valley Festival from Thursday night until Bank Holiday Monday morning with Simon Jax Jonathan and Emma Annals. Drive back to France. Then south through France, into the top of Switzerland. Across Switzerland and pop out the bottom side into Italy. Meet with Simon & Jax again and have a few days exploring the lakes area, visiting a few Italian beauty spots and villages and hopefully chilling.
    That plan is very dependant on Loup 🙄🐾
    Packing up and getting ready to leave was quite tough as the weather at home was glorious sunshine, so after the last week or so of mixed weather it seemed a wrench to be leaving. Plus we love this place so much and have so much to do, we wanted to stay and crack in with everything.
    So the day passed along with many trips back and forth to Roxvanne, now being accompanied by Loup on every round trip.
    We had aimed to leave by 2.30, but it was nearer 4.30 by the time we locked all the shutters and the front gate - setting off to join the main road out to the N10.
    As always we headed due north on the N10 and took our normal route up towards Poitier, then Tours, on to Le Mans and with an aim to get the far side of Rouen before bedding down for the evening.
    We had spells of glorious sunshine but also heavy showers on the journey - throughout which Loup was brilliant, not a peep - we stopped briefly a couple of times for him to have a leg stretch and a call of nature. We also listened to an hour long interview with Paul Weller talking about his life and music and plugging the new album ‘66’ . . . Obviously!!
    We finally cleared Rouen and stopped at services we had stopped overnight at previously, on our first ever drive to the UK back in November 2022.
    After a fairly lengthy walk with Loup we huddled down in Roxvanne, Tre immediately going to sleep leaving me trying to get the Tyson Fury fight streamed to my phone - without success!!
    So that was Day 1 done - let’s hope the rest of the trip is as painless as today.

    Paul Weller - Soul Wandering
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  • Day 1–2

    Day 01 15.04 . . . Setting Off

    April 15, 2024 in France ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    So today was our setting off day. We had a final few things to sort out - one of which being to put Loup’s normal house crate into Roxvanne, as his usual travel crate is now to small. With a few stiff pushes and a few swear words it went in, quickly followed by Loup straight into it ready for the off
    We set off around midday, grabbed fuel and hit the N10 south to Angoulême where we exited south east towards Périgueux.
    After just over a couple of hours we stopped in a layby so that Loup could have a natural. That completed and a short leg stretch for all of us we set off again, heading now generally towards Bergerac. On route we passed through Gout-Rossignol and saw by complete chance the first house we ever viewed when we were house hunting here in France.
    Bergerac looked very quaint with the river running through it and deserved a stop really, but we had places to go.
    We carried on past Bergerac and then made a very short stop for Loup once again, deciding we would have a longer stop and proper leg stretch at a services further south.
    The entire journey was scattered with picturesque villages and small towns and we lost count of how many rivers we crossed.
    We had decided to head for Moissac for no other reason than it was just over half way to Perpignan. Whilst at our final leg stretch at some services we checked our park4night app and found a small camp site at Les Grets which would see us through one night.
    Finally passing through Agen and Moissac (which again both deserved more time spent at them) we found ourselves crossing a strange little bridge and then onto the camp site.
    There were no staff and certainly no reception desk visible on site and so we found our way to what can only be described as a pay machine which we hoped would discharge a parking voucher to activate the very large barrier.
    To say Tre had some issues with the machine (whilst I sat in the van at the barrier with engine running) was an under statement. I listened to a good two or three tracks in the radio before I saw Tre heading back towards us. I gave an understanding smile of appreciation for her efforts and tried not to giggle at the frustrated expression that I got in return.
    So after a fairly long day we parked up, walked around a pretty much deserted camp site together with our very excited four legged wonder boy and then called it a night.
    We weren’t sure how well Loup would settle after some fairly lengthy periods in his crate during the day - although we don’t think he sleeps, just lays and listens to ensure we are still in Roxvanne with him and chills to our tunes on Spotify.
    We shall see!!

    Not that I will ever acknowledge that he has any good ideas, however I will concede that I have pinched this idea from Fister . . . Don’t ask!!
    So our song of the day is:
    Siouxsie & The Banshees - Arabian Knights (Andy’s choice)

    Also each day we are going to listen to an album that probably most people will have, or should have listened to at some point . . . But neither of us have!
    So todays album never heard before in its entirety is:
    Radiohead - Pablo Honey (Our Rating 7/10)
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  • Day 69–71

    33.ster Stopp La Forét-de-Tessé

    April 13 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Moin Leute,

    jetzt geht's Zack auf Zack. Knapp 270 Kilometer Richtung Nordfrankreich. Mitten im Nichts habe ich einen kleinen, privaten Campingplatz gefunden.

    https://www.campinglft.com/

    Hier gibt es 10 Plätze auf einem Privatgrundstück.
    Ca. 10 Kilometer von der Autobahn entfernt in einem Dorf mit gefühlt 12 bewohnten Häusern und 5 verfallenen. Mehr gibt es hier nicht. Am Abend hört man nur die Geräusche der Natur.

    GROßARTIG!

    wir zahlen 21,00 Euro die Nacht ohne Strom.
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  • Day 2

    Champagne aurevoire

    March 4 in France ⋅ ☁️ 15 °C

    Morgens geht es durch die Champagne mit einem kleinen Zwischenstopp in Epernay. Dann weiter Richtung Süden. Am Ende eines weiteren Reisetages bei bestem Wetter kommen wir schließlich in La Forêt-de-Tessé an. 18 Grad und ein wunderbarer kleiner Campingplatz in einem alten Hof. So langsam bekommen wir Urlaubsfeeling...☀️🍀Read more

  • Day 10–11

    27.05 Day 10 . . . Italy Bound

    May 27, 2024 in France ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Loup is like an accurate alarm clock waking us spot on 7am - again. Up and walked - today was pack up day as our Festival Mayhem had come to an end for another year.
    We are now bound for Italy!
    The pack up went swimmingly although worryingly Teresa’s cough/cold thing had got worse. Ashe has had this for about three days but this morning it has gone up a notch. Maybe last night chilly weather with The Stranglers just finished her off.
    We left the site about 9.30am and headed for our usual post festival MacDonalds just up the road. Tre was not overly bothered about eating but I managed to get her to eat a sausage and egg McMuffin (I had two) and a cold strawberry milk shake to soothe her throat. My eyes were bigger than my belly and so one McMuffin got put by for later.
    On the road in the sunshine we headed south to the coast and the Chunnel. We decided after their performance last night to give The Stranglers a play on route.
    Apart from some initial queuing and a bloke who couldn’t control his dog in the pet passport area, our check in at Le Shuttle went smoothly. A nice little bottle of Lemon Gin acquired for our Italy adventure we headed outside to await our train departure.
    Loup had a session in the pet playground and helped me finish the second McMuffin - his first ever! Tre was still rough and dozing when possible.
    The crossing concluded with a broken down vehicle on the train when arriving at Coquelles, but that was sorted fairly promptly and we departed for our overnight hotel - both of us in need of a proper room and decent shower.
    We drove for an hour and a bit to the our accommodation B&B Béthune Bruay-la-
    Buissière, stopping briefly at Lidl to grab some supplies. The hotel was one of the very low staffed but very office like modern places. Loads of parking, charming member of staff and a modern, very clean, tidy and comfortable room - if not the biggest in the world.
    We took Loup for a last long walk and play with his fairly new ball, which he took joy in puncturing. We then avoided a woman with a very large white mountain ‘attack’ dog which was trying with every sinew in his body to get off his double harness lead to run over and eat the three of us.
    Tre had now got even worse than this morning and so went straight to bed - coughing non stop. It wasn’t long before I hopped off to bed also and thankfully Loup crashed at the same time.
    Tomorrow we journey south on our way to Switzerland and then Italy to rendezvous with Simon and Jax again!! More Mayhem to come.

    The Stranglers - Hanging Around
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