Nice walk this morning in the mist and cool weather before the rain came in.
We have driven past “La Fontaine’ many times but never stopped. Today we were up close and visited the chapel for the first time.
Notre Dame
Category: France
More autumnal light
More like autumn
End if the day after working in the open barn.
It is colder today after some unseasonable warm weather. It has been raining and the wind has taken more of the leaves off the trees.
Hive gone
I opened the hive that I have been concerned about for a while.
Things had gone seriously wrong and there were very few bees still there and the hive had become infested with white moth.
Interestingly the queen was still present and being protected by the workers.
The white moth takes hold when the colony is failing. There ware no honey stores left and only dead larval stage bees.
I think the queen has been a poor producer and the final outcome was lack of food as not enough foragers to go out and then not enough food to develop young.
Other hive continues to look good. I am fighting the yellow legged hornets.
Flowers
We seeded these sections late , hence, the ongoing activity. The bees love them- more so the bumblebee and others that I think are hairy-footed flower bee.
Information here.
Active bees
It is the middle of October and the bees in the healthy hive remain active. Lots of ins and outs. It is warm and there are still flowers bout there to collect pollen and nectar.
I am however trying to to fight the frelons😬.
New Zealand at the Somme
I did not put these up at the right time. Better late than never.
We found the New Zealand memorial and the nearby cemetery.
We then moved onto Thiepval.
Arras
A long drive but we have arrived and to the main square after eating.
A walk from Le Quillio
I have been to the cycle track on my bike before but this weekend Shaz and I went for a walk along the Hilvern. A calm, peaceful environment with plenty of shade. The latter aspect being very much appreciated on a bright and hit day.
Tour de France
While the race is still on, it did pass through the village, but a little bit ago.
So better late than never.
The village was, of course,busy. A good atmosphere and great to see so much going on. We decided to find ourselves a spot on the vallée road in order to give ourselves a long view of the lads as they came through. We arrived in good time and prepared:
Even the ‘gina’ is branded with the Tour:
The more entertaining aspect was the arrival of the caravan- that is the promotional floats that threw out merchandise to spectators. We were avid collectors.
And then the race came through:
So we saw the racers. Others came through in bunches and slowly. We did not appreciate until we watched the tv highlights that there had been a crash just up the road, out of our view, on exiting the village.
We collected our goodies and walked home and watched the rest of the race on the highlights. The finish up the hill just outside Mûr de Bretagne looked impressive. Maybe next time we will go there. See you in three years?