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The best laid plans of mice and Bastille days.

Josselin is staging a medieval festival today. We had great plans to hire medieval costumes and join in the fun, there were tents selling food and actors and villagers dressed up to the nines. We’d been invited out for drinks and to watch the Bastille day fireworks and then we had planned to go to Brest on Monday and Tuesday for the international maritime festival. However. Pauline had contracted what she thought was a cold on the way back from Brussels, she’d tested negative for the dreaded lurgie and I thought I’d managed to look after her and avoid catching anything, until late yesterday. D’oh!

I did a test this morning, sure enough. There was very little evidence of covid in Finland but apparently it’s going around in France at the moment.

As Pauline thought she was over her “cold” we did manage a bit of a walk up the canal yesterday.

The village was looking resplendent for the medieval festival. They’ve really done a great job preparing it.
The castle always looks pretty good of course.
We spotted this boat coming down the canal so we walked to the nearby lock to watch it going through, always entertaining.
Approaching the lock, first gate already open.
Waiting for the water level to drop.
This is the controls for the pump.
Water pumping out.
Heading downstream to Josselin. The dog in this picture was at least as excited about the whole procedure as we were.
Lock keepers house, they’re always rather cute.
We talked to the owner of this raised garden on the way back, nice guy.
Classic VW kombi in the Château Hotel car park.

We had a charmed existence in Finland but back to reality here, need to wear our masks on public transport again obviously. It doesn’t seem nearly as bad as the first time thank goodness. Not complaining, but it’s a shame about the medieval festival, Pauline did manage to wander about a bit this afternoon as she’s pretty much symptom free now and wore her mask. Meanwhile I was sleeping it off, seems the best thing for me.

I hope everyone back home is getting through the winter ok, I see it’s been quite chilly at times and stormy as well.

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3 responses to “The best laid plans of mice and Bastille days.”

  1. Ann Walker Avatar
    Ann Walker

    sleeping off COVID is the best plan. I hope you are feeling better. I should have realised there would be canals in France. Your photos reminded me of the canal boat trip we did with my aunt and uncle near Birmingham. Happy days. It is fascinating the way the lochs work – no wonder the dog was excited. Brian pinged his back opening the last loch on our trip. Luckily my aunt had some good painkillers, so he went to bed and slept it off too. Pauline told me about your blog this morning so I must have a look at your previous posts. How are your renovations going?

    Reply
    1. lepod Avatar
      lepod

      It’s the canal from Nantes to Brest, about 300 kms of it. Napoleon had it built back in the day because the pesky English were blockading his coastal ships. The renovations are nearly all done, we have a fair bit of tidying up and cleaning to do though. Pauline ripped up the mouldy old carpet in our bedroom and it looks much much better with just the wooden floor. I will take some photos when I’m back on deck.

      Reply
      1. Ann Walker Avatar
        Ann Walker

        Those pesky English! At least some good came out of it – the canal. Glad the renovations are nearly all done. At least you have had a few adventures in between to take the drudgery out of it. we lifted the carpet in our first house in Anderson’s Bay and there were rimu floorboards underneath which came up really nicely when they were varnished. Much more practical than the white carpet for us mucky pups. The previous owners only ever came in the back door and they had a plastic runner over the carpet at the front door. Not our style.

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