The girls has their autumn break at school, and we decided early on to go back to our house in France. During the summer we (read: Mary) did not get round to do maintenance on our outside wooden stairs and balcony, and there is always some work to do in the garden. But above all we wanted to ride horses, to cycle and to do some hiking, in hopefully nice autumn weather.
Mary drove down by herself the Sunday before, so she had time to sand the stairs and balcony, and varnish them afterwards in dry weather. She hooked up with the neighbours and was allowed to work with the village horse, Swallow, again. Since the summer little had been done with her, so after a few training sessions in our garden Mary took her for some rides in the area, getting her back into shape.
On next Saturday morning Piet and the girls flew into Geneva, where they were picked up by Mary. After our usual stop in Grenoble to shop for some sports gear we arrived at the house. The next few days Paula and Dorien spent a lot of time at Cecile's stable in Mizoen, helping out and riding. They also hooked up with their friend Pauline, who came to our house a few times. We did some work in the garden, picking apples from our trees, and starting some serious trimming on these trees. Cutting the grass, cleaning out some of the ditches and keeping our forest clearing open are some of the regular chores we carried out.
Piet did a few bike rides, he even managed to cycle up Alpe d'Huez (ice on the roads!) in pretty cold weather. There was already some snow on the mountain sides, and frost on the ground in the mornings. On the nicest day of the week we went on a hike towards Lac des Quirlies, in a beautiful valley behind Mizoen. The sheep had been rounded up from the high grazing grounds, and there were many of them around in the fields at the start of the walk. Always fun to mingle with them. We did not reach the lake, but we will try again this summer when we have more time.
On Saturday morning we drove back, as on Sunday Paula and Mary had a riding lesson in The Hague. We didn't notice anything of the strikes in France, with threats of no petrol or blocked highways. We had a smooth ride, and will be back at Christmas!
Lunch at chalet des Quirlies
A sign on the hike to Lac des Quirlies
Lot's of sheep at Les Perrons, in the Ferrand valley
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