Thursday started off so nice. We woke a little early to get ready for our appointment at the Château de Famaey a local vineyard and winery run by Belgians.

We had an amazing learning experience about grapes and working a vineyard. We found out that September is the month to harvest grapes. I asked if August and September are harvesting months what is happening the rest of the year? Our clever guide said “NOTHING!” 😂😂😂 then she explained the large amount of work that goes on year round.

After that we came back to the house and headed for town to do errands, walking. The weather said no rain before 15 u/3 pm. So at 11 we headed to town. It was a 7 km walk. It would take us a little over an hour. We arrived in town and got to a restaurant and the skies opened.

We decided to eat very slowly. We each had the best chicken Caesar salad ever. (Maybe we were hungry but I don’t think so). And by the time we leisurely had lunch the rain stopped. We headed to the store for our errands and 30 minutes later we’re headed home.*

Before we got to where we had the heavens opened again. We made the mistake of not putting on our rain pants thinking it would stop. It didn’t.

We ducked under trees, awnings and well anywhere we could. We were wet as wet as could be. And we just had to keep going. Next week is the West Highland Way and I’m pretty sure we will have rain.

There were several points along the walk in the pouring rain that I just laughed out loud. Noël asked “what?” “Oh well If you asked me 20 years ago if I’d be having these adventures I would have laughed In you your face. And here I am.” 😂😂😂

Here is our take away:

Adjust, adapt and accept.

Adjust your attitude

Adapt to what the situation is.

Accept your hesitancy and your resilience.

You are capable of more than you think.

Make it a great day.

*no rain photos.

On Wednesday we decided to visit the quaint and beautiful village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. It is another old and well preserved city nestled on the side of a mountain.

As I understand the church in the village bears its name from a martyred child and his mother somewhere around 304 C.E., Eglise Saint-Cirq-et-Sainte-Juliette. Julieta had been arrested and tortured for being a Christian and her five year old child was forced to watch. He yelled out that he was a Christian too so the governor killed him as well. He is the youngest Christian martyr.

This was on our list to go and see and since it was going to rain most of the day felt this was a good idea. It was and we learned so much. We visited a wine museum, went to the top of the castle ruins, visited the church. The town is full of little shops and cafes. The entire town is almost a museum.

One thing we learned is that this village has cobblestone and brick streets mainly for pedestrians. And as you know cobblestone and brick are very slick when wet. Noël almost went down.

Saint-Cirq-Lapopie is also on the French pilgrimage route of The Way of St. James. And we saw one pilgrim.

It was a lovely day and I would enjoy going back to this Les Plus Beaux Villages, one of the most beautiful villages in France.

*(Pictures we’re taken between rain storms.)

One of my favorite things about living in Europe is being awakened by church bells. The past two days reminded me of this.

Yesterday we spent the day getting settled and exploring Puy l’eveque. It was amazing. We walked from the bottom of the village to the top. At the top is the church. In 1580, during the Wars of Religion it was besieged unsuccessfully by the Protestants under the future King Henri IV the marks of his cannonballs can still be seen in the main church of Saint-Sauveur.

Dinner on the grill back at the house where we sat poolside and were serenaded by the swallows in the nearby trees. Beautiful.

Today we hiked trails that took us along several routes which included the Camino De Santiago. So awesome!

The morning started in mist where we couldn’t see very far to beautiful vistas with warm sunshine. We took lunch and enjoyed a picnic by the side of the road. We hiked about 16 kms/10 miles and 420 meters/1400 feet approximately. We have been slacking a bit. So today was a challenge but still in the books. We will be on the West Highland Way next week soooo…we will be back to being Camino Ready.

Being Camino Ready for me means if anyone says “hey let’s go walk the camino next week” I can say “hell yes!!! Let’s go!!” And that means physical, mental and emotional!! I’m back!!

Things we noticed today is how quiet it was. We heard a few birds, the ground under our feet, our breath, the wind in the trees, an occasional airplane overhead, and an occasional car. Silence.

One of the greatest parts of long hikes is the exhaustion you feel, the deep breaths you take, the shower, a good meal, great conversation and an amazing sleep.

Hope you all are well ❤️

I think autumn must be our favorite time of the year. And maybe our favorite time to travel. Last year we were on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and today we are heading to France and then Scotland. Please stay tuned for our travel experiences as we discover and trip in to grace again and again.

A little more about today. We left in plenty of time to catch our flight from Rotterdam the Netherlands to Bergerac France. We got in line for security and Noël couldn’t find his plane ticket that he downloaded. We got out of line and went to a help desk…they were not helpful. We started walking towards a very long line and poof it appeared. Whew. First trip into grace.

Now we have two hours before our flight so we get some lunch. That was nice and we watched the women’s world cycling championship. And a dutch woman with a broken elbow won. Awesome!! Afterwards we walked around. Then 30 minutes before our boarding time we sat near the gate. An hour and a half later we finally were on board. The flight left an hour later than originally planned. I forgot to mention the rain and thunderstorms. We literally skirted them on all sides. See the photos and check out the video on Facebook.

We arrive in Bergerac airport and it is the smallest airport I have ever seen. I mean there was one toilet for the 150 passengers arriving. 😳🙄

We get our rental car. Stop by a shop for some essentials and then head to Puy l’eveque. We check into the hotel where we are staying. Grab a quick shower and then head to dinner. Our plan was to walk around town after dinner but there was a deluge. Tomorrow will be for exploring and tripping some more into grace. ❤️