Gardens and Birthdays

Bonjourrrr peoples! Jess here.

So the next leg of our trip has taken on a rather earthy vibe! We're currently in a little village called Longueville-sur-Scie in Normandy (in the north of France) working as gardeners. Ha! Gardening is not my natural passion or skill...but I'm sufficiently amused at the novelty of weeding to enjoy the process.

We're here because of a posting through the company Workaways (http://www.workaway.info/), which lets people advertise for travellers to work at their home in exchange for providing food and accommodation. Our host is Frances, an artist from the UK who works with ceramics. For anyone interested, check out her website here. She has a massive property with huge garden to match, so employs various travellers to pull out weeds, build flowerbeds, construct steps etc etc. For the last few days Chris has been building some steps to replace a muddy footpath, which is fantastically amusing from a spectators point of view. As a physio he obviously doesn't get many step-building opportunities, so spends a lot of time looking at the step, digging the step, talking about the step and feeling frustrated about the step. It's genuinely funny to watch.

Our host Frances used to own a restaurant so cooks AMAZING food. And have you heard the saying 'hunger is the best spice'? That has never felt more true to me! I'm realising that I'm not often truly hungry these days...but a morning in the garden works up a serious appetite! Sorry to those who read this and have been gardening for years - I have new respect for you!

Ok my times up, but let me summarise by saying that we are having a GREAT time in Longueville and I'm so glad we made the effort to get here! I know Chris wants to write something too, so handing over to him now... :)

What a great birthday it has been! We had our hours in the garden - I made my steps while Jess showed the weeds who was boss. Then we went to the pub to have a celebratory birthday drink. I say ‘went to the pub’ quite casually, but it was an effort. The pub is 9km away. The only transport available was a bicycle.

So we cycled away; it was a very pleasant ride. Jess saw some donkeys and was rather excited as they appeared to talk to her (Side note from Jess: have you ever seen a donkey bray at the top of its lungs for nothing but the joy of it?? I laughed.). We parked our bikes outside the pub and then in the ultimate act of service the barman actually opened the door and welcomed us inside. The barman is a Moroccan who used to be a professional rugby player - playing in Auckland and for Saracens in England. It was great to have a beer, chat rugby and have some good Dire Straits playing in the background. Dad would have loved it! The barman even gifted us a second drink each, just lovely.

After having two very nice French beers, it was a bit of a letdown to see that the rear tire on my bike had a puncture and was now flat. Unfortunately with no French, no pump and no spare tire I had no option! It was going to be a tough 9km home with one very hardworking tyre! Our route home was probably undulating at best, but having air in one tyre only…. It felt like a gruelling ride through the French Alps! I really worked the hills hard to surge ahead of Jess. She would invariably pass me on the downhills/flats whilst not pedalling whatsoever. Talk about demoralising.

Anyway, we got home just fine. We were treated to yet another lovely French dinner to round off a great birthday. Jess’ birthday is tomorrow so should be another good day!

Chris

Rollin' like a boss

Flat tire = regular stops to enjoy the view