Of wind & water

The gales are back. They whistle down the chimney. Gates rattle. The rain slashes against the windows when it falls. The door gets whipped out of my hand as I go to the laundry room. By all accounts Storm Gertrude is going to be nasty. Much of Scotland has already lost power. Whether we go out later on – we often join friends for lunch at the golf club on a Friday - will depend how the wind blows. If it gets much worse I suspect we might well stay in rather than risk being blown over or damage to the car trying to get in & out of it. As it is, the golf course has been closed most of the week due to flooding. Our heart goes out once more to the people of Glenridding flooded for a fourth time this winter.

We’ve had some good news this week. Our coach trip to the Netherlands is definitely on. That’s something to look forward to. Also I’ve heard from the hospital. My tongue is finally going to be examined next week. Needless to say it looks perfectly normal at the moment!

Yesterday, while I was preparing a lamb pie for dinner, I half-listened to Melvyn Bragg’s “In Our Time” on BBC Radio 4. The subject this week was Eleanor of Aquitaine. This brought back memories.

My first association with Eleanor is the feisty portrayal by Katherine Hepburn in “The Lion in Winter”. It’s a film I always find amusing as the family spars amongst itself, al vying for power, & survival.

The other was mention of Fontevraud & its abbey. We visited it many years ago, in 1994. I was instantly transported there by the radio programme. It was founded in 1101. It was richly endowed by Henry II & Eleanor of Aquitaine. And it is there they are buried along with their son Richard the Lionheart & their daughter-in-law, Isabella of Angoulême, the wife of King John. The abbey was largely destroyed firstly by the Protestant Huguenots in 1561 & latter during the French Revolution in 1792. However, the four polychrome recumbent figures of these Plantagenets remain, as do some of the main buildings, even though they are largely empty these days. These days the abbey has become a place for concerts.

The cloisters

Another view of the cloisters

The abbey kitchens

In many ways it’s difficult to imagine why this abbey in an out-of-the-way sleepy village should house these tombs. However, Fontevraud is just the other side of River Vienne from Chinon where Henry II held his court most of the time. It is also at the point the river Vienne joins the mighty river Loire, the main highway to get to the rest of France or out to sea to England. Water ways were the main roads in those days.