Well we made it back to France fine on 2 January, with just a little delay at the tunnel but not much, and a very easy drive down to the valley of La Somme. We settled into our gîte (holiday cottage) very well, warmly welcomed by our lovely hosts.
Yes, that really is a tennis court in front of the building! We don’t expect to be making use of it during our stay, though…
We are in the depths of the countryside near Domart-en-Ponthieu. Since we arrived it has been cold. I mean cold: minus 7 degrees C first thing in the morning, with a “feels like” of minus 17 (with wind chill). This is a panorama from the back of the gîte:
And over nearby fields:
The countryside is achingly beautiful and very quiet. We can hear several owls in the evenings in different parts of the valley and the stars are just incredible.
A couple of days ago we were immensely privileged to see a female wild boar and ten (yes, ten) young ones, running through some woodland in the valley, all in a big long line. Beautiful creatures!
So we are incredibly blessed with our temporary accommodation, which is also beautifully warm. As the French would say, we are bien installé, meaning well settled in.
Breakthrough France 