The school run from Jayac to the bus stop in Archignac is a very comfortable 8 minute drive. I can do it in 4 and a bit – if needs must.

This is not so much a testament to my competent rally driving skills ( panic not – I know this road like the back of my hand , rarely, if ever break the speed limit &  I’m sure that if I sat my advanced driving test based on this stretch of road alone, I’d pass with flying colours!) as to the fact that we are usually the only ones there – us and the wildlife. And most of the wildlife are astute enough to get out of the way when they hear us coming.

Occasionally a lorry delivering pigs or hens or someone else rally driving in the opposite direction will come hurtling around the corner and you have to be alert & ready to pull over on to the grass verge just in case they don’t but for the most part our school runs have provided us with lots of wonderful & interesting moments which have made the early morning starts all worthwhile…

Stunning sunrise on the way to archignac 7.15am

We often have to stop for this pheasant when it refuses to move for us. I’m sure certain others would just carry on and enjoy a delicious roast dinner but he’s always in that same spot with his mate hovering nearby on the edge of the field so they must have set up home there.

I let him make us late.

Carefree pheasant !

We were once treated to a huge low-flying buzzard which decided to cruise ahead of us just inches away from our windscreen. Emma & Alistair were fascinated, convinced they were extras in a scene from some alternative Harry Potter film. This was one of the rare days I didn’t have a camera with me to capture a memorable photo of the day…

Quick digression –  last year my sister took a photo every day to represent how she and her family spent their daily lives & at the end of the year they had a wonderful time looking back at 365 special moments which made up their “ordinary” lifestyle. I loved the idea & decided to do the same this year. In our household this has become known as “Photo of the Day”. The kids are sick of me snapping everything and anything & it’s still only June! But, I’m sure that if I’d managed to snap that buzzard, come the end of December when they’d long forgotten about that morning, they would have been delighted to have been reminded of that special moment. I’ll keep on snapping.

Yesterday's photo of the day - Emma making cupcakes & caught licking the spoon!

We have seen all sorts on the road over the years driving back & forth – hares as large as small dogs, deer ( a few  have just bounded out of the woods straight in front of the car which we have miraculously managed to avoid- rally driving skills do come in handy at times!!), badgers , weasels and even the odd wild boar, all of which have eluded my photographic prowess ..not easy to be poised for taking photos & drive at the same time!

Early morning rays on the way home from Archignac

The journey home rarely takes less than the full 8 minutes. With no need to rush back there’s so much to enjoy about the school run. In a few days time school is finished until September. Although it will be good not to have to rush out in the morning I’ll miss these daily outings.

Emma also starts Lycée in September which means she’ll go in one direction towards Terrasson & Alistair in the opposite which logistically won’t be so easy. However it also means there will be a whole new school run to discover which can’t be bad!

View over Terrasson & the river Vézère

Today was our second “language school” walk!

A friend of mine, Béa Fauste suggested that we should walk every week , taking it in turns to speak only English one week, only French the next & not letting any mistakes go uncorrected. Good idea!

The Faustes own Les Granges Hautes in St Crepin. With 5 chambres d’hotes ( B&B rooms) and 2  gîtes we at least had some common ground to start our discussions.

Les Granges Hautes, chambres d' hôtes & gites in St Crépin

Last week we started from Jayac with a one and a half hour stroll  round the Chemin des 3 combes. I’ve walked here a few times now so I was on home territory, both geographically & linguistically. I enjoyed searching in the dim corners of my mind for correct grammar, interesting vocabulary and new phrases which would stretch Béa’s level of English. After 6 years in France our family conversations tend to be in Fringlish, an easy blend of both French & English, often in the same sentence and more often than not the line where one language starts and the other stops is fairly blurred. How Emma & Alistair manage to do so well at school in perfect French and then come home and speak in perfect Fringlish never ceases to amaze me! With that in mind I was determined not to teach my eager pupil a lot of nonsense! I think it went well – Béa went home with a few new linguisitic gems and we’d enjoyed the country walk.

Cottage with lauze roof in Jayac on the Chemin des 3 combes

Winding country roads along the Chemin des 3 combes in Jayac

Our second class was on Béa’s home turf , starting from Les Granges Hautes (15 mins from Les Crouquets) and wandering through St Crépin & Carlucet. This is a lovely walk with lots of interesting things to see including an old lavoir where many years ago women would come to wash their clothes and a cemetery with the tombs built into the thick stone wall.

Lavoir on the walk round St Crépin & Carlucet - the women would come here to wash their clothes

Cemetery with the tombs built into the thick stone walls

This picturesque trail is peppered with fields of wheat, poppies, streams and lots of the region’s honey coloured stone – the perfect backdrop for learning French! Béa taught me a new expression – avoir la banane, literally ” to have the banana” the French equivalent of “smiling from ear to ear” ! Logical I suppose!

field of wheat

I definitely had the banana when Béa pulled me up on a little faux pas a bit later on. We were just past this pond when I happened to mention the words “en route”.

On the walk round St Crépin & Carlucet

My pronounciation of the word “route” must have fallen short of Béa’s high standards as she stopped me mid-sentence and pursing her lips into a perfect circle she emitted a sound somewhere just left of centre between oh and ooh with immaculate French articulation.

Now if I can just imitate this, she tells me I will actually then be telling people that I’m on my way somewhere and not that I’ve just entered the rutting season.

Presumably up until now , since I’m not a deer, sheep or goat, people have worked this out for themselves as no-one has mentioned it, but, maybe they were just being polite, so I’ve been practising. Hoping to get 10/10 next week!

Chateau at St Crepin