Wednesday 26 February 2014

En Route to Chinon..

Driving to Chinon this morning we spotted this magnificent buzzard on the roadside verge by the roundabout at Anché

It was prepared to ignore Elizabeth leaning out of the car window taking a photo as long as it kept its meal...

We'd also seen a carpet of snowdrops by the roadside near Champigny-sur-Veude so on the way back we planned to stop for photos..

However we had one of those magnetic French cars behind us... the ones which cling to your bumper for dear life. We had to go past and look for a convenient place to pull in where we wouldn't get stuck in the mud. Elizabeth then legged it back to the snowdrops, jumped the dyke and got these shots.

There were snowdrops as far as the eye could see in every direction!

As she ran back to the car a "Blue Van" arrived..... The gentlemanly Gendarmes pulled over and asked:
"Vous avez un problème Madame?"

In her best French she had to explain:
"Il y a des belles fleurs et j'ai pris les photos!"

It was reassuring to know that if there had have been a problem they were prepared to stop and offer assistance!


5 comments:

Susan said...

Lovely display of snowdrops, and hurrah for the gendarmes.

GaynorB said...

Wonderful display. I think I've seen more snowdrops this year than I ever remember. Any ideas?

Colin and Elizabeth said...

We have said the same, Gaynor, there do seem to be more snowdrops this year. Wonder why? The mild winter? The rainfall??...

Tim said...

Don't those crawl-all-over-the-rear-bumper drivers make you mad? They won't overtake on a straight bit of road, but choose to pass you on a blind bend then turn off in less than a kilometre... Gah! Think nice thoughts... kittens.. Snowdrops... Ommmm...P.

Jean said...

The French aren't good at overtaking, or parking sensibly, or giving signals, or keeping to the right side of the road, but at least there are fewer cars on the road and you can get about more easily, especially compared to our part of the UK.
if there's a problem with the M1 near to us we may as well forget trying to drive anywhere.

I have enjoyed the snowdrops here this year. They're more abundant and in better shape, which I put down to not being flattened under tons of snow several times !!