On Thursday 20 January we walked an 9 km circuit from Abilly. It started of in beautiful sunshine, but by the end the sky was as leaden as I have ever seen it. Here are some photos.
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| Walking across the Claise on one of the old railway bridges, now part of the new greenway (Fr. voie verte). |
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| This rustic nestbox, with its cloth cap, amused us all. The sign underneath means 'private hunting reserve' but it is in actual fact a euphemism for 'no hunting on this land'. Hunters must be invited onto any land designated as 'chasse gardée', but in practice never are. |
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| A farmhouse and its outbuildings. |
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| Much of the soil in the Touraine Loire Valley looks like this, with lots of limestone pebbles. There is flint in the soil too. |
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| Leaden skies. |
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| Walking through a series of sheepfolds. |
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| I don't know what breed of sheep these are but they were very habituated to people, and Simon pointed out that a lot of them, including the lamb, had wattles dangling from their throats. |
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| Abilly. |
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| This terrier wagged his tail furiously when he saw me looking at him. |
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| The Chateau du Bois d'Aix. |
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| The chateau farm. |
3 comments:
That lamb is very early by UK timings. You can get some very very cold weather there in January and February which would put them at risk surely...
Colin and Elizabeth: yes I guess so. But it wasn't twins, and there is a good stable in the paddock for them to shelter in, and I suspect a doting owner by the way they all rushed up to see us.
The two are discussing how lovely this lamb is looking, no doubt.
The chateau du Bois d’Aix could pass for a genuine 17th or 18th century chateau. Unlike his colleagues of the period this architect didn’t go overboard and stayed classical. No “New and Improved”. Good for him!
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