Volunteering In France | Interning in France

Irvin, Hugh and Mark on the drawbridge

This morning, Paul took Hugh, Mark, Irvin, Hiroko and Emily down to Chalais market. After eating chichi and having a gander round the stalls, Hiroko went off to do the shopping for Paul while the rest of us decided to stop for a coffee up at Chalais castle which, according to unknown sources, has the only working drawbridge in Europe! The castle used to be open to the public, but over the past few years, parts of the castle has been sold to various people and so the public are no longer able to go inside. You can however have a look around outside and enjoy a delicious meal at the extremely popular restaurant.

In the evening, Paul rustled up some great cassoulet on toast for us all before we headed down for boules. It was the two newcomer’s first time and after a couple of games they got quite good. Paul as usual wound up the locals when him and Hugh went from drastically loosing to successfully winning. It just goes to show anything can happen during a game of pétanque!

Sunday was a sad day here at LG as we said goodbye to Hollie and Vanessa. It’s been a great three weeks with them and we hope to see them again next year. As Paul went to the station to drop them off, he also went to pick up another newcomer Mark from England.

Brossac lake

Seeing as it was another hot day at LG, we decided to spend the afternoon at Brossac lake to show Mark a bit around the area.

Come evening time, Hugh, Mark, Irvin and Emily had a nice stroll down to Saint Bernard’s for dessert and to meet Paul who was being treated to dinner! We ended up staying longer than intended as all had a lovely evening!

Recovering from the rope swinging

Saturday started off as lazy day due to our tiring but great day out to La Rochelle yesterday but things quickly picked up in the afternoon. Paul went to meet our newcomer Irvin from America. As it was Hollie and Vanessa’s last full day here at LG we decided to make use to the great weather by spending it down by the lake. Hollie and Vanessa then had the great idea of trying out the swing rope! Hugh handled it with no difficulty, and Irvin even tried it upside down. The girls didn’t have as much success, probably due to the fact that there was an audience on a table nearby who loved to laugh at any mistakes made!

LG at Saint Bernard's

That evening, Paul went to a 25th anniversary while the rest of us went to Saint Bernard’s for Hollie and Vanessa’s last evening. The food was great and as usual, Paul managed to make it in time for dessert! The weather made a drastic turn for the worst as the gale winds replaced the cool breeze and the thunder and lightening settled in. It was then that we decided to call it a night before the heavy rain started!

Pons

The LG team had an early start this Friday morning but all for a good cause! Every four weeks Paul organises a day trip out for everyone, and this week it was our turn to a sunny La Rochelle! We hit the road early, stopping for a coffee on the way at the lovely Pons, then carried en route to La Rochelle.

Once we’d arrived, we went straight for the “bus de la mer” to take us along the sea to the other side of La Rochelle where we stopped for a delicious lunch. Before catching the boat back, we went down to the beach and enjoyed the cool water. With our free time we had a butcher’s around the shops then took another break which of course had to involve coffee!

The day just kept on getting better as we stopped off at the amazing Trucker’s on the way back, but to our disappointment we saw no massively overweight truckers!

Despite the long and tiring day, Paul still managed to make his way down to play the usual pétanque followed by a couple of drinks at Saint Bernard’s! Lucky for him he doesn’t have to get up too early tomorrow to pick up our new arrival!

Here are a few photos of La Rochelle for your enjoyment:

Gare de la Rochelle

Two of the towers in La Rochelle

La Rochelle harbour

Hugh doing the skirting boards

This Thursday has been a bit of a changover. Seeing as it’s Hollie and Vanessa’s last week, someone of course needs to take over from their roles! We thought the best idea is to have Hiroko take over being Mum from Vanessa in hope of some tasty Japanese lunch! While Vanessa showed her the ropes, Hollie updated Emily on her computer tasks and Hugh and Sergey are just making the finishing touches upstairs in Gite 4 which should be ready very very soon! We also said goodbye to John as he carried of his travels to Spain.

The last lunch that Vanessa made consisted of some delicious pasta to fill us up for Lyn’s exciting French lesson!

For dinner we went greek as Hollie and Vanessa cooked us a wonderful moussaka – the second first this week for LG! Afterwards we all headed down to the lake for the last concert at Brossac lake this year – rock music by Prince Miiaou! We decided not to stay too late so we could be up bright and early the next morning for our exciting day trip out!