McWiFi at last! The blog entries were building up, six at last count, with no hope of posting until we made a 48-mile round trip to Dignes-les-Bains for good ol’ McDonald’s to come to the rescue yet again. We needed food and fuel, which turned out to be nine cents per litre cheaper than locally, as well anyway so it was a multi-purpose trip. Once connected to McWiFi, we were swamped by McAfee profile downloads but finally got the blogs posted and then hit Carrefour just across the way. Here we couldn’t resist a pack of crevettes sauvages (wild prawns) with bread and aioli for lunch back at Billy. Brilliant! This is definitely the way to live.
A spot of butterfly chasing on site and on a full stomach captured a couple of exciting (for me, anyway) new additions to my collection. The first was a slightly less than cooperative Bath White. Like other whites, it tends to keep its wings folded when settled but the underside is what was required for identification. The second new specimen was a much more cooperative subject showing its topsides very nicely. One of my field guides makes the latter quite clearly a Dingy Skipper whilst the other, supposedly better field guide, leaves room for doubt. For now, I’ll go with Dingy Skipper.
Late afternoon was time to play tourist again. Nearby, only about 10 miles away, is a complete tourist trap of a place called Moustier-Ste-Marie. We knew it would be crawling but it was the right time of day for the sun and it just had to be done. We couldn’t be here and not see it. This is the type of town that exists purely for tourists. One gets the impression that there is no such thing as normal life in towns such as these. Most of the buildings seem to be shops selling trappings that I don’t want to buy. Nonetheless, when you think about the town’s history and its construction as it clings to the side of of a mountain, it is a very impressive place.
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