To Benet

Leaving St Malo, intra-muros, to get to the station was, as usual, very simple.

After breakfast at the Unicorn, we caught a taxi which took us all the way there in very quick time. There was a bit of a shock as we turned into the station road though. In what used to be the bus station and railway forecourt, there now stands a massive great modern looking building. It’s the kind of thing that generally wins prizes while not necessarily being functional. Actually, they possibly win prizes for not being particularly functional, something that requires quite a lot of skill.

Anyway, there was the usual pfaffing around at the Europcar counter, though, to be fair, this was because there were two people in front of us in the queue. Once we were served, it was probably the quickest we’ve ever acquired one of their cars. So I can’t complain. Not that that usually stops me.

Everything then took a bit of a turn for the worst. Linda, for reasons known only to her (and possibly the International Space Station) was having real problems finding satellites. Even when she found one, she had a trouble hanging on to it. While we were cruising along long stretches of motorway, this was fine but she was having problems just getting out of the car park.

We managed to creep our way out of the vast sprawl of suburban St Malo with only the barest mention of a divorce lawyer, but it was a close run thing. Bob, wise man that he is, slept through most of it.

And so, apart from a long drive and Linda’s insistent voice claiming she’d “…lost satellite connection.” every two miles, our trip south was pretty uneventful. I think Mirinda would probably tell a different story with regards the ladies’ loo at the rest stop but I only guarded the door and didn’t dare have a look inside.

And so, we arrived at Lesson. More accurately, we arrived at La Marienne in Lesson. Here we met the charming Francoise and Francois Charraud, our hosts for the next few days. They have an amazing house, a lot of which they let out. They have a pool, expansive garden, distillery, hedgehogs…everything you could want, in fact. They are also very welcoming and we felt instantly at home. So much so that, after a bit of a rest, we left for Benet.

Benet seems to be the sort of town that has been gutted by the introduction of a huge supermarket on the outskirts. Of course, it still has an excellent patisserie and a very big florist but, apart from the PMU and usual Tabac, that’s it. The lovely town hall and enormous church, stand testament to the former glory of Benet but that glory has run away and hidden under the onslaught of purchaser power.

The church is incredible. It was built in the 12th century but renovated in the 15th. It has the most amazing carved facade. Of particular note is the carving of Eve being created from Adam’s rib. As Mirinda said, it looks quite painful. As I said, that’s just the head!

It’s a bit difficult to see from the angle of the photograph but the figure on the left is god, the figure on the right is Adam and the emerging head belongs to Eve as she, I suppose, grows from his rib. I wonder why god did that. He made Adam out of nothing, surely he could have done the same with Eve. Maybe he should have made Eve out of the forbidden fruit! Maybe HE DID!

The carvings around the top of the entrance all tell biblical stories from the old testament and, for that reason, the church is said to have a ‘bible of stone’. The church is dedicated to Sainte-Eulalie, who seems to be quite popular in these parts and a bit further south.

Having walked the length of the lovely town, we ended up (like everyone else) at the Super Marche where we bought prawns, salad and various other bits and pieces, for dinner. We then drove back to the house.

While we sat eating pastries, Mr Charraud handed us a bottle of plum liqueur which he makes from his own plums. In fact he pointed to the tree from whence the plums came. We were sitting in its shade. It would not be possible to drink something closer to its source. It really was local. And delicious. Mr Charraud told us it is very good for putting people to sleep.

And then, as if the day hadn’t been exciting enough already, we watched a hedgehog stroll nonchalantly by the swimming pool, closely followed by a black, panther like cat. It was truly surreal, made more so by Mirinda getting up and trying to tell the cat to leave the hedgehog alone, in English. As if the cat was bi-lingual.

After such an exciting day, delicious dinner and alcohol, we all fell into bed. Tomorrow promises boating.