A French House Sit in Souillac

 

Our current house sit began on October 11 when we brought the train in from Toulouse and were picked up at the station by our home owners. The train ride took about 2 hours and went by some lovely countryside — rolling hills, lots of trees, charming cottages, and some lakes (or rivers).  We arrived in Souillac (pronounced Sue-yak) round mid-day.

The home that we are caring for is a lovely house about 5 minutes by car out of the town center.  It is up a steep, windy road.  We are caring for the home, 2 dogs, and 24 chickens while the owners are on holiday in Spain.  We enjoyed our day with them, and they made us some lovely sandwiches for lunch and a great salmon and veggies dinner before they left a little after 8 am on the 12th.

The dogs are lovely.  They play great together, and they have a nice, large yard to run around in. We take them for a daily walk as well.

Finn is a rescue dog and is a Jack Russell mix.  He is 7 years old and loves to be loved.  He likes to rub against you to have you pet him.

Diesel is a 4 year old American Staffordshire.  While he is not fond of other dogs (except Finn) and is amazingly strong, he is actually a gentle giant who is less fond of bad weather than Finn.  Bob and I have both played tug with him with an old tire, and he is a great strength builder.  Sometimes walking with him on the lead, he can almost pull you off of your feet if he gets a sudden interest in something.

The chickens are new for us.  We collect eggs, feed them, pick up poop, and let them in and out of their coop each day.  They are fun to watch out in the yard, and the dogs let them be.  It does seem appropriate that the Pecks are caring for animals with peck-ability.

We are enjoying the amazing views from our home and are getting to know the charming town and hope to further explore the area, as the homeowners have generously left a car for our use (an automatic!). Souillac is on the border of the Lot and Dordogne regions of France.  Both are popular tourist areas with lots of history.

We will get some good hill work in on our walks to town.  I have run twice since we have arrived, and it’s about a 14 minute run along a residential street (versus the highway) into town.  This almost completely down hill, so the uphill route back has been a challenge.  It may be the longest up hill I’ve ever done, and I’m hoping it feels easier by the time we leave.

Some photos of the hills and countryside around Souillac —

More from Souillac and our travels in the next blog.  Yesterday and today have been rainy, so we’ve been catching up on tasks such as laundry, blogging, and haircuts (Beth this time — set up by our homeowners before they left).