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No one is in much hurry to move this morning. It is cold and there is a thick mist but the sun is trying to break through.
Around 11:00 Nick + Grete take the motorbike and we set off for a walk into Meilhane sur Garonne, repeating the route we did last July. Gone are all the sunflowers and wheat we saw then and all the fields look shabby in their winter weeds, and summer smells have been replaced with wood-smoke from farmhouse fires. When we reach the canal the trees are shrouded in the mist but that is eventually burnt off by the rising sun and the canal becomes really picturesque.
The water is motionless with looking-glass reflections of bare trees, whose winter bark is a dappled patchwork of light green, tan and mauve. The sunlit trunks cast mirror images as far along as the curving waterway as the eye can see.
We meet N+G at the halfway point by the lock then continue towards the village. Grete rings to say they have found a viewpoint and as we near the village we can see them high above us. After a climb up the hill we join them in the small plaza looking out over the canal and the river Garonne and have a little picnic of leftover sausage rolls, mini pies and other nibblybits.
As amble back to the farm we hear and see larks in the fields getting agitated because three large harriers are circling, the white undersides of their wings shining in the low sunlight.
Back at the farm we are introduced to Claudie's uncle, who has been hunting and is still wearing his belt of cartridges.
It turns cold as we watch the sky silhouette the trees with a fabulous pink and purple sunset before we close the curtains, put on the heating and settle in before having cold turkey with bubble&squeak for our boxing day supper.
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