The last few days of our stay here were very busy. We had back-to-back lunches, dinners, apéretifs and meetings with many of the people in the village we have got to know during our 78 day stay. And, the weather was beautiful.

Monsieur R’s wife gave us one her paintings of Fenouillet as a farewell gift, to help us remember our stay.

We also needed to ensure the house was spotless, that the two sheep and the cat were happy and well.

When we arrived back in December, the elderly cat was peeing inside the house about 5 to 6 times per week. We spent many hours trying to find where she had actually done it, and then more time cleaning it up. Eventually we came up with a system (loads of absorbent paper trails) that helped us identify quickly where she had peed and that helped reduce the smell. One day I had the bright idea of moving the kitty litter tray closer to where she slept, and as they say in France – “Voila!”.

After I did that we had only one ‘accident’ in the last 3 weeks we were there, and the house smelt the better for it as well. Our hostess was thrilled about that. As I said to the owner, ‘the cat eventually trained me’.

Mick was responsible for this job while I tackled the oven after it had been well-used during our stay.

Luckily the plane our hostess was on, landed on time in Carcassonne and the three of us chatted vigorously the whole way back to her home. I don’t know where that hour and a half went! Then came dinner with more conversations and swapping of photos, before we agreed to call it a night. Mick had prepared a meal of Coq au Vin (of course) for our hostess and us to share – it was fantastic

Two days before our departure, Mick and I had each received a very important letter concerning our visa application. (I will write a separate post regarding that once some of the required steps are completed.) Our hostess, who speaks perfect French, was able to confirm what the letters were asking of us, and better than that, was able to provide some information for us that will be critical to the process. Unfortunately, she did not have a printer and she had a document that she had to sign. Our new French friends down the road were able to help out, with about an hour to spare before our departure. It was a busy final morning.

Our hostess drove us to Caudiès where we caught the €1 bus into Perpignan Gare. From there, we caught the train to Toulouse, as we headed in the direction of our next house-sitting assignment.

We have six days to get there, We will spend 3 nights in Toulouse and 3 nights in Auch. I jokingly refer to these days where we are not house-sitting as our ‘holidays’. At the moment we have five more house-sits booked up with a break of between 2-7 days in between them.

Before we left though, we did discuss the possibility of returning later in the year. Stranger things have happened, and because we now have quite a few new friends in Fenouillet, it would be a great opportunity to catch up with them and to see the area during a different season. One thing Mick really wants to do is to ride on the Train Rouge – through the hills and mountains around the area. It does not operate during the winter months. And, he might get his wish.