The weekend -Saturday

The week was long and the work was hard but if the afternoons we often went for bike rides and walks.

The old well by the house

The mist in the morning is always very thick

The heavy stone bench we put back together after a fallen tree had fallen on it and cracked it clean in two. 

We got two new workawayers in the course of the week, a Spanish girl called Elisa and a Malaysian girl called Sullivan. Together with Mateusz us four decided to go exploring on the weekend, and our hosts kindly lent is their old car.

We decided to go find some church's and castles in the nearby villages, ending the day with a visit to the town of Moulins. 

There are many Gothic cathedrals in the area which had fantastic stonework and stained glass windows.

                         

As it was a Saturday all the churches were empty, although open which made them lovely to explore.

We passed by a fortress on our way so stopped to have an explore around. 

Only one wall and a few towers remained but it was easy to see how heavily fortified and impenetrable it must have once been.

The view from the castle. 

Some more castle remnants.

We decided to see one more church and then go in search of lunch as we were quite hungry by this time. 

The grand entrance to the cathedral.

The beautiful interior and stained glass windows. 

                        

The little town of the cathedral, I never did get around to learning it's name.

We headed to Moulins to try and find some lunch. The problem was by the time we arrived (2 pm) everything was closing, we ended up having to go to an Asian restaurant as it was the only thing in the town that was open and at that point we were about to give up. Although we had been after traditional french cuisine, it was actually quite nice and as it was a buffet we had fun trying all sorts of different things, from spring rolls to sushi to strange unpronounceable deserts. 

After our adventurous lunch we explored the town for a whole, first going to an impressive gothic cathedral (I lost count of how many church's we saw this weekend) 

There were some creepy figurines which intrigued me, as well as more beautiful stained glass windows.

We then walked to the second cathedral which was much newer (1800s) but very beautiful.

The monochromatic architecture reminded me somewhat of Siena, but this cathedral I really enjoyed, it was one of my favourites so far.

Quiet and beautiful. 

There were some beautiful very very old houses. 

The highlight of the day for me was this beautiful old house, the plaque below it reads that in the 1400s Jeanne D'arc stayed here.

Although I didn't get a photo of it the town closest to the house (Saint Pierre le Moutier) had a statue in the centre square of Jeanne D'arc victorious and valiant with the french flag flowing out behind her, it is in thanks for her freeing the town from the English. Awesome stuff.