Judy’s
Unquotable Quotes Revealed
“My bum only
fell apart in the last 5 kilometres,” Judy at the end of an 87 kilometre ride.
And 30
minutes later while relaxing on a terrace bar, “Gosh I’m vain. Staring at
myself in the mirror as I do my hair and enjoying the view.”
“I really
like the Queen. She’s a good old stick. I really liked her when she was Helen
Mirren.”
“Do you know
where the word spread-eagled comes from?” asked Bob as we waited for our entrée.
We both looked at him blankly, and he produced that naughty schoolboy grin we
were getting used to.
Judy with Helen and Bob in their garden near Chinon, France. The New Zealand flag is raised in our honour. |
It’s
origins, he said, go back to Viking times when they were a warring lot
terrifying the living daylights out of that corner of France where they saw an
opportunity to plunder and pillage – what is now Normandy. A valiant opponent
defeated in battle was given the opportunity to enter Valhalla, where an
endless supply of virgins and alcohol awaited him.
Bridge over the River Vienne, at Chinon. |
The only
catch was that to reach Valhalla you had to be dead, and the Vikings had a
particularly gruesome method to make sure you were – split open the opponent’s ribcage
while they were still alive, tie back their arms to expose the internal organs
and leave the rest of the work to the crows. A slow, horrible death, and you
can bet on it that word soon spread that this was what the Vikings had in mind
for anyone foolish enough to put up a determined fight. It was psychological
warfare in its infancy – demoralising opponents and sending them fleeing.
Bob - model train enthusiast. |
“Brilliant,”
said Bob, relishing the details as the entrée was delivered to the centre of
the table and we changed the subject.
We’ve been
guests of Bob and his wife Helen at their tranquil, delightful home near
Chinon, where they live with their dog, a donkey, a cat, a rooster and some
chickens.
Fontevraud was turned into a prison, and some of the inmates helped restore the buildings. This wall identifies some of those prisoners. |
France's national heroine - Joan of Arc - the peasant girl credited with rallying the French to kick out the English. They responded by burning her at the stake. |
Outside loo - pity the poor neighbours who walked underneath at the wrong moment. |
Hence Bob’s
story about the word spread-eagle. He’s a master story teller, and that
gruesome titbit at the dinner table was just one of many yarns we’ve heard over
the past days.
With Bob and Helen, May 2012 |
One of the regrets of travel is that we pass in and out of people’s lives. On this occasion we met two people we immediately related to and know that under different circumstances we would want to become firm friends. But for now though, the road beckons and we are on our way again – to who knows where exactly.
Lunchtime picnic spot |
Heavy rain in the past few weeks has caused the Loire to run high and there's been some flooding. Here a boat on one of the Loire's tributaries has sunk at its berth. |
Great guys, so nice to get an update!! x
ReplyDeleteFantastic ! The lunchtime picnic spot looks tranquil, good enough to spend the entire day there staring at the water. Maybe the beast continue to provide you as much entertainment for riding it as the photos and blogs do for us poor people stuck in a miserable winter in Auckland.
ReplyDeleteKyle
greetings - keep pedalling --- pahitian
ReplyDeletethe lads will be en Paree july 14th - thence UK.. back in France most of August -= but presume you'll be battling the Balkans or some such by then, Anyway -- we are all expecting a book at the end of all this bicycling joined at the hip - so to speak... pahi again
ReplyDeleteHi Pahi - great to hear from you. Our timing is a mess at the moment. We are making slower progress than we anticipated, and now it's being compounded by the fact tat we are stuck in Nevers (Loire Valley, abt 160 k from Paris) whie we try to find some new tyres. We've had some many punctures in the past few days we are givng up on the current ones. Other than that, bike is going well. We are in good spirits, but finding the whole thing pretty hard work at this stage. cheers, Mike
DeleteHi Mike and Judy
ReplyDeleteFinally hooked into your travels. It all sounds so good and France looks great. All good here. News continues to ebb and flow. Stuck in Nevers Nevers land? I guess you will be in Paris by now.enjoy!!!
Cheers
Keith
Love your beautiful pictures of Chinon and so glad you enjoyed your time with my whanau; you summed Bob up perfectly. I'm very jealous (hope the donkey and rooster didn't wake you up too early).
ReplyDeleteJane x