52 Mondays #24
I was struck this morning by how much the maize planted in the field behind the tree has grown – two weeks ago, the field still looked brown – now it is solid green. We’re still a little cloudy this morning, after huge storms the last few nights. I don’t know the storms touched us this far south last night, but there was a lot of debris on the road so I guess it did. One of my friends posted a photo of the hailstones that are still lying on the ground up near Poitiers – I’m guessing there will be lots of crop damage. Here, not so much.
The electrical storms on Saturday night were quite spectacular though, and I sat up watching them for a while. Amigo is terrified of the storms and he sat next to me shivering and shaking. Heston and Tilly don’t care.
Amigo’s now almost healed after his man-bits removal – no more collar (and no more scraped legs for me) and we had a long walk out yesterday. I am so in love with the forest near my house that I thought I would share it, and I sent out an open invite on a group I am part of, Les Amis des Animaux des Refuges en France, (LAARF for short!) to do a guided walk for our local animal refuge. I’d done a map for any walkers and we had a huge picnic at the end. It wasn’t a massive walk – 6km – but the dogs (and humans) were suitably tired by the end of it and we raised 150€. As usual, my head fills with exciting plans for other walks I could do that could raise money too. I thought I might do a chateau to chateau walk along the Tardoire at some point, or a walk ending with an English high tea. And I’m definitely going to do a mushroom walk in October.
This is our route in context
And then I did a little map because it’s a route of my own creation. It’s one of my absolute favourites and takes in a whole range of different parts of the forest, from beech-lined paths to coniferous forest. There are ponds, narrow paths, clearings and dense forest and it really does take in the variety that the forest has to offer. I’m always surprised more people aren’t here. In England, a national forest like this, so close to a city, would be heaving on a day like yesterday. We saw two other people. That’s all. I’m not complaining. I like to be undisturbed on my walks!
