After completing the challenge I set for myself of posting a blog every day and fixing up all my gear (not done by a longshot but whatever). I decided to give mysel a little treat and played some video games. Its been a while. Time having fun is hardly wasted. Kevin and me postponed the attic a little bit because he also had other stuff to do. Pelagie came home and thank God Kevin spoke English and I was able to make myself understandable. Maybe I should have spoken more French but I think the best way of learning a language is to not necessarily push yourself too hard. This is no excuse and I certainly could have tried harder and I would have had better results but looking back on 5 years ago or fucking highschool, yea my French has improved a lot and I certainly picked up words and the culture just by being there.

Quentin and Julie came home a little bit earlier than previously planned and by this time Sacha was gone again, so I moved back into his room until he came back after New Years.

New Years was cool, at first instance we were going to have a lamb slaughtered but this eventually didnt go as planned and the lamb is still alive. I got pretty drunk but somehow did manage to sabre open a champagne bottle, not bad for my first try. The fires I built were also pretty massive. Also due to some other stupid stuff I decided that I was done with alcohol again for a little while. Doesnt matter how much fun it is, it just keeps luring me back under its wing and I really have no more taste for that. Apparently Im just the kind of guy that doesnt know when to stop, which isnt bad persé but also not really fitting for this moment in my life. 

Also had a bump on my arm the next day, filled with fluid, I had no idea what happened but when we left I saw this patch of ice on a slope down the road and I remembered that I went to get some wood for the fire – decided to take another path than through the house – and got my feet swept out under me so fast that I had to sit the fuck down for a sec to catch my breath. The nice fluid bump went through all the colors of the rainbow over the next couple of days, and writing this before I left. Its still a little bit thicc with a blueish hue around the elbow.

Kevin and me finished up the attic and when Sacha came home I became his roommate for a night. Quentin had a camper that he travelled around in 3 years ago, playing music in bars and sleeping in the van. I asked him if I could sleep in the van and this wasnt a problem at all. I remembered that we found a heater on the attic as well that I put inside there, plus the isolation and I was able to take at least the edge of the cold. 

MEANWHILE

My package still didnt arrive, it just stayed on the final action of being ready for delivery from the 31^stupwards. What the motherfuck. This was week 3 that I was here and I was long, long, LONG ready to go again. I had hoped that my package would have arrived before, or just after, Christmas but no such thing.. The good food and the lack of, my now regular exercise, made my body also put on some of those hard needed reserves. I paced myself, trying to make myself useful around the house and taking care of my stuff. Its funny how fast you fall back into old habits again once you off the path, literally. When I stayed with Andy it was differnt, I still walked a lot more than I did now and we cooked together, here Im caught up in social situations and its not like Im completely stagnant but I felt the rest take its toll. Its probably all good for something and soon I would be heading out again and lordy lord lord would I be reminiscing about my time in relative luxury. 

Around this time donkey, I saw several donkeys in the area and its a little bit my dream to have one, not to mention that I wouldnt have to carry my bag anymore.. Also Lucy could have a little break and even though it would bring extra responsibility and public transport/hitch hiking would be a non option after this. I would be able to carry a lot more stuff with me. A donkey is about 150 € in the area. Either that or a free one that was very young but about 150km away (the wrong way), I dont know jack shit about donkeys so I asked around and tried to inform myself on the topic. I ended up not taking either donkey before I left because it was too much hassle and it was pretty expensive in vetinary costs. I mean the food isnt expensive, the donkey wasnt that expensive but if I get a donkey I also want to keep it healthy, so that means vet costs, I cant just tie a rope to its head and take it along or bolt my bag to its ass like Im playing pin the tail on the donkey. So gear for the beast is also required, this turned out to be more expensive than the donkey 5x over. Yea no, Ive opened myself up to it and maybe in the future. I would keep an eye out but I wasnt going to leave Fougere with a donkey.

Because of the mysticism of the place, I couldnt wait to do some magic mushrooms here. When I told Quentin he was so psyched that he also wanted to do em and before ya know it, the entire group ordered a portion and this made scheduling the thing a bit difficult. Not to mention that to me, doing shrooms is a pretty personal experience. Not that I cant or dont want to do em with a bunch of people that I previously didnt know (this isnt my first rodeo) but I think that doing magic mushrooms is best done alone. I meditate and go inside my own mind scapes, places that are not easily accessible through standard meditation and they always felt like they kind of put my brain to ease. Ill do a separate post on magic mushrooms to lure all the secret services to my blog, get some more visitors and maybe I can start monetizing this shit..

I ended up doing the shrooms a few days before I left, my package hadnt arrived and Quentin offered to send it after me, we chose that I was going to resume my way to Le Puy en Velay next Tuesday..

WHEN DO I GET A FUCKING UPDATE ON THE PACKAGE

Monday the 13^th(a day before), saying that the fucking address was wrong and that it got shipped back to the Netherlands. Fuck, fuckerdy, fuck….fuck. After calling with PostNL they did have the right address. The address was a little weird, since the house had no house address (actually pretty normal in France) and apparently some fuck on strike thought, HEY no house number, leave work early today.. PostNL was of course just as brick to the face and said the package was already on its way back and my parents would get the money back. I had thought it strange since a friend had send me a carry thing for Lucy, some socks and some tea and PostNL filled the wrong address for that, adding house number 0 (wtf?!) and spelled his name wrong, 1 phone call and that package arrived 24 hours later. Bless your heart! For the gifts and keeping an eye on it!

I write this blog now a day before I left, Quentin agreed to drop me off on the GR03 leading to Le Puy en Velay. 

Really good brush with French culture. Quentin asked me on the final night what I remember the most and I think I mentioned all in these blogs. Very friendly for letting me stay this long. 

Even though I lost momentum, the weather was promising and I felt revitalized completely, I even packed on some extra weight in the last month, reserves that would be welcome for where Im going. All my gear was fixed, my blogs were up to date. I had healed up (and damaged some things), met great people, tasted some really great food and yea..Ultrea!

some pictures from the last 3 blogs for your amusement