Day two of our journey was long. MrFF was desperate to take our new car over the Saint Bernard pass and it was the perfect day to do so. This added a lot of time to the drive but it was so beautiful, I tried not to think of the opening scenes of The Italian Job as we switchbacked our way up and down. We stopped at the top, breathed in the clean mountain air and walked a little, here’s the view
The french stop over was glorious, in the chateau with a delicious dinner taken outside, usually it’s November when we stay, we liked the summer holiday feel and found time to walk round the extensive grounds. After almost 10 hours in the car I am not sure we fully appreciated our stay but we slept well with the three large windows of our corner room wide open, it was almost like sleeping outside.
Now we are back in our green and pleasant land. More sleep catch up is required but I was awake and making tea by six delighted to be here, loving the cool calm penthouse and most definitely the lack of maintenance projects for a while, maybe this is really our holiday house.
I'm hoping you have brought better weather with you, after being desperate for rain, can I say we have had enough.
ReplyDeletei know i shouldnt but i have to ask about your cats, do they have a family in Italy and just visit while you are there? i dont mean any offence x
ReplyDeleteYes a lot of people ask about the cats. Our village is over run by not well looked after cats that have a short life span, the advice from the Comune was not to feed them, mine would have been to get them sterilised. Grigio was born in our garden, she is sterilised and Enrico was a feral we used to chase away till we caved in. He is the most loving pet now and in good condition, he loves Grigio. They both live at our house, when we are not there they have an automatic feeder that is topped up by a neighbour every few days and water provided, it’s in a location that only cats can enter though I imagine strays do too. They have secure dry sleeping places with pillows and blankets. Grigio has lived like this for 7 years, it’s not ideal but we cannot bring them to our 3rd floor apartment in the UK as pets are not allowed, they would hate to be inside cats and are not used to traffic as we are quite isolated, plus the journey to bring them here would be impossible. They would probably not meet the health requirements and getting them to a vet would be a nightmare. So we try to provide them with the best life possible. They managed 8 months without us during lockdown and didn’t hold a grudge, of course we all miss each other terribly and cherish our time together, Jennyff
DeleteGood old Ilkley takes some beating (when the weather is kind) - welcome home.
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful trip!
ReplyDeletehugs
Donna
thank you for your explanation about Grigio and Enrico it sounds like they are very lucky that you took them under your wing and do your best for them x
ReplyDeleteWhen it's raging hot here in France I long for the cooler summers of Derbyshire, not to mention a rest from the constant building work and patching the place up! So I know how you feel.
ReplyDeleteIt's good to hear how you look after your cats. They are well provided for. Friends who lived in the south of France in a village overrun with feral cats had a longstanding battle with the commune. They were for catching and sterilising as many as possible. The maire was for shooting them or allowing them to die from starvation or disease.