Irvin, Hugh and Mark on the drawbridge

This morning, Paul took Hugh, Mark, Irvin, Hiroko and Emily down to Chalais market. After eating chichi and having a gander round the stalls, Hiroko went off to do the shopping for Paul while the rest of us decided to stop for a coffee up at Chalais castle which, according to unknown sources, has the only working drawbridge in Europe! The castle used to be open to the public, but over the past few years, parts of the castle has been sold to various people and so the public are no longer able to go inside. You can however have a look around outside and enjoy a delicious meal at the extremely popular restaurant.

In the evening, Paul rustled up some great cassoulet on toast for us all before we headed down for boules. It was the two newcomer’s first time and after a couple of games they got quite good. Paul as usual wound up the locals when him and Hugh went from drastically loosing to successfully winning. It just goes to show anything can happen during a game of pétanque!