Volunteers Out And About

Fields surrounding La Giraudiere.

La Giraudiere is surrounded by some wonderful countryside; the vineyards of local wine producers, fields of sunflowers, rolling hillsides, lakes and rivers. Here volunteers have the perfect opportunity to get out in the open, by foot or by bike, to explore the local area.

On Your Bike

Paul has a number of bikes that volunteers can use in their free time – whether they wish to go out as a group or solo. So, on Sunday I had no excuse not to don a cycle helmet and get out to enjoy the afternoon.

It was my first time cycling for about two years, so I had fully intended to take it easy. But my natural instinct to explore took me a little further than I had expected. The wonderful scenery led me round corner after corner, over hill after hill. By the time I returned to La Giraudiere I think I had cycled at least 15k round the lakes, fields and along local roads.

On my way back to the house I stopped to relax at the local etang, where I sat by the edge of the water to write postcards and read for a while.

Volunteers take time to relax by the lake.

When volunteers have free time, there are plenty of other activities to get involved in at the various lakes in the area, including canoeing, quad biking, jet skiing and swimming.

Sunday Evening

After such a warm day at La Giraudiere some welcome drops of rain came down. During the night we witnessed a very dramatic heat storm, beginning with a few rumbles of thunder in the distance, followed by flash after flash of lightening, before the really heavy rain came tumbling down.