Hmmmm! I'm not sure I completely believe that I thought. But I kept the rapt attention and flabbergasted look because it was such a lovely story and obviously meant a lot to this Dutch couple who lived Locally. As they left I continued to fill Sadie with clear cool spring water from the 'washer women' grotto just 5 minutes from our overnight spot of the last few nights by Lac Lessouroux.
The story was that the old washer women stones belonged to the individuals who once regularly used them and their names were engraved on them. The Dutch couple had two grandchildren named Janu and Isa who lived in Holland. One day on a walk they had come across the washer women grotto and been amazed to find that one stone had the name Janu engraved on it while it's neighbour had the word Isa. They could not believe it and of course rang their son in Holland to tell him and that he must come visit and see. He had never seen the grotto and was an infrequent visitor to his parents new home.
A really lovely story and one the Dutch gentleman was just a little too eager to tell me and I noticed his wife nodding her head and agreeing with dutiful silence.
Once they were out of sight I went back to the stones to have a closer look. They were certainly genuine, old and well used washing stones with indentations worn into them from the knees of many washer women. The names though. Hmmmm! One had a number engraved on it which was difficult to decipher as it was so worn. Some of the others also had marks on them which at some time could well have been names or numbers. Sure enough though two neighboring stones had the names Janu and Isa engraved on them. They were easily readable and it was quite apparent the engravings were not many years old. It looked as though they had been roughly chiseled out not too long ago in the dead of night by torchlight.
Oh! Wicked and skeptical me!! As I said though, a lovely story and one that, for whatever reason, meant a lot to the storyteller.
Next stop was Mme Crochelet in Eymet 10 minutes down the road. She was the vet and hopefully was going to give us clearance to move on. Tanya was much improved after her operation and was once again using her dislocated leg albeit with caution at this early stage.
She had also had some extra TLC from an American lady who was an energy healer of animals. She was on the retreat at Plum Village and had generously offered a healing to Tanya. Whether you believe in such capacities or energies or not makes no odds. What I saw was Tanya immediately take to Lisa, remain totally still and look intently at her as if in conversation which, as far as Lisa was concerned, they were. Tanya has since come on leaps and bounds. Of course it could have been the anesthetic wearing off as well. Who knows. She was well on the mend and that was all that mattered.
There was another emergency at the vets so things got delayed till the afternoon. To pass the time we popped across to 'Kismet' the cafe owned by Paul and his wife. They informed me he was doing a fish and chip supper evening at a pub in the next village and I was welcome to pop along that evening.
Back to the vets and 'clearance for take off' plus some extra pills was given. It was really too late for travelling on so we moved to 'Lauzon' in good time for our fish and chip evening meal. Yummy it was too. The place was crowded out with Brits and is obviously a regular social venue for the local and numerous Brit population.
Back to Sadie via a stroll round 'Lauzon' a very pretty village. The weather broke overnight and our northward journey resumed the next morning in heavy and continuous rain.
I am happy to report we have made it to 'La Palmyre' on the Atlantic coast below La Rochelle where the weather is blustery but sunny. On saying that 22 degrees feels quite cold after the 25 to 28 degree temperatures of the last few days.
We will move on again tomorrow.
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