Looking like a chicken salad!

Sunday 3rd September 2023. Rigny-Usse.

I think I am starting to look like a chicken salad. Last night was so hot I think I was roasted….that together with the fact I have had three chicken salads in two days means I am taking on the appearance of a roti chicken. My skin has gone brown and wrinkly with additional spots from the mossie that pestered me last night! I got Spanish motorhome neighbours at 9pm and they decided to wait to level up their van till 11.15pm! I managed to kill it the mossie around 2am but it was after that time that I was cool enough to sleep.

You won’t be surprised to hear that I set off in the morning to a site at Rigny-Usse, near the chateau d’Usse. I had spotted it yesterday and noticed the ample shade. I need a little spring clean and replenishment in the van now anyway. I will ‘stay’ this only once.

Yesterday was around 29 degrees, today is over 30 so I was limiting my activity. However, I couldn’t resist a ride out to Chinon.

The chateau looks very different from different angles….

This river is the Vienne. So many rivers to choose from in a short distance.

It was Sunday lunchtime when I arrived for my chicken salad from the Carrefour supermarket before it closed at 1pm. Everyone else was crowded into the outdoor restaurants in the main square.

I was expecting everywhere to be quiet after lunch as it normally is on Sunday afternoons in France but I stumbled across a large ‘vide grenier’ or car boot sale to most people. It seemed a bit more than that as it had a very large marquee and an events field.

I was very much roasting by now and I didn’t stop till I got back to the campsite for a shower. I also rinsed some of my dirty clothing through….you’ve got to grab these chances when you get on a site. I certainly had no problem drying things.

I tucked into my chicken salad…..yummy! I did have it with some cheese that is getting to full ripeness. As I said my skin is brown and wrinkly, I think my legs are getting thinner and my toes are spreading out. That’s not even to mention the strut I have developed with a pecking head action!

So apart from doing some ‘admin’ at the site I contacted Tim to re-warn him of my arrival on Thursday and I realised how close we are to the start of the Rugby World Cup. The first game could be the eventual final. It’s on Friday night in Paris and involves the two favourites, France and New Zealand as they have just so happened to have been drawn in the same group. Then on the Saturday I will be in Bordeaux for the Ireland v Romania game and on Sunday for the Wales v Fiji game. What a mix of fans there will be in Bordeaux. I can’t wait. England play Argentina in Marseille so that will not be easy. For home nations balance and to keep Janice happy, Scotland play South Africa in Marseille in their first game on Sunday. Scotland could be a surprise package although South Africa are a tough side to beat and could be a finalist.

I have just had an evening stroll along the banks of the Indre river back towards the chateau.

Charles Perrault, a Frenchman who lived in the eighteenth century, was the man who reworked the old folk tales to create famous fairy tales. He also did Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella, Puss in Boots and Bluebeard. It wasn’t Walt Disney after all…..who would have guessed!

That’s the end of the day….back into the Hen Hut! Could be egg for breakfast!