7 May 2015 - By le Graine

Our porcine friend grunted his greetings as we walked past his farm this morning.  Not only that, we stopped to talk the Englishman, Dave, who'd greeted us yesterday, and who has only just moved to this area.  It is always nice to hear others' stories!

Our porcine friend

Bon jour daisies!

Back at les Trois Chenes, a dump truck had dumped 3 huge piles of gravel on the driveway and our hosts, their kids and Luke in his pyjamas were in full swing spreading out the load.  Tim soon joined in  enjoying the physical challenge and gradually over the course of the day, the piles were sorted out to give the driveway a whole new look! 

Who needs a beach when there's sunshine, stones and a friend?!

Needless to say, with such excitement going on, Luke was pretty difficult to motivate to do schoolwork.  Chipping away at the curriculum, which is quite a comprehensive and engaging one, is my full time job!  The bean plants continue to grow and Luke wants to keep measuring them as they grow so that's at least a bit of interest generated from him!

Enjoying the challenge!

Shopping and food needs don't go away and so we thought, once the driveway was cleared enough, we would drive to Rochechouart for shopping and then explore a bit more around the castle and meteorite valley/craters.  Tomorrow everything is closed for another public holiday, this time for Victory in Europe Day which marks the end of German occupation in France during WW2.  As we recently visited Oradour-sur-Glane, the martyr village nearby, it makes such a day all the more significant.

Let's follow the sign!

The meteorite, which plummeted down in this area some 200 million years ago,  was estimated to be 1.5 kms in diameter, with a tail which scattered debris 20-25 kms away and caused a seismic event to the magnitude of 11 on the Richter Scale! Let's hope meteorites don't strike twice in the same place!  

Gothic bridge over the river Glaine

We walked down the steep hill to the Gothic Bridge over le Graine River which was so tranquil.  The old bridge looks as solid as the day it was built!  I could imagine horses and carts trotting over the river and taking the narrow winding roads around here. The sky was cloudless and the river slow flowing with a muddy bottom and many shade trees on its banks.  

I think it was some kind of classy restaurant by the river...and Karl on the old bridge..

Me by the River Glaine

Le Glaine from the Gothic Bridge

Close by was the ancient archway, portal to the road to Rochechouart Castle, which towers above. 

14th Century Arch

The exterior walls of the castle

Karl and I had already seen inside the castle (gallery) but the kids hadn't seen the courtyard and we hadn't seen the exterior and gardens.  The view over the fields and meteorite valley was so lovely, especially being such a fine day.

Our mountain goat!

Thanks to the meteorite, the castle had a hill to be built on!

Springtime - a new foal!

There were some local youth hanging around the town square outside the castle skidding their trail bikes on the gravel and hooning around a bit.  We would probably refer to them as "Bogans" in Australia and it was amusing to hear them speaking French!  For those familiar with the ABC's series "Upper Middle Bogan", you would understand!