Tuesday 10th August 2010 Haute Rives. Day off - an afternoon out in the car.

La pierre a la femme - the stone woman

Sancerre

Overcast and muggy. The neighbours were doing more painting. We went into Briare in the car shopping at Carrefour Market. Didn’t need much, Mike bought two containers of oil. He’d got some used oil to dispose of, so we went in search of a déchetterrie. Couldn’t find one in Briare so we went home. Put the stuff away and had some lunch. Mike was going to start on the front deck but said it was too late to start so we went out in the car. In Chatillon I spotted a sign for a déchetterrie so we did an about turn and took our used oil to the recycling centre. A large lady in fluorescent trousers and vest was in charge. Back into town then south towards Sancerre. Paused to take photos from the hilltop across to Sancerre. Travelled northwest through the Collines du Sancerrois, through Cézancy and Neuilly, then north to La Chapelotte and southwest to Henrichemont. 

Wild boar piglet - so cute when they're small and stripey! 

As we went through a tiny hamlet Mike spotted a sanglier (wild boar) piglet so we did a u-turn to go back and take a photo. The little piggy was all on her own and came towards the car when I called her. We drove around the triangle of grass where she was grubbing and she came towards the car as if she were used to people feeding her but walked off when we didn’t offer anything edible. She must be tame as she wasn’t in the slightest bit afraid of us or the car! South through the Berry orchards through St Palais and St Martin-d’Auxigny to find a Stone Age menhir called La Pierre à la Femme. For once it was where the sign said it was, next to a large orchard, and we stopped to take photos. Set Lucy Sat Nav to do the map-reading to return to the boat. Ignored a few of her turnings and went back via the D58 through forest Méry-ès-Bois, Presly and turned off at Ennordres (Lucy wanted to go north to Aubigny-sur-Nère, a large town) to go across country to Oizon, Concessault and back to Chatillon.