Chasteuil Day 2 (10/31)

Tuesday and I’m beginning to settle in. Tai is also settling in. She cleaning rooms, doing laundry, watering plants and just generally being happily busy. One of Nancy’s major projects is a soap and lotion making operation. She uses the highest grade natural ingredients and essential oils. We have been using her soap since we got to France and I am really impressed by how well they work. And they smell so good. One of the things that Tai has been really looking forward to is working with Nancy to help create her soaps, lotions and balms. So everyday, Nancy has tasks for her to do. It may be slicing large bars of soap into individual sizes and labeling them. It may be packaging herbs into sachets. So Tai is keeping herself busy around the B&B just helping. I find myself spending time getting caught up on writing this blog. I am several days behind. I find it important to do it because it helps me recall where we were and what we did just a few days ago. I also need to get on the internet to check email and look in on bank and credit card accounts. We have already had an issue with one of the credit cards. It seems that when charges from France started appearing, it triggered an alert to their fraud department. That’s a good thing. However, it has been hard to contact them by phone. A collect call number is fine if you can figure out how to make such a call. From the B&B, it has been much easier to take care of these things. I also had to check with the VISA people about their Collision Damage Waiver. If you do things properly when renting a car, they automatically insure you for collision damage as long as you decline the rental companies insurance. I’m not totally clear on this yet but I’m getting there. So I spent the morning working on this paperwork.

After lunch, Pascal gave us our first tour of Chasteuil. There was no time in our brief visit before leaving for Venice. Technically speaking, Chasteuil is a hamlet. That’s smaller than a village. So for administrative purposes, it is associated with the town of Castellane, about 20 minutes away. It was fascinating walking around the hamlet with Pascal and having him describe who lives in each of the house. Sometimes a building has two or three units, each owned by somebody different. Also, sometimes upper floors are owned by someone totally different from the bottom floor. The church dates from the 1600’s but there are records that indicate people lived her as far back as the 1200’s. Over they years, the buildings and property boundaries have evolved and changed. So that now, there are some rather strange nooks and crannies. Pascal pointed out one plot that was about ten feet by 3 feet. There are small pieces of pathway which are private and other pieces that are public. Within the hamlet, there is almost no open land. All of the garden plots and grazing are on terraces outside the hamlet. There is a small graveyard behind the church. To me it looks more like it’s the backyard of the house next door. That’s how compact everything is. The road twists and turns as it winds it way through the hamlet. One three point turn requires that you back up in order to make it. The road run within inches of many of the houses. It’s maybe two feet from the windows of the B&B. Fortunately, the B&B is the next to the last house on the road so there is not much traffic. Pascal has told us many stories of the people of the hamlet, their conflicts and changes. Many of the homes are summer homes and some are rentals. The year round population is about 10-15 households. For us new world city folks, this is a window into a whole different world. An old world.

After the tour, Tai and I continued on a walk down the mountain towards the main road. Pascal would meet us with the car in an hour or so. He had to pick up the B&B’s bread delivery at a campground near the river. We took an old road that branched off the regular road. It went through the woods and up another hillside that allowed us a chance to look back at Chasteuil. As we walked, Tai took pictures. I noticed a number of places where pieces of old stone walls could be seen. Obviously, these areas had once had a garden or pasture or perhaps fruit trees. They had been abandoned long ago and only a portion was left. Stone walls do last a very long time. Fall was upon us and the trees were a riot of reds and yellows. Tai was very happy taking pictures on terra firma and not from a moving vehicle. It was truly a beautiful country walk. We got to the main road just as Pascal drove up. We got into his car and drove to the campground. The baker had left two large bags of bread in the back seat of a friend’s car. We transferred the bread and headed home. The main road I mentioned is the road to Castellane. The narrow, twisty road to Chasteuil turns off this road and goes up the mountain for about 2.5 kilometers. It was dark by the time we arrived.

Tonight, we were not preparing a meal for the B&B guests so it just us eating. After a delicious dinner of roast beef, chanterelles and pasta, squash with garlic, we chatted by the fire for a while.
Another full and relaxing day.