Apologies for not posting a blog last week. The last couple of weeks have been a little ‘bitty’ with lots going on but no great leaps forward and not so many photos.
Despite that, I had intended to write something and was torn between a title of ‘It’ll be all white on the night’ or ‘Oh, it all makes work for the working man to do …’.
The former, as the significant change of the week was my re-painting Stable having previously scraped and filled. However, we painted white on what was already (mostly) a white surface so it seemed to take an awfully long time to make sure that I had covered every bit for each coat. I decided against the title however, as it could be picked up by the internet bots as being a bit Charlottesville!
The latter, a lyric from a Flanders & Swann song ‘The Gas Man Cometh’. I hadn’t heard of Flanders and Swann as a child, and my first introduction to the song was on a compilation tape by a well known and much-loved wholesome children’s entertainer of the 70s and 80s. Said entertainer became a little less loved and wholesome with a number of others in the 2000s!
For those unfamiliar, the lyrics to the song are about the impact of one workman coming to do a job only to cause damage requiring another trade to come and rectify. Thankfully, we didn’t exactly have this scenario but in the course of the week we did have to have an electrician and a plumber come and do some rectification work, and I continued painting.
The Stable looks so much better having had a fresh coat of paint but I failed to take a photo of it having deep-cleaned and reconstructed last Monday for David’s Dad’s arrival on Tuesday.
We have had a couple of visits on the last 2 Fridays. The first was the new Sawday’s inspector who came to see us and make sure we were still at a level to stay on Sawdays books. Having been initially inspected and approved in September 2015, we were told to expect a catch up every few years. With COVID, re-visits were difficult and it was only last week we were reviewed. We’re delighted to say, despite not looking at our best with some off-season work taking place, we still make the grade. We were assisted that David had deep-cleaned and prepared Hayloft for guests who were arriving the following day.
Last Friday was an odd one. We had a visit from a company who has recently taken responsibility from the commune for the tap and waste water. They are apparently visiting every house in the commune to look at who feeds into the communal drains and, most weirdly, to verify that the drain of every sink, toilet and shower etc are working correctly!
This meant that the inspector had to turn on every tap and flush every toilet while their colleague stood by the drain inspection point and made sure the waste(d) water arrived! We found this very weird and despite questioning what the reasoning was, they were unable to answer.
Despite the continued damp weather (that included a dusting of snow last Wednesday night), we managed to get our Sunday stroll in last week. David and I visited a new location for us on the north-west coast of Finistère starting our circuit in the town of Porspoder.
It took a little longer to drive there but still only 75 minutes, but we really loved the scenery on that part of the coast. Porspoder itself is evidently a town with ancient roots and, once, some large houses judging by the impressive walled gardens in the town. However, it also had some pretty fisherman-style cottages, lots of lovely sandy beaches, and great walking on the coastal path.
The other thing that there are a lot of in this part of the world are prehistoric burial sites and menhirs (standing stones). There were a few that could be reached with a small deviation off our route but we chose to look at the Menhir de Saint-Gonvel. Not the largest around at 5.4 metres but still standing and interesting to see.
Since David’s Dad’s arrival we have also been out for a few visits. First to Quimper, our departemental ‘capital’. This was principally to visit the ciderie of Manoir du Kinkiz whose cider we give in our welcome baskets, and we needed to replenish supplies. But it also allowed us to walk around this pretty little city and try a new (to us) crêperie for a traditional crêpe.
Yesterday we continued the alcohol visits with a trip to the Coreff brewery in Carhaix. This is somewhere we have always been interested in visiting and knew David’s Dad would enjoy it too so we booked the tour. Coreff has a number of beers we like and, we now know, was the original craft / artisanal brewery in Brittany when it opened, originally in Morlaix, in 1985.
Despite their range of beer being greatly extended and all being widely available, it is still not a huge set-up, I was definitely expecting a larger brewery, and they continue to defend their craft brewing ethos. Well worth a visit when you’re at Kergudon.
Next week will (as ever) depend to a degree on the weather with another outing of interest with David’s Dad. In the meantime we hope you all have a restful Easter and don’t get too poorly on chocolate!
Kenavo.