Day to day in the Loire

Since our return from La Rochelle ( pic below of couple also staying at B & B ) & the amazing labyrinth of the Marais poitevin ( inland waterways) we have resumed our laid back existence here in Mareuil.
We have been out making
smaller day trips on the lovely & picturesque country roads discovering even more quaint villages all with beautiful flower
arrangements adorning

the bridges & from hanging baskets along the main street, very impressive.

Since the initial hot spell in July, August went through quite a dip in temperature where we had much cooler days & nights with 3 or 4 days of continuous showers & drizzle so we thought that all the hot weather had gone, however, since the start of September the days have been in the high 20's with hardly a cloud in the sky making it much nicer for driving around.

Most days we get up, have a look outside & then head off in another direction. We always buy a baguette from our local bread shop ( boulangerie ) so we can make a nice sandwich to have by some little stream or park. Our little car ( pic. ) is going so well & being a diesel it is also very economical & we have already done close to 2800kms. I am quite confident with my driving now & have to admit that the traffic seems to flow better on this side of the road, but I cant explain why?

We did catch up last Saturday ( 9th ) with Sara's cousin Bev & her husband Mike from Rockhampton visiting their son Matthew ( & his 2.5 yo daughter Yves ) in Paris who works as a freelance photographer with the BBC. They had driven from Poitiers to catch up for lunch.
Lunch was at a nice restaurant in our neighboring village of St.Aignan which turned out to be a " bon repast " ( good meal ).
It was great to catch up with them during their time here & we also hope to see Matthew & his girlfriend Audrey down here one weekend once we were back from our trip away.

We needed to find out the locations of the train station & the airport in Tours as we have Kath Sheedy arriving by train, here for a few days during her European trip, then later in October our nephew Tom is visiting from London for a week arriving at Tours airport.
On the way to Tours we passed through Blere & as we are invited for dinner tonight ( Thurs. ) we thought we should find out where Daniel & Marilyn's house is. They are friends of Joe & Kerin ( the owners of Mareuil ) so it was very nice to get an invitation to dinner.

We plan to head off this Sunday 17th and will spend our 1st night in the famous wine area of Burgundy staying at a Chambres d'Hotes ( B & B ) in Puligny-Montrachet before going onto Dijon then to Colmar which is right in the middle of Alsace. We then move onto Geneva where we will be catching up with Bob & Anthea Roth whom we last saw during our trip to France in 1989 so it will be nice to see them after all these years.

Will update you on our return. Trust everyone is well.

Cheers
Harv and Sara