France 122 - Fougeres Part 2, an evening out at the auberge, a trip up the new town, a visit to the public gardens /Nozvezh vat

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Evening all as Dixon of Dock Green might utter as he stands beneath his blue light outside the police station. Perhaps I should say Nozvezh vat. Good evening in Breton . Now that does sound like Noswaith da the welsh for good evening. The aire is filling up nicely. No-one has parked alongside us yet and we are heading down town for our evening meal. Want to join us. You know we welcome company as most of the time we feel like Billy No Mates and tonight is going to be no exception .

It is still light. We only have a short walk from Gabby to the auberge we have chosen to frequent. The chef sits outside smoking his cigarette. Hello he says, welcome - you want to eat . Yes that's a possibility we think. There is plenty of room inside and yes we feel like Billy No mates. 100 covers at least and we are in the window seat on our Jack Jones. That's on our own to you and me. We had already seen the menu on the board outside. Take your time , have a look and decide what you would like. Glenn is having a white wine. I fancy a bolee of cidre. In plain English that is a cup of cider. Funny how cider tastes so good in a cup. It shouldn't but it does. For food Glenn some kind of beef strips served up on a fancy plate with rather tasty potatoes , a splash of balsamic vinegar around the plate edge and a dash of paprika placed nicely around the plate . I chose the lamb served with the same potatoes and with the same decorated plate. We felt stuffed so made the decision not to have pudding but to finish off with an espresso before we headed off for an anticlockwise trip round the walls. It is still daylight, the moon is not out and the walls are not lit up yet. Plenty of time before that happens. Have you finished your meal yet? Are you ready to walk with us? The auberge is still empty . Where are everyone on a Saturday night? The place should be rocking and rolling.

After paying the bill we set off. Go on you know you need to. You feel just as stuffed as we do and need the exercise to wear off all the cidre and food. Where are we going. All around the walls. They look different in the half light. It is odd to see different things as we walk. A stone here that reminds us of other castles. Archways and the gatehouse. You notice different things the second time you walk around. Things look different from another angle. There is a little life in the streets. A young mum pushes a pram. Odd at this time of night. A small back street café has youngsters sitting outside but still the town has an oddly quiet feel for a Saturday night.

Deciding that there must be life somewhere we headed up the hill. Do you fancy the walk? It is uphill. We can stop halfway up and admire the view back down to the castle. There are arcades and once they must have housed the boulangerie, the pattiserie, the charcuterie but now they are boarded up. I wonder if there are just houses behind them now.

Eventually we do end up in the town square. Fountains, statues and a large theatre. This is where the town hangs out. The restaurants are heaving. We feel sorry for down town which is deserted. Up the street we walk, the park is open. Shall we go and have a look. There is running water, rills, bridges and a bandstand. The church stands in the gardens and the gardens are full of colour, yellow daffodils, white narcissus, pansies and tulips of every colour and white forget me nots. The camellias are full of colour. They have not been ravaged by the frost. Instead they are full of colourful blossom, red white and pink. We are going to walk back now to the castle which is lit up. It is dark enough for the lights to be turned on and in turn they turn Fougeres into a fairytale delight. We walk the circuit around the walls again but this time they glow golden. All that is left now is to return to our home on wheels. Glenn was right . A large French behemoth had parked up beside us blocking the access road. Granddad prowls the aire smoking his gallic cigarettes, grandma sits inside shouting to her grandson. Why couldn't they park somewhere else ?

Considering this holiday was unplanned it is fair to say it is going better than we expected . My calendar this morning seemed to sum up gardens. It said " Beauty surrounds us but we need to be walking in a garden to know it" The gardens we have seen so far have been simple but stunningly beautiful. Each one making this holiday worthwhile.

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