31st August 2022

We had planned to stay here for a couple of nights. So today was a relaxed day. A short walk down the hill to view the Abbey. Though we had seen the Abbey before, in later visits we had ignored it. Today we went into the Abbey grounds to view any changes. There were some. There was now a shop, and organised tours. The bells were rung while we were there, but at some odd times. Unlike English bells, they are untuneful. Watch the short video below to hear the bells.

The village has several restaurants / bars. On previous visits only one was open, the restaurants seemingly taking turns opening during the week. Today several were open. There definitely were more people visiting the Abbey than we have seen before. We stopped at l’Archange, which was the least formal, so we could buy a beer and not eat. It has tables and seats on the town green. Of course, we did end up consuming an omelette for lunch along with a beer each. it was somehow simple, but French and very good. Rosemary paid partly with the PO debit card, asking the waiter to take the exact amount left in the account, and paid the rest in cash. He was perplexed, not understanding why she would pay that way. But he smiled and nodded.

France has taken to contactless payments in a big way. I don’t believe, in France that we paid for anything contactless three years ago, now it appears to be the preferred payment method.

On the way out of the village I photographed a number of houses, wooden frames with brick or mud infilling. I would be worried about living in them. Our neighbour at home has problems with their possible wattle and daub front elevation. So we looked at these houses with great interest.

Back up the hill to the campsite for the afternoon siesta, and a little wander around. During the evening, the bats came out again to play, making swoops in a circle between a couple of trees. I did not want to be beaten by Rosemary so attempted to photograph the bats again. They move so fast that you can’t rely on autofocus. I set the camera to manual focus and made a guesstimate where they would fly. I also used flash. Well, it was dark. I did get several pictures and got one that was better than Rosemary’s mobile phone one. Hurrah!