Dwti Draig

To be perfectly honest I have no idea what day it is, or how long we have been here for! It was meant to be a short stay, but I fell in love with this place so much I lobbied  (and by that I mean lobbied HARD!) to stay. We have to leave tomorrow, but Lyn will be dragging me out of here kicking and screaming!

We are still in the town of Charlesville-Mezieres and it has been simply blissful; definitely my favourite part of the holiday so far. It is not a town that I (or I suspect you) have ever heard of, but it is quite simply perfect! We are in a lovely, quiet, cheap campsite, on an island in the middle of where the River Meuse meanders. A minute’s walk from the campsite and we are in a beautiful green area alongside the river. We can watch boats, sit under the trees, walk along the river path (even run along the river path!). There are people picnicking, snoozing on the grass, playing basketball in the open basketball courts, skateboarding in the skate boarding park, cycling, walking their dogs, playing in the playground….. It is just beautiful, and so quiet and spotless. We went out for an early walk one moring and saw a van drop off about 20 school kids who then proceeded to comb the area litter picking!

We have gone out for lots of walks, especially in the evening when it’s a bit cooler. It’s been 30 degrees today so it maybe wasn’t my finest idea to go out for a solo walk in the heat of the afternoon! Lesson learned! Siesta not stridesta! We even managed to go out for our first run in forever. We wisely did this first thing when A) it was cooler, and B) there were less people to laugh at how awful we were! We started right back on Day 1 Week 1 of Couch to 5k, and I have no shame in saying that! Maybe it’ll work some of the cakes from the patisseries off!

I

think this (no, not the running!) is what I’ve loved about staying still for a few days. We have had time to chill, and time to do things, like walk and run. We’ve also played loads of card games and talked and napped, (not at the same time, obviously!) Lyn even managed to get his new motorbike out twice and traced along the river for 63 kms. 

We’ve loved the town too. It’s less than 5 minutes walk from the campsite, over a bridge across the river. The Place Ducale is amazing, and it was a real treat to sit and have an iced coffee there today, just admiring the buildings. We took a little stroll to the infamous clock outside the international puppetry school at 11 o’clock today to watch the doors open and the puppets perform. Lyn was underwhelmed!

We’ve loved visiting the local shops, and have found the people so friendly. They don’t even laugh at my feeble attempts at trying to speak baby French! Strolling in to pick up bread and cakes at the boulangerie/patisserie has caused me to spend far too long with my nose pressed up against the cake counter exclaiming “C’est bonne!” as they laugh. We also had a lovely visit to a deli today, where the tomatoes were almost as big as Lyn’s head! The owner luckily spoke better English than we spoke French, and showed us his cheeses (no, that is not an euphemism!). We settled on a huge Fromage Chevre or goats cheese, which was not cheap, but we have gone in with the attitude of “eat less, eat better” so that easily justified that! When he found out we were from Pays de Galle, he immediately shouted “Alun Wyn Jones” and got very excited! He then pointed to the array of rugby balls on top of his meat fridge, and Lyn posed for a photo with him! He told Lyn to “have a good life” and Lyn told him he had a “good wife and a good life”. He then said to me, “Ahh, Luceee, he loves you very much! Do you love him back?” and was tickled when I said “un petit peu!” Ha, he had no idea I was such a cunning linguist, and my Grade C French O level in 1984 has finally been put to good use!

So, now, sadly, we are sat in the truck, with the motorbike safely back on it’s rack, the awning is away, and our dinner of bread and goat’s cheese is all cleared away. It’s time to be moving on tomorrow. Will I miss this place? More than un petit peu!