Saint-Aubin-des Ormeaux

 

Last night the wind eased a little. In the distance the cacophony of the bull frogs pierced the quiet of the night. Church bells tolled somewhere in the distance. What a pleasant little town Angoulins was. We  looked forward to returning another day.

This morning we left early. Today we needed shopping and fuel for Marge. Both of these tasks always eat in to the day. The supermarket was busy after the Easter weekend closure. Angela decided to start building her stock of wine to take back to the U.K. Just twelve this shop. Thirty-six still to buy! Then we set off.

Right Marge, no funny business. We mean it. The long straight roads lined with plane trees were busy with campervans. At lunchtime we once again stopped in a rest area back from the road. Marge one of seven vans.

As we sat at the picnic table eating our baguette and camembert, we felt very French. Today we had decided to only drive for a short while. John found an aire on the internet in a small town in the Pays de Loire region fairly near to our favourite campsite of all time at Monbert, which sadly isn't open until the first of June.

Just after two thirty Marge was sited and we could take it easy for the rest of the day.

We walked around the town and the nearby lake where the bull frogs sat very still sensing our presence not realising we could see them despite their camouflage.

Then along footpaths looking for fungi. John was delighted to find some edible Poplar Mushrooms (cylocybe cylindracea), confirming with our local foraging group in Dorset they were fine to eat. Pork kebabs cooked on our outside grill saw another day coming to an end. Before we knew it the time was eight o' clock. It doesn't become dark here until around nine twenty so we don't realise how late it is. 

Tomorrow we will head to the river Loire. Angela's excited. The river Loire and cycling. She'll be in heaven. Unlike you Marge who will be in the doghouse if you misbehave. Don't think we didn't notice your little wobble when we arrived here this afternoon.

Purple Toothwort growing near Marge, a totally parasitic flower with no photosynthetic parts!