LES MATIÈRES DE FERME

So, the last several days have been bike riding in the farm country. Each ride is much of the same, and not very interesting reading for you bloggers, but, I do have several farm-related comments to make, so I am dedicating this report, which is really just a venue for Don's photos, to farm matters.

The first thing to talk about, which can be tied into the farm theme, is the very nice couple we met at the Chateau du Bois Guy. Leon and Marie Dominique are from Bercheres St. Germain, near Chartres. We started talking with them while we were enjoying our beverage after our tour of the chateau. They seemed to understand my French well enough, so we were able to have a nice conversation.

Leon and Marie-D have a vacation cottage in the nearby town of Villamee and they were spending a few weeks there. They saw the open sign for the chateau and since the former owner was a bit stuffy and wouldn't welcome the hoi-poloi, they decided to get a visit with the new owners.

As we sipped our coffee and juice drinks we swapped stories about travels, family, bicycling and home exchanging. Leon is an educator for special ed kids and he will be retiring next year. I think Marie-D is hoping to do some travel and she was very interested in info on home exchanging. As we stood to continue on our bike ride, they invited us to stop by to see their vacation home, which is a restored farm. AHA! and you couldn't figure out the farm connection until now.

We rode out through the countryside and had a nice ride, finishing up back at the chateau, where we picked up our car and headed out for Leon and Marie-D's house. We found it with their good map, and also the fact that Leon spotted us and stood out in front waving. They showed us around. They use half of the long building and rent out the other half. Leon was born nearby and his brother lives quite close, so this is a family area for him.

When we first went into the house I thought it was just a big kitchen/sitting room and a bedroom, but as they showed us around I found out that there are 5 bedrooms and a big attic. It is much bigger than it looks. They have quite a bit of land, too. Leon's brother has a vegetable garden there and there are several fruit trees too. It was a nice visit.

Another farm item I want to mention is that the cows here. In California we see lots of Holstein and Guernsey cows, like the happy California cows, with big blotches of white and black or brown. The cows here in Brittany are not like that. They have freckles! And, they wear too much eyeliner. All along our bike routes we pass many dairy farms and most of the cows are white and brown spotted, with small spots, like freckles. Invariably, the cows with freckles have very pronounced black rings around their eyes. It is interesting and fun to look at them. Click any cow for more photos.

All of the cows calmy eye us pass by, while they munch on their crunchy green clover, and wonder why we are expending so much energy. Crazy humans!
As we ride out through the farms I love the views of the rolling, green hills, and the fields of contented cows, and the sweet smell of clover and apples plopping from the trees. Once in awhile we come to a cute little village, clean as a whistle, quiet and sleepy, with baskets of pretty flowers everywhere. Sometimes there is a little village square, or a nice picnic table under a tree on a patch of neatly tended lawn. The farms are all clean and prosperous looking. The farmers seem to have lots of big, expensive equipment.

By the way, I am officially naming the cornfield of the farm Bouche de Lavage, at the corner of D158 and D224, as my ONE-MILLIONTH cornfield. We passed it on our ride yesterday, and we have passed many this trip. Don has shown a lot of self control this trip and refrained from the silage lecture, so far. Since we leave in a week, maybe I will get out of it this year.

On our ride yesterday, we did a little cross country riding, by design or accident, I am not sure. All I know is I was riding down a little hill and Don told me to take the next right. As I eased into the turn I saw a big red X painted on the road and when I looked up I was in someone's barnyard. Don was talking to Trexie about the situation and he wandered up a possible road that looked more like a grassy hill. Pretty soon he called me on the radio and said to come on he could see n Trexie that we would meet up with the road in a bit. We hiked along, pushing our bikes in a trench for quite awhile, and then Don started to ride the single track. This is not my favorite thing to do; my technical skills need practise. But I decided to be a sport and jumped on my bike too. Of course I hit a rut and a bump and tipped over and off my bike into the bushy tufts of grass and all tangled up in the cow fence. Every time I tried to untangle myself I got a little shock because the fence was electrified. That was no fun. But I finally made it up on my creaky old knees and got out of my shock therapy.

We went in search of another mystery chateau, Chateau Jaune le Mare, and rode through the Foret de Fougeres looking everywhere, to no avail. I decided that it must be the old ruin we spotted behind a wall along the way, but Don was not satisfied. We rode up and down the forest roads looking and asking everyone we met, to no avail. When we got home Don went on Google Maps and search the aerial view, and finally gave in to my opinion that the old ruin must be it. It was a very nice ride though, with rolling hills, green country hills and leafy forest. Moo