Halloween special!

So after being away for a week, the first thing we had to do was stock up the supplies of food etc so we had a trip Intermarche in Montignac and this was what greeted us in the fruit & veg department. I couldn't even lift this pumpkin and was pretty sure it wouldn't even fit in a trolley anyway, I take it it'll make a lot of soup or one hell of a large Halloween lantern for someone!

A week away!

 After another busy year we finally managed to get away and drive down for a week of rest and relaxation in Spain at a place called Gandia, south of Valencia, a destination we have now been to 3 times. The weather was reasonably kind to us for half of the stay but it didn't matter, we are now much refreshed, after the first few days we did a lot of cycling around the area.

These two pictures were taken early on one of the mornings, as the saying goes, 'red sky in the morning shepherds warning' was pretty accurate because after this we had a couple of days of windy wet weather!

We're back in France at Les Granges now, still much to be done as always, the walnuts are still dropping off the trees!

Autumn sunset

A couple of recent pictures for you all, taken late afternoon yesterday as the sun was just about to set, shows just how all the leaves are slowly but surely turning yellow at the front of Les Granges. Getting quite cool in the mornings now, down to about 6 degrees this morning but day time temperatures are in the nice low to mid 20's.

Below, taken on a bike ride to Fleurac a few weeks ago, an alternative view of Chateau du Peuch which is situated between our village of Le Moustier and Plazac further up the Vimont Valley, taken from the road at the rear of the property that most people don't get to see when travelling from us to Rouffignac..

Autumn is here!

After a few days of not so nice weather, this morning we've woken to the usual autumnal early morning mist over the river Vezere but by 10.30am the sun has burnt it away leaving us with a beautiful blue sky. Aircraft can be seen clearly above us and I just wonder as the passengers look down on their flight back north from Alicante to Copenhagen what they are thinking, maybe 'what sort of weather are we going back to' could be one!

Possible stowaway!

Another wildlife post, two recent finds, first, above, one of the largest spiders we've ever seen before whilst being here, I put a british 50p coin (aprox 15mm wde) next to it to give you an idea of the size, so big was it that when I got a pint glass to catch it, it's legs wouldn't fit inside the rim of the glass. We were wondering as we had some families from South Africa staying with us last week maybe it had hitched a lift over in their luggage!

Below, another first sighting, a sleeping bat has taken to spending it's daytime hours in our big barn, Never having seen a bat so close up before it's amazing how tiny its feet are that clasp to a minute splinter of wood. I'm ok with it sleeping there for now, maybe I'll be more concerned if there is more than one!!

Make yourself at home!

Just before retiring to bed last night I decided to go outside and check a few things, on drawing back the curtains, this is what greeted me, a rather large toad sat on the door mat looking straight at me as if to say 'how the hell do I get out of here?!' Immediately I opened the door he (or she) leaped into the darkness to freedom.
Looking through the photo files, another picture below taken by guest Tony Marsh of a juvenile peregrine falcon, reminded me that we haven't seen any of the falcons for weeks now, maybe they have gone off on their own now they've grown up and are feeding themselves, hopefully they will be returning soon.

Montignac bridge repairs.

The old bridge in Montignac has been clad with scaffolding for quite a few weeks now, slowly but surely old crumbled stone is being replaced and the new can be seen clearly on the first nearly completed support above.
Looking into the history of the bridge, a wooden structure was swept away in 1620 by flood water and was replaced by the stone bridge that was constructed between 1766 and 1777, between the woodern structures end and start of the stone building, a kind of boat/ferry was used for crossing the river.
Hopefully it won't be too long until all the work is complete.