Gumieres

We arrived at the village of Gumieres, after a lengthy journey on the auto route and 30 Euros in tolls.

It's a small village of 294 locals, located in the Loire area of France. It was once nearly a 1,000 inhabitants. The department we are staying in is called Forez.

It's very quiet, there are no shops etc. just a church of St. Bartholomew (not just a church, a fifteenth century one)

In the middle ages the towns were built around a church. This church continues to ring its bells in the Old Catholic way, announcing to the community when it was time for prayers or mass and for feast days. They usually start at am, noon, and 6pm. Most of the churches in the area have their bells on a timer. But, Francois our host can ring bells and will be showing us at a later date. Using his hands and feet!!!!! i have put the video on...it certainly is a skill.

The cemetery was moved from the nearby church because it was not big enough, and is now located by a wood yard. And the original area is the local car park.

The historical monument of Gumieres is a 15th century cross which is in the cemetery. In the commune of Gumieres there around twenty five crosses.

Our place of stay was once a hotel/restaurant. Our hosts plan to change it into an activity/workshop centre for children.

Our first job when we arrived was to build a chicken coop, out of 2 old toilet doors, ready for a pair of hens that here arriving on Thursday. And what a good job Dave made of it, the chickens liked it too, they laid their eggs after two days.

We have had some spectacular thunder storms, with hail stones the size of golf balls, and a moderate temperature of 23 0c. But that's nice, when its bed time it's not hot, sticky and no itchy. MOZZY BITES. But, for some reason getting lots of sinus headaches. And paracetamol are pretty expensive, 1.50 Euros a box, compared to 16 pence in the UK.

Every week the local villages take it in turns to host the boot sale. So last Sunday the village was closed off, and we awoke to hoards of stalls in the street. Lots of nice things, a lot of 70's stuff for sale. And we saw a pair of skis and boots.

Montarcher

Montarcher was a fortified fort, but there is nothing left of it now, we followed a numbered route, looking for the points of interest. The castle was probably built in the 13th century. So we touched the only surviving remains of the outer wall of a fortified gate, and discussed the people who may have touched it and if any of them would have had the plague…

the plague was for centuries a terrible calamity; from 1629 to 1632 there was a terrible epidemic In the Forez area. In one town the church closed and the priest counted over 700 victims from 17th june to 30 september 1631. In the town of Montbrison grass grows in the street and people flee.

So I said to Dave make sure we wash our hands before we eat our picnic.

We saw a house which shows the date of construction and the initials of the owner sculpted into the lintel, sometimes they would have put statues in the recess above the door, we did go into the church, which as a pre-Christian statuette of a mother breast feeding two children. It was pretty hot, the views from up there are fantastic, you should have been able to see Mont Blanc, but I couldn't.

Saturday 25th August

Aileen and Francois took us to have a meal with their family. We had to stop of for my paracetamol… and whilst I was in the pharmacy I did wonder why there was a picture of a horse and dogs and cats. I did have a funny feeling that something wasn't quite right and walked out. On the window is said vetenarian pharmacy. I had missed the door completely.

The family meal was great lots of apero, salad, bbq sausage and duck, then fromage and cake, fruits and of course wine, Francois was brought up in the local village and had learnt to do the bell ringing in the local church. Most churches now have automated bell ringing. Francois is one of two people who can ring the bells in this church, so after lunch we were treated to an example. Our first attempt to gain access to the church was denied because the lady opposite the church had just put the baby to bed, 'come back at 4.30'…

We arrived at the appropriate time, the door was unlocked and waiting for us. We climbed the wooden curly stairs to the belfry. Where Francoise sat on a high chair, holding two hand grips and placing his feet in two loops he began to ring out a tune. No wonder Quasimodo went deaf. François worked hard pulling the ropes with his hands and feet. Looking like a marionette. Then I got to have a go. It was hard work.