St Silvain in Autumn

The winter months are fast approaching but first we are to enjoy the wonderful changing colour of the leaves.

To me, this is the best time of the year and what better place to watch the transformation of the trees, than in France.

You can see the trees changing colour daily.












These last couple of weeks have been busy with overloading ourselves with french lessons.

We have volunteered at the local parish.

Not only is this a good way for us to practice our french but we are also helping to set tables and serve food to those that are less fortunate.

We have made friends with this character called René - Bill nicknamed him "Monsieur le comédien".

René doesn't speak English so forces us to speak french. He doesn't want to miss out on the conversation.




We have joined a local walking group from Boussac - 5 euros a year to join.

They are mostly french people which is good for us to again practice, practice, practice.

They get together every 10 days or so to do some lovely walks in the nearby forests.

This week we left from a chateau near Clugnat and did an 8 km (2 hour walk).

Absolutely wonderful but we were both pretty tired at the end - not that we would admit it though as there were others in the group much older than us.

The next walk is scheduled for 30 October and we get emailed the planned route.

Just today we have been invited to another private walk by the fellow that runs the charity shop at Bonnat.

That one is a 12 km walk on 5 November.

We suspect that they must get permission from landowners to access their fields and tracks so the routes are not widely known.

This is the chateau that we left from the other day.

The fields and forests surrounding this place were amazing.


Walking sticks are a must here and I will have to invest in at least one.

Our french lessons on a Monday morning are held at a horse riding place and Bill got a chance to pat one of the nearby horses.

Then back to the Chateau that we had been invited to when we first arrived.

Marie-Martine has kindly invited us to learn french at her place.

Who are we to argue and who wouldn't want to learn french here.

Although, we have invited her to our "little" place for the next lesson.

Our plans have changed a bit for the next few weeks. Not heading to Gorges du Verdan but instead undertaking our first ever house sit. It's near a town called Solsona in Spain, which is about an hour and half north of Barcelona. This will give us the chance to see Barcelona and Girona. ALL we have to do is look after 2 dogs and 3 cats - mmmmmm. We will let you know how it goes.

Till the next blog.

Wendy