13th September 2023

We awoke to rain and some thunder and lightning. We got off quite lightly, the forecast was for more during the evening and night.

When the rain stopped, I rushed off to the shop to get a couple of Pain Au Raisins and some Pain. Breakfast, then walked into the town. This is a 20–30-minute walk into the centre. There are lots of narrow streets, cafes, and tourist stores. We visited the church, where there was a lovely area overlooking the valley, factory belching out smoke and river. Good phone signal in that area.

An aside about pains au raisins. We bought some in Lidl at one stage. The receipt called them “escargot de raisins”. Never seen that before, but can understand it.

We had a beer and a coffee in the center, before decamping to the church to have our Wednesday zoom call with the SadGits.  We then rushed back to the campsite for our lunch, before the predicted thunderstorms. Sitting here at 14.00 the predicted thunderstorm seems to be a wimp. A short shower and some distant rumbling.  Not a lot to write home about. Anyway, we are taking it easy this afternoon, planning to do a Grotte tomorrow. We spent some of the afternoon drinking different varieties of local beer, and feeding the local wildlife with crisps. Quite a few bats came out at dusk, flying up and down the alleys between the trees. The tree next to us was ringed in toadstools.

This evening the campsite next to us was very noisy. They had a DJ set, which though bad enough, was accompanied by the crowd singing along and screaming for more. Still, it stopped well before midnight, so we really can’t complain. Oh, to be young again.