Tuesday 15 May
Today we drove to Fougeres to change some money. The drive was dominated by the diversion at Landivy which was becoming quite an obsession with us. We were definitely in need of a more detailed map as half the villages that appear on the road aren't on our large scale map and so take us completely by surprise!
Fougeres was quite pleasant, despite the weather being a bit miserable and damp. We parked in the centre of the town and I started my search for a) an inexpensive moisturiser and b) a place to change some money. Within half an hour we had achieved one of our aims and Keith was certainly happier with more francs in his wallet! We wandered happily around and I bought a map of Mayenne which just about covered our part of the country. I never cease to find it amazing how large France is!
After Fougeres we got lost trying to find our way to St James. This is a little town near to an American War Cemetery and we had passed it the previous day. I remembered being taken to one in England by my parents and although Sophie was too young to understand the war we hoped she would learn a little from the experience.
We were the only ones visiting the cemetery. The others hadn't caught us up on this one yet, but they were doing their best to follow in our footsteps (they discovered the cemetery on Thursday after also visiting Fougeres and exclaiming how wonderful it all was, including the chateau that we had somehow managed to miss!).
The cemetery at St James was a very solemn and solitary place and we were all moved by the experience of seeing so many graves. They are all marked with a cross or a Jewish star and the sheer amount of them was very upsetting. We tried to read them but it would have been impossible to look at every one of them. Each grave had the name and rank of the dead soldier and the date they died. A lot of them fell in August or September when the allies broke out of the beach head on the coast. Sadly, many of them had no names. After walking around the graves we visited the church where we could read about the history and look at maps of the area. All of the beautiful, peaceful countryside we had driven through had been affected by the war and it was hard to imagine such bloodshed taking place.
At it was nearing lunchtime we drove to Ambrieres les Vallees and ate at a little restaurant on the banks of a river. Sophie amused herself by drawing pictures on her napkin and I spent most of the time trying to entertain Michael while we waited for our pizza. The food was great, the service icy - our waitress was one of the few unfriendly people we encountered in France!
After lunch we drove around rather aimlessly, but enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. We were still on the hunt for a good restaurant for an evening meal, but the only one we saw looked very closed indeed!
Back at the gite I took the children for a walk with Gorby the dog. We strolled up to the fields above the cottages that only moments before had been full of cows. I encouraged Sophie to pick some of the wild flowers and we placed them on a crucifix that stood next to a field near the turn for La Returais. The sky looked very stormy and in the distance we could hear rumblings of thunder. The views were wonderful - acres and acres of rolling hills and fields in every direction. Dad later told me that a strange bowl shaped indentation in one of the fields was probably a relic from the war as the outlook was so good.
We slowly walked a little way along the road but Sophie was a little wary of the thunder so we turned back and while the children played in the garden I read several brochures on gite holidays in France...hmmm... not sure I would rent one again!
Mum and Dad had driven to Le Mans today but weren't impressed with what they saw. Hot on their heels were the other two couples but luckily they hadn't met! We decided to eat in Gorron and before we left I went to let the others know what we were doing and that we would see them at the restaurant.
As Michael had barely slept all day he was more than ready to fall asleep and within five minutes of being in the car he was away. We left Mum and Dad at the hotel and drove on for another five minutes just to make sure he was deeply asleep. When we arrived back at the hotel we found out from Mum and Dad that the restaurant was closed and only the pizzeria was open.
As none of us fancied pizza for our evening meal we made the decision to go to another restaurant called "Le Gourmand" a few streets away. We parked the cars right outside and after checking to make sure it was open and that it was OK to bring a baby in with us, we all piled in. The place was very quiet with only one other couple eating but our waitress was friendly and spoke a little English, which helped!
We all chose the most expensive menu option at 120 francs and I chose the "Salade Gourmand" for a starter, which had unrecognisable chunks of meat as a topping. I think they may have been sweetbreads but the salad was delicious so I didn't complain!
The food was typical French fare with the main course of beef accompanied by miniscule amounts of vegetables. Seeing as farmland and lush fields surrounded us, this never ceases to amaze me! Sophie enjoyed her specially cooked chicken followed by ice cream, so she was happy. Her behaviour was impeccable as always.
As we were tucking into our main courses we saw David's dark blue Passat slowly drive by. There weren't that many German cars in this part of France and we just knew it had to be the others, who had probably given up on the hotel as well. As Dad's Suzuki was parked right outside (again, not a common car in those parts) it wouldn't have been difficult for them to have spotted it and come in to eat.
The war was still on!
