50 years of marriage, a rallye and Patrimoine

If there is one way to integrate into French life, it's take part in a rallye.  We did during the weekend of Patrimoine.  All in French and miles away from anything we are familiar with but boy did we have a lot of fun and we got to see some fabulous sights.

The purpose of the event was to reenact a rallye that a lovely French couple did 50 years ago when they got married. They thought it would a be a great way to freshen up the instructions and get their family and friends involved.  We are neither friend or family of the 'femme' half of the married couple, Jacqueline.  She is an active member of an Association based in Pliboux to keep the community connected and engaged.  Our French teacher is also a member of the Association and occasionally informs us of events to help us improve our French.  Jacqueline and her husband Jean-Louis married 50 years ago in Ingrandes, Vienne [Poitou-Charente]. They moved to Pliboux some years later.

After an evil early start on Saturday 19th September, evil because it was a 6am start for us! we collected our French teacher and arrived at Ingrandes at 9am.  We were welcomed by the happily married couple - Jacqueline and Jean-Louis. After brief introductions we collected our instructions and made haste - on y va!!  With the appropriate symbol flying proudly on vehicles to represent fellow rallye drivers it was fun seeing cars drive in front, behind and do 3point turns on an acorn leaf and turn around.  After a few meet ups it was clear that we would struggle. Being out of towners and not knowing the area at all, we struck it lucky with a fab bunch of Ingrandes natives... so we stuck close, sharing strepsils and giggles on the way.

The day coincided with day one of Patrimoine weekend, where government run/owned buildings are open to the public for FREE.  We stopped off at some beautiful places, that we would other wise have not seen.  In the few hours that we were on the road we visited:  Château de la Guerche, Château de la Celle-Guenand, Château du Chatelier and Château du Grand-Pressigny.

After completing the rallye our final resting place was the Salle des Fete at Leugny for a well earned buffet feast.  It turned out that the fab French chums that we teamed up with were the cousins of Jean-Louis, the 'mari' half of the married couple.  Lots of rose shared between us and laughs.

Having covered many miles on Saturday, which allowed us to see some beautiful sights and scenery and meet some wonderfully hospitable French people, all summed up for a thoroughly enjoyable experience.  One that we will happily do again.