Days 136-140, 26-30 Oct 2014, Montmorillon, France. Busy week as rural idylls go. An enjoyable visit to Terry's Tearoom in Magnac-Laval with my great neighbours. A wonderful discovery - Beef en Daube (beef cheeks), even from a can, is superb in France. Get this... people still pay for things with cheques in France - actual "get out your chequebook out at the supermarket register" type of payment - I didn't think anywhere did that anymore. Today topped off my busy week when a couple of other neighbours invited me to join them on an afternoon jaunt to Montmorillon (pron: Mont-morry-yon) - about 40 minutes away (and via Chateau de Bourg-Achambault - pictured). This was my first French chateau and was built in the 15th century on the site of a Roman fortress (those Romans really did get around). Apparently only part of the fortified gate is a remnant of the Roman structure - but a real fairytale castle look about the place. Apparently (even in France, I can gossip), a lady in her eighties was found in it 10 or so years ago, the last of her line, living in two rooms, no electricity etc. There was no-one left to leave it to so it went to the local government who renovated it in 2003. Occasionally open to the public via appointment. Hmmm. Still - lovely to look at from the side of the road. Lots of kerb appeal. Onwards we headed to Montmorillon - the city of the written word. Absolutely stunning historic town full of tiny independent book shops, galleries, calligraphers and so on - it even has a typewriter museum. I dawdled up to Eglise de Notre-Dame / Church of our Lady for a view over the old town and then pottered about looking in the shops and enjoying the history plaques on various spots around the town. One in particular appealed - it was the story about the town ditch (or "Fosse") which was filled in to create one of the main streets. Now I knew from asking that Fosse is the common name for the septic tank that a lot of the hamlet houses have. The first night I heard the term however I thought it was an acronym - "FOS". Quite possibly standing for "Full of S**t". Made sense to me. Took loads of lovely photos, visited a boulangerie to buy a snail for a nibble (or "Pain au raisons" / raison bread). Bought some postcards, tormented the lady at the post office with some French - managed to buy stamps. Met up with my friends then we headed to the outskirts of Montmorillon to visit the massive LeClerc supermarket/semi-department store. Wow - bright lights, people everywhere, so much to see and do - rode an escalator and pushed a trolley! Resisted buying all manner of lovely things I simply don't need (hats... scarves... gloves...). Didn't resist a bottle of inexpensive Port all the way from Portugal. Snapped up some nice fish for dinner and finally made it home after dark - a huge, massive, phenomenal day out by recent standards. The doggies had their sad faces on, bags packed and complaints to the RSPCA drafted... but once the fire was lit and company was had, all was forgiven. Off to an abbey on Saturday methinks... more photos!