We are house sitting on the edge of the commune of Magnac-Laval, and Mick’s tradition of having a beer on a Friday evening was not to be interrupted during our stay.

There are fewer than 2000 people who call Magnac-Laval their home, but despite being small, it has a number of potential ‘watering holes’.

The closest one to the car park – Cafe de la Poste – was open but when we had a look inside there was no one there. Not even a bartender!

So we walked on to the bar our hosts had recommended we should go to.

Interestingly, despite being small, this place has traffic lights, showing just how dangerous it must be to cross the tiny streets in this commune. Mick even uses the pedestrian crossings here.

This photo shows the commune’s florist (on the left) and those red umbrellas belong to a café / restaurant owned and run by an English couple. But it was not open at 5pm for pre-dinner drinks, and although it would be open at 7pm that was too late for Mick and me.

Mick soon spotted the street we needed to go down to find Le Brazza – and so I followed him as it was also very close to the church which I wanted to look at.

L’Église Saint-Maximin is nestled right in the centre of the old part of Magnac-Laval and therefore is hard to photograph. It was commenced in the 11th Century and added to many times in subsequent centuries. While Mick was off ordering his first beer here…

…. I wandered inside the church to take a closer look where I learnt something very interesting about an ancient tradition of a procession to nine places. It is not a pilgrimage because everyone walks together following a leader.

The procession dates back hundreds of years and still takes place on the Monday following Pentecost Sunday. After midnight Mass, the groups departs Magnac-Laval at 1.30am and walks 54 kilometres before returning to Magnac-Laval by 8.30pm for Benédiction. There are 9 stops and 48 crosses on the way, and a stop is made at each of these for prayers and singing. I read that people who do this walk 30 times get a gold medal (I would hope it was real gold) and those who do it once get a silver medal. Around 250 people participate each year. “Very interesting” I thought as I took some photos of the inside of the church, and wondered what Mick was learning.

It wasn’t long before I found out.

While there was no one sitting outside Le Bazza when we arrived, there were quite a few people inside the bar enjoying a beer with flavouring. We have seen that before. Beer is often consumed with about 1-2cm of a syrup (there is a choice of many different flavours) added before the beer is poured.

Mick learnt that a beer at this bar cost €2.30 and €2.40 with the syrup. Very cheap. But, Mick likes his beer ‘straight’.

When I arrived, I ordered a glass of red wine – it was table wine poured from a large bottle capped with a plastic top (no cork). It usually is around 11% in alcohol and served chilled. A very full, small glass of vin rouge here cost €1.20. Super cheap!!

It was interesting watching the locals come and go while we were there. Of course everyone who came inside said ‘bonjour‘ and / or shook hands with some people and ‘cheek-kissed’ others.

Mick and I will be back next Friday. Perhaps we will even try the Café de la Poste!