Titillation in Trébry

Today was to be spent in and around Trébry. The weather forecast was for a little sunshine in the morning and rain showers through the afternoon. We needed to do some minor grocery shopping in Moncontour, Majella was keen to check out the boules competition scheduled for the park between us and town, and we wanted to visit the Château de la Touche Trébry which had been closed when we tried last Sunday. Moreover, after a busy week, we thought some rest might be in order. In the end it was a day of titillation as most things we started ended quickly with a sprinkle of rain.

Majella and I were up and about soon after 7:00 am but it took John and Pauline a bit longer to emerge. By that time I had already looked in the other room and noted with satisfaction that the light on the charger John had bought in Rennes was green. That was good news.

After breakfast Majella decided that, rain or not, she needed to get some laundry done. One forecast suggested it might be fine until lunch time which would be time enough to dry some things. Debbie was away for the day and no amount of pushing could get us into the laundry so it was back to hand washing in the bath. We carried the wet gear to the line and wrung it out as well as we could before going back inside to relax and warm up. There was an occasional glimpse of sunshine but the temperature was in the low teens and the breeze made it seem cooler.

We read or otherwise amused ourselves until a bit after 10:00 am when we decided it was time to go shopping in Moncontour. By that time Majella had decided that the laundry would not dry outside so we brought it in and hung it on the drying rack before we left for Moncontour.

On a couple of trips to Moncontour we had noticed the roof of what seemed like a château peeping over the forest between Trédaniel and the main road to Moncontour. This time we turned off on a side road just beyond Trédaniel in hope of seeing it more closely as we went the back way into Moncontour. We missed it and managed to drive right through Moncontour and out the other side without spotting the supermarket. We stopped at a high point but were unable to see much of anything and quickly got back in the car out of the biting wind.

Entering Moncontour by our usual route we easily found the supermarket and the tourist office on the same square. We spent a fair bit of time there, absorbing some information from the staff, gathering documents with more information, and marvelling at the scale model of the town as it was in premodern times. It had been a fortified hill town and many of the structures remain though there have been changes for modern practicalities and some parts of the old town are obscured or removed entirely. In addition to the supermarket where we bought basic groceries and wine, John and Pauline picked up some medication at the pharmacy, while Majella and I bought bread at the boulangerie and pastries at the patisserie for lunch.

Back at Trébry we enjoyed our lunch of fresh bread, ham, cheese, and salad followed by the apple pastries Majella had selected. We relaxed for a while before heading back out at about 2:00 pm to visit Château de la Touche Trébry.

Although we had walked there easily last Sunday we decided to drive in case it should rain. We walked up the cleared path from the west and enjoyed our first views of the château with sunlight and some blue among the clouds in the eastern sky. We followed the signs and a path around the eastern side and out the back where we saw a gardener who said that he would go find the boss. By that time the clouds were darkening in the west and there were some drops of rain. The radar image on my phone suggested that more rain was possible. From the little we had seen of the garden we thought we could spend an hour or more there but did not want to pay admission only to have to leave because of rain. We beat a hasty retreat and headed back to Trébry.

On the way back into town we checked in to see how the boules players were progressing. A small group had gathered so we stopped by. Majella engaged them in conversation while we looked on and saw some preliminary games. Eventually we dropped Pauline and John back to our cottage and walked back down to see some more. When the rain began to fall more freely the players began to pack up. We were invited to join them at their alternative venue but I declined, thinking I had no need to feel like a pork chop for longer, and walked home. Majella was offered a lift with one of the women which she happily accepted. The contest continued in the indoor boules venue just up the road. Majella learned some of the finer points of the game, and although she was very keen to actually join in the game, the offer was for her to join in after the competition finished. As it was programmed to go into Sunday, she thought better of it and returned to our cottage an hour or so later. She had enjoyed spending time with the locals, and came home in a very positive frame of mind.

By that time it was happy hour so we sat down to enjoy drinks and nibbles before Pauline completed preparations for dinner – crêpes with salmon and fixings.