Because it is late, this is a short story. It was raining cats and dogs when I got up this morning in Chateau Puyferrat , but upon departure at 8.45 a.m. it was “dry”. The group of people who had a party last night were still asleep. I had for breakfast all the rests of yesterday nights party: French luxury cheese, oisters etc . Again through a beautiful hilly landscape with beautiful villages , I very slowly trudged towards Périgueux. Leon did not go any faster with his sensitive feet, without horse shoes. Today’s debacle was that I suddenly noticed that my route book of France no longer was in my pocket. This week’s whole planning was listed in the book, so phone numbers, addresses. Moreover, I need it the next few weeks. Holy shit !, whatever that may mean. A few km. back suddenly one of Leon’s horse shoes was loose. Because it was a busy road, I was in a hurry to take off the hoof with a pair of pincers. I had briefly put the trail booklet on Leon’s back, and there it must have slid from. Back! We walked steep uphill again. After a few 100 meters I was fed up with Leon’s slow trotting. We stopped at a remote farm next to the path, explained the farmer in a few sentences the situation and asked if I could tie Leon there in their yard. I left Leon at the farm. And so I did. I speeded back a few km. at a murderous pace, which caused stiff muscles, for the first time this trip, still painfull in the evening. The booklet was obediently waiting for me in the grass next to the road. Quite a relief. Back to Leon at the farm. The farmer had given him hay and drink: photo. The extended farmer’s families living there together wanted to start barbequeing outside. It smelled delicious. You want to join us?, they asked. I would have liked that , because since I had eaten this morning the leftovers from the party of the castle manager, I got nothing in my belly. It was rattling now, around two o’clock in the afternoon. Well, that would have been fun, a nice bbq along with the farmers on the hilly countryside. A nice young peasant woman brought me all homemade pork sausages (photo). But Leon progressed so damn slowly that I did not dare to accept this golden opportunity for great fun. A crying shame, because a demented old grandmother hopped around among the chickens, you know, with a headscarf on the head, which used to be perfectly normal when I was a child, but now one sees it only with people of a certain religion. I had already considered what should have priority in my journey: social contacts, cultural issues or reaching Cape North before the winter. I had opted for the latter, so I didn’t accept the invitation. Well, in der Beschrankung zeigt sich der Meister: one can’t get it all.
On the way we took a picture of the pigeon hunting. Pigeon shooting, I don’t mean clay pigeons, but real ones. That is a regional sport around here. Many people breed wood pigeons. In a cage, high in the trees, they are released shortly before the hunt, as they used to do in the Netherlands with pheasants. Now that with those pheasants is prohibited in the Netherlands. Here apparently not.
pigeon cage, high in the trees, used for pigeon huntingIt had gotten dark when I strolled from left to right through the town of Périgueux , with a very excited, so super awkward and nervous Leon migratory Tosca. Many times I asked the road, several times I called for help. You get what you want, isn’t it? After asking many times and ringing door bells I finally found the lodgings. Along the way, right in the middle of the town, someone wanted to take a picture. I’ve never seen a horse in my street, he said. See picture. OK. I said, but you must help me find that address. Along the way anotherin thoughtful man offered me to put the horse Leon in a stable at his home. This same Good Samaritan has finally brought me to my accommodation for the night.
The couple in the house accepted me in their family. I had diner together with the couple and their kids, got food, wine, Leon in a meadow which he had to share with a donkey and I was spoiled, as I should. And all this without having to pay. The man was a former paratrooper, retired before his 50th and now lived with his family on a beautiful estate, situated on a hillside with splendid views over Perigueux. His little daughter wanted to sit on Leons back. And what fairy has arranged this situation for me? Lil !, my sister-in-law, who lives in France. The mater perpetua secursa, mother of perpetual assistance, my guardian angel since a few days. Grosses bises, Lil !!
Leon groomed with hay and water while I go look for lost booklet
Photographer in the center of Périgueux
In the middle my host, living on his estate, not yet 40 y.o. Was former paratrooper. Apparently they earn well. Already retired. At the left his gardener
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