11 May 2105 - Circuit des Rives de La Charente and a tick!

A beautiful day ahead according to the weather bureau and they were right!  We had planned a family walk along the marked Circuit des Rives de La Charente path (11.4kms), so today was a good day to walk.  We saw no other walkers on the path, 6 farmers, 3 tractors, 3 cars and several farm dogs.  Apart from the cows and random sheep, that was it! Silence, tranquility, rural France! 

Our sign!

Ode to Videix

You may ask me where Videix is,

You may ask how to pronounce its name,

You may even ask why would anyone ever go there…

And I’d say: ”Try it for yourself, you’ll love it”!

If you like peace and tranquility,

If you like fields of wildflowers and curious cows,

If you like soft sunshine and evening reflections...

I’d say: ”Try it for yourself, you’ll love it”!

For me, Videix was a bit of France to discover,

For me, Videix will remain beautiful forever,

For me, Videix is no longer a mystery…

Try it for yourself, you’ll love it!

And by the way: It’s said Vid-ex

(leaving out one letter as you do with most French words!)

Slightly unkempt, the path was clear and signs obvious.

Morning hike

Acres of wildflowers

And more, simply stunning.

One of my favourites!

Of the few vehicles we saw, this old car with an even older driver was heading up an unmown lane!

 Back for an afternoon of schoolwork with various degrees of motivation!  The sunny day  made it very tempting to run around outside.  Fortunately, Luke did finish the required schoolwork by the time Sasha and Daniel got home from their French school and they all got straight back into their game of knights and princesses and slaves!  Fabulous fun!

After dinner stroll with neighbours

 The evenings are as lovely as the days and a stroll after dinner is mandatory!  Luke is so enjoying playing with his friends and vice versa, that they chose to join our family's walk rather than their own!

Evening reflections, coypus calling

La Mas Mazet

One of the fascinations of the day: a millipede trying to battle a worm and winning! Kids were keen to see it to the end but it was getting dark..  The millipede was thrashing about with incredible strength.

By the time Luke was finally in bed it was so late and THEN he mentioned the sore bit on his head: A TICK!!!  Fortunately, my sister who lives in Switzerland warned me about ticks just a few weeks ago, so I was on high alert.  Karl looked up Google while Annika and I performed the tick removal service and plied Luke with lollies to keep him still, then doused the area with Hand Sanitizer to kill any remaining bit of the tick and any bacteria.  Hopefully, the little critter had only jumped on board today.  Luke has playing in and under bushes so I suppose that's where ticks hide out.  A lesson for us all.