The snow is back and are we glad to be home once more!

Last week we decided to take a pre Christmas break and visit the port city of Brest, Brittany.
Our main reason for going was to attend the December, Thierry-Lannon & Assoc., sale of Quimper held at the Port de Plaisance de l'Hotel des Ventes.
If you would like to hear more about the auction and see which treasure came home with me, click here to visit the Quimper Club International blog.

Traffic at a standstill outside of Morlaix, Brittany.

We had booked three nights at the ultra moderne Hotel Oceania in the city centre, close to all the shops, restaurants and bars and just a short walk away from the Place where each year they hold a Bavarian style Christmas market.

However, once again the weather interfered with our plans and on Thursday, after the auction had ended, we decided that we would leave for home the next morning.
The TV news was full of reports about the heavy snow fall expected in the region and we wanted to be home for Christmas!!

We left Brest around 9.00am on Friday and pretty soon ran into the bad weather.

Several times the autoroute traffic was down to one lane and the "poids lourdes"/HGV's were having a terrible time of it.

Drivers on the opposite side weren't faring much better than us.

We took a quick break at McDo's in St. Briec for a burger and coffee (BTW, McDo's coffee in France is wonderful!) then hit the road again.

At the Les Routiers just outside of Torigni, we met up with Steve an English guy who has a thriving business selling English food and supplies, to ex-pat's like us who sometimes yearn for a taste of good old Blighty.

Mirror reflections in the library.

Thank goodness he made it through the blizzard, we now have a butterflied turkey, sausagemeat, double cream, a Christmas pud and many, many more treats to make the season jolly and bright.
We were surprised to see that the snow had not yet made it to our little village when we arrived home around 5.00 pm but shortly after, it did arrive "big time" and hasn't stopped falling since.

We're in here somewhere..............

At the risk of boring you all with even more photographs of the amazing amount of snow that is continuing to fall in Normandy, some Friday morning pix.

Guess we're not driving anywhere soon.

Yesterday morning I raked all the snow off of the topiaries and large bushes, but it just came back again!

The birds are struggling to find food and are constantly at the kitchen door with their begging bowls out. At this rate they'll be eating me out of house and home.

See how deep it is now and it's still falling.

Weathergirl signing off now................................................

Afternoon update.
There are still some flakes coming down but the afternoon has been mild and the snow is thawing in places.
We took advantage of the milder temperatures and set off for a look around.

First of all though Mr B had to clear a path to the front gate.

Who says you can ever be too old to make a snow angel? Do you think I have cabin fever?

We met Marc our farmer neighbour using his tractor to clear the lane.
Click here to see him doing something in a similar vein last winter.

This neighbour veered off the lane into a ditch before Marc arrived.
But the ever gracious Marc returned to lend a hand.

When we returned to the Presbytere we discovered that Marc had kindly cleared the approach to the house, what a nice man he is!

It's still snowing.......................

The 12th c Church of St Marcouf

It's snowing again this afternoon but earlier today we took a walk around the village with Mr Ben.

Hunters stay out!

There wasn't a soul about but we saw plenty of animal tracks in the snow and our neighbour had obviously made it out of the village.

Mr Ben  enjoyed following the trails.

The main road was clear and good to go.

It was good to breathe the cold fresh air and stretch our legs before heading back home

 to curl up by the fire with my favourite read at this time of year.