France
Chenay

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    • Day 1–2

      Day 01 15.04 . . . Setting Off

      April 15 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 137

      31.01 Day 137 . . . Chenay Once More

      January 31, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 4 °C

      I woke this morning and then fell straight back to sleep until nearly 10am - I slept all day yesterday, how is this happening?
      We both hopped up and got ourselves ready as we were visiting the house at Chenay again today - I even had a face scrape!!
      During this period of readiness I got a message to say the diagnostic gizmo for the car had been delivered - will need to sort that later on our return.
      We were at the house at Chenay at just gone 1.30pm awaiting the estate agent who was due at 2pm. We said our hello’s to the resident neighbours cats and had a look over the gate and then a walk down the lane. All seemed as we last saw it.
      The Estate agent arrived at 2pm and as previously had forgotten the code for the padlock on the gate . . .something about the 3 P’s springs to mind.
      Finally in we took a slow walk around the house together trying to check as many things as we could, things we had put on a list before driving here today. We wandered on numerous occasions from that list to look at bits and pieces we hadn’t included on the list. State of woodwork we knew needed attention, how old was the log burner stove, did the chimney on the bread oven even exist as a chimney, did the bathroom have any form of extraction . . . really not too exciting to most but to us little gems of knowledge.
      The beams upstairs didn’t seem so low this time which pleased me and the barn had been semi cleared . . . well a little anyway. We drew up a list with the estate agent of things we might be interested in if free and left, things we might consider buying and things we really wanted shipped out before we arrived . . . if all goes to plan.
      A spin into the hanger and a walk around the outside and garden to add to the list and we were done - probably about an hour. The estate agent made it clear in actions if not words that she needed to leave - we got the hint. After her departure we stayed a while to chat and say goodbye to the cats.
      We drove home via Maire Levescault to see if the cafe was open - it wasn’t, so we trundled for home.
      On route we had to pull over on ‘The road to nowhere’ to let a convoy through bringing even more turbine blades to somewhere - hopefully not too near here as we do seem to have quite a few already.
      At home we had cheese and crackers whilst emailing the bank re change of address details. Hannah also delivered the diagnostic gizmo, so I will call Warren tomorrow.
      I then had a sort out of some tool boxes, so that I could free a plastic box up for my seed sewing experiment - it took a bit longer than expected.
      Tre had put chicken into marinade yesterday, so that made an appearance for our evening meal and it was fab - chicken peppers, onion, garlic and chilli - what could be more perfect.
      We watched a bit of tatt TV before finding Saving Private Ryan on film 4 +1. The only problem was it being +1 and us being an hour ahead of UK TV meant it was gonna be a late finish. Having had so much sleep over the last couple of days I managed to see it through, but Tre gave up and retired to bed before they’d even found him, let alone try to get him home.
      SPOILER ALERT - PRIVATE RYAN MAKES IT HOME.
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    • Day 198

      02.04 Day 198 . . . Happy Burvday Loz

      April 2, 2023 in France ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

      There was a promise of lots of tools being sold at one of the local charity places this morning - ‘Hope’ At Sauze Vaussais.
      Having rested quite well yesterday 😂 we were up relatively early and out the door ready for our jaunt out.
      We got to Hope at about 9.30am and then saw the sign about being open at 10am. So we decided to check out another road to the Chenay house - thinking about lorry access. The road didn’t end up where we expected it to and so we made a small deviation to drive past the house anyway. On route we saw a number of Buzzards in the ploughed fields and then a very small bird which appeared to have a mask around its eyes. A black line that made it look like a bank robber. No idea what it was, so some research needed later. Nothing had changed at the house - no sign of a mass clear out at this point.
      We returned to Hope and went to explore. There were next to no tools, just the normal charity shop bits and pieces - plates, cups, glasses and jigsaws. Hope also has a little shop that sells English food stuffs - we’d never visited before so took a look. As luck would have it we’d just run out of English tea bags and the shop had a large bag. I decided we needed some . . . 10 bloody euros for a bag of tea bags!! Won’t be doing that again!!
      Before we left we grabbed a bacon roll each from a stall outside - bacon is still something we miss here, only when we smell it 🥓🥓
      From Hope we drove to the small spar in Sauze to grab some bits for dinner and then back to the Chenay house so I could check the route we actually would have to use, to see if it was suitable for a lorry . . . All seems ok!
      From the house we drove to Caunay where we knew there was a vide grenier
      happening. It appears this weekend is the start of all the local village vide grenier and brocantes starting.
      We parked at Caunay and had a walk around the stalls, lots of bits that would be handy when we have the house, but not at the moment as we don’t want anything else to store or move.
      From Caunay we decided to visit Lezay and their vide grenier also on this morning. As we left we commented on how nice Caunay was, we’d not visited before. One particular garden caught our eye as we drove past its boundary wall covered in Grape Hyacinth and Succulents.
      By the time we got to Lezay the weather had turned and was overcast and rain loomed. There wasn’t really very much at the vide and so we didn’t stay long.
      Back in Rox we took yet another untried route back to home, using back roads now full of fields of rapeseed. It’s grown quite substantially in the week we have been away.
      The afternoon drifted away, more penguins to catch up on and dinner cooked. A ‘Happy Birthday’ phone call to Lauren, who was out enjoying herself and then a quick call to my mum.
      Social media provided me with a little envy in regards to a little red tractor we could have bought if we had been in our house, but some thankful news that Graham Potter had been sacked - at last. The small bird we had seen earlier, our bank robber, was in-fact a Wheatear. First time ever seeing one of these and not a name I’d heard of before.
      Fab cauliflower cheese and steaks were on the menu for dinner, some evening TV and another day was done.
      Now we are actually in April - the house seems less of a dream and possibly more reality.
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