Tuesday July 4 and Wednesday July 5…..chilling out at Gastes

Nice to spend time in the shade and play!!!

It’s such a great spot here that we decided to take a few extra days and chill out….although with temperatures climbing into the 30’s again, I think we are melting rather than chilling. There are wonderful bike trails around this area, all paved and meandering through the pine trees, small villages and beside the lake. There was a very nice market in town yesterday and picked up our bread and also a supply of olives, both of us have got a real taste for them and the markets seem to be the best place to pick them up. We had a very nice ride to the town of Parentis-en-Born yesterday and today went in the other direction to Sainte-Eulialie-en-Born. Both 20km round trips which in the heat were quite long enough. There was a really café in the town today which was so inviting to sit under the umbrellas with  cold beer and watch the world go by. Ended up having lunch there and chose the menu of the day which you find in all restaurants. It is 3 courses, and they are not too big. Today’s menu was 13 Euros and we started with mussels in the shell in a tomato mixture followed by veal filet in a sauce with a stuffed small potato and a baked tomato. Desert was a fruit sorbet and we followed with a small espresso.

Boat sheds - reminder of Lake Tarawera

By the time we got back we were melting so time to chill out under a tree. We have an English couple, Trish and Ron in the van next to us. Ron is 80 this month and they shifted to France 14 years ago and live in an area near the Loire. Last night we sat around and had a great chat until very late, but it was just too hot to go inside. For those of you who knew our Molly, I had to include a photo of their “Scruffy”…and you will know why!

Planning to continue on tomorrow but it really has been a pleasant interlude.

Scruffy - memories of Molly.