13th day: from Saint Savin to La Fournet

Pubblicato: 11.09.2022

What does 'I slept long' actually mean? Does it refer to the actual sleeping time in bed, does it only refer to the time at which one leaves or is it about the length of the bed, which was far from sufficient last night? Okay, a longer bed might not have fit in the room, but the still widespread custom of building a plank at the front end of the bed, which clearly defines the spatial limitation of the sleeping utensil, means that you have to think about alternative strategies - such as squatting (temporarily), diagonal variation (at the expense of the partner), or putting your legs over the plank, which also has its problems in the long run. Be that as it may. In addition, there was commotion outside in the middle of the night: cars with running engines and radiator fans constantly switching on and off, men chatting - in the morning the resolution: a flea market was set up in the square in front of the hotel. And judging by the influx, it seems to be an attraction for the French.

A breakfast in the accommodation showed us the next fascination: playing the lottery; you sit in the café, drink coffee, have made a bet and you just see the next combination of numbers appearing on the screen.

After breakfast we went over to the abbey church; pure Romanesque, almost 1000 years old, graves of 2 saints: Savinius and Marinus, if you want to know more:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_of_Saint-Savin-sur-Gartempe

The Virgin Mary of Lourdes is also there

Grave of Saint Savinius, who suffered martyrdom in the 5th century

Afterwards we drive off, it goes up and down, we reach the Vienne - wonderful!

In Isle de Jourdain we watch bungee jumpers throwing themselves off the high railway bridge, then we come across a car race - quite a lot going on; and the wonderful nature, I can still hear the crickets chirping here at the campsite.

By the way, from today on we are on the route that Angelika and I have already driven in 2003 - back then without navigation and only with a Michelin map (1:100,000), which works well in the countryside but can cause some surprises in cities like Liège, for example.