We awoke this morning to a cracking morning – sunny and amazingly mild. Harley and I took ourselves off for an early morning stroll around the lake to take some photos whilst the sun was still out – though, I suspect Harley was more interested in checking out the duck situation – there were LOTS!!

We had a very pleasant stroll, even enjoying a bit of convo with two elderly French gents out for their daily constitutional – it felt so good to be chatting in French again AND to actually be able to understand what they were saying and vice versa….

We pulled into La Butte Rouge to see the restored iron calcination ovens – all done, apparently, by volunteers and it was interesting to read about the former iron ore mine.

Today, it’s Armistice Day so a Public Holiday here. Very little traffic on the roads and most shops closed so our journey to Laval should be pretty uneventful. Domfront beckons en route – a medieval town with a Norman castle with an interesting history – I won’t bore you all with the details but if you really would like to know more , click here.

 

Laval was to be our sleepy spot for tonight but, on arrival at the Aire, we discovered that, although handy for the town centre, it was on a car park underneath a railway bridge so rather noisy, the water had been switched off at the service point and the spaces allocated were not suitable for a van the size of Sebo. Nontheless, we parked up for a couple of hours, went for a stroll around the town then moved on to a much more suitable Aire just 4km away at Chance. This place was much quieter, was situated on the edge of a lake AND the river Mayenne and, we could, feasibly, walk to Laval along the river if we wanted to go to Laval’s Saturday market. Harley got both a walk around the lake AND a swim, so he was a very happy pup!