The last several days have been somewhat lazy – much as I love the travelling it is nice to be in one place for a while. We did take a drive down to Angouleme, where Colin made an appointment to have the campervan serviced, and tried to find some stainless steel pans but all we could find was aluminium, so came home empty handed.

We walked down to the bar one night intending on having a drink when we discovered it was their special meal night – we ended up having huge portions of scampi with chips.

We did take a few little bike rides – Colin’s new electric bike seems to work very well, as he gets even further ahead of me now, especially going up hills. The first ride was only around 14 km, then just over 20 km, and today’s was about 30 km. The weather was perfect for riding, although we had to miss yesterday as it poured and poured all day long. The sunflowers are just starting to grow, but the poppies are going crazy.

Edith and Sylvain (who own the Penalty Bar) have gotten a new little dog – his name is Snoopy, and he’s just adorable. He’s already a favourite of the patrons so Mo’s feeling a bit left out, although she still gets lots of attention.

Snoopy was rescued from a shelter and was in pretty bad shape when they first got him – he was covered in mats and looked like he had mange or something. They had him basically shaved and now he’s fluffy and beautiful. He knows to stay in the bar – he won’t cross the doorline to go outside by himself, even to visit the outdoor tables.

We visited the Hope Charity at their new location, which is now in one very large building rather than several smaller ones. They have it divided into different spaces for books, clothing, kitchen stuff, etc. And they also have an outdoor area with a lady selling potted plants and flowers – she has a spaniel named Kevin that’s very sweet, and he tried to get friendly with Mo. The only thing missing was the adoptable dogs space.

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