West of Durtal, a toad, and a féte

We decided to look at the area to the west of Durtal, villages clinging to the banks of the Sarthe, passing through Daumeray, Chàteauneuf-s-Sarthe, Brissarthe, Morannes, camp sites everywhere, canal, river, boats, fishermen, all along the banks. It must be pleasant to live there, except at Cheffes where there is a factory and terrible smells. We had a good lunch in the end, out on the end of a jetty over the river! The traffic was non-existent today - different from yesterday - the Bank holiday weekend - the other half of France is now on holiday. We took the awning down and I found a nice little toad. I put him in a bowl with a plate on top until we’d finished, then I let him out under the marrow which has escaped from the small vegetable patch beyond the fence. Bill’s gone fishing to use up his maggots. We went to a féte and a motor type - 4 in and you win a bottle of something! There was a band and some majorette - some very small. They were carting round a ram for a raffle in a special cart, it was tied round its middle and the rope fixed through the floor of the cart. There were lots of rabbits and a ‘hapinodrome’ - which is the same game as the guinea pig one, in a slightly different form. I shall do a bit more knitting now!