Well hello.....................

there you are.

Where have you been?  I have been looking everywhere for you – haven’t seen you in a week.

You may have gathered that it has been difficult to get online.  Last year we popped into McDonalds every so often but this year when we went in on Monday we couldn’t get into their system – so I couldn’t get to my emails either.  The other day we found a coffee shop that has a Wi-Fi link so hopefully I can blog every couple of days now.  So in preparation we can get online today (Thursday 28 June) I am writing this in Word & hope I can copy & paste into the blog.

Last time I wrote we were in Chard (I think) staying over night before visiting my cousins.  After that we drove to the New Forest where we stayed in a beautiful hotel overlooking fields full of deer.  In the morning (Friday 22 June) we drove to Portsmouth popping in to see my friend & then pottering aro9und the area until it was time to catch the ferry to St Malo.  I have to say I was a little worried as the weather was really blowy & the sea was quite rough.  But by the time of our sailing it had calmed a little & I slept well so no problems.

At our gite we had a really warm welcome from the owners – it was like coming home – as we had stayed here last year.

We are having a very relaxing holiday & take slow leisurely starts to each day.  Sunday we just shut down completely & didn’t go anywhere – mind you – it poured with rain all day.

Monday – my birthday - & here I would like to say thank you very much for the birthday cards I had been given which I brought with me.  They are beautiful & are on display around the gite.  Bob & I would also like to say thank you to those of you who sent us texts & emails & cards on our news – we were very touched.  Now! In France – or at least this area – restaurants do not open on a Monday evening.  So no birthday treat meal for me that day.

On Tuesday we drove to a town called Morlaix where we wanted to see an ancient cairn that was just outside the town.  An amazing thing.  On the journey there we had spotted some lovely bays with fantastic sea views – so we returned to them spending some lovely quite hours taking in the views.

Yesterday – Wednesday – we decided to visit a lake that we had seen signposted not far from the gite. We had seen the sign last year but hadn’t got around to going there.  So assuming we would be able to sit by it we packed our picnic chairs & table & popped to the supermarket for picnic food.  It was absolutely beautiful & as we parked the car we could hear lots of ducks making a noise on the lake.  There was a rather nice Auberge at the side so we took a look at that in case we could go there one evening.  We decided to have a coffee before walking round the lake to find our picnic site & discovered the noise was not coming from ducks but from a colony of frogs.  Don’t know if colony is the right word but it will do for now.  What a noise & it never stopped whilst we were there & there were ore further round the lake where we decided to sit.  We also had our first real sunshine that afternoon.  Very pleasant.  We made the decision to go back to the Auberge that evening for our meal & when we did – the frogs were still making a noise & according to the lady in the Auberge they very rarely stopped.  We were the only people there all evening – but their season doesn’t really start until the beginning of July.  So next week could be very different.

Well that has got you uptodate of sorts – I hope you are all well.

‘Bye for now.  More in a couple of days.