Planning for D-Day
With a small horde of fellow bikers due to invade Cormolain for the D-Day celebrations, a quick trip to La Basse-Cour was in order, just to check everything over and to assault the grass once again.
Just for a change, I crossed from Portsmouth to Ouistreham (Caen) using Brittany Ferries. Usually, they're more expensive than the other operators, but this time the difference was acceptable, plus the timetable was very convenient. I slept on the deck in an almost completely deserted lounge on the overnight crossing from Portsmouth and the return trip was during the day on the fast cat, so the journey was quick and comfortable. Another biker who was on the return crossing told me that French fishermen had blockaded Cherbourg, but all we saw in Ouistreham was a small pile of tyres on fire. It made a lot of black polluting smoke, but didn't disrupt the traffic or ferries.
When I arrived at La Basse-Cour the grass was knee-high and the weeds running amok. It took several goes with the sit-on mower over two days to bring the grass under control and in a fit state for the several tents that will be pitched in June. The strimmer was also necessary to attack the nettles and brambles that encroach from every side.
Unfortunately I discovered a few bits of broken wood in the courtyard. Looking up to work out where they'd come from, noticed that wood that had filled one of the window apertures in one of the outbuildings had been broken. Looking more closely in each of the outbuildings I discovered that local children had again been playing in them. This time, though, they'd broken into my toolshed through rotten floorboards in the hayloft above, had made off with some of my garden tools and, most worringly, seemed to have lit a small fire in the toolshed itself where I store the petrol for the mower and two-stroke for the strimmer. I mended the hole but also had a conversation with David, my builder, about how we could make the courtyard more secure.
I also bought a couple of padlocks on a trip to the local garden centre to buy a new battery for the mower, but security is an eternal concern for anyone with a home abroad that they're not always living in.
After a couple of days of hard graft I headed back to England with the place looking ready to welcome visitors once again.
