SUNDAY 28th August – Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time
The motorway is now on our right as we complete the 242km bike ride from Migennes to Dijon. I get as far as Veuvey-sur-Ouche then Mary does the next stage and I cycle through the suburbs in Dijon.
It’s a relief now to put the bike into the back of the car and drive to Mary’s sister.
MONDAY 29th August
We picnic at La Cry.
I take the chair lift to the top of the mountain. Mont Blanc raising its noble head above the clouds. I am grateful for the bus so I don’t have to walk back to Combloux before the village church closes at 7 and I get kicked out. I sit there for an hour, lighting a candle and going through the office of readings. In front of me is the ornate baroque reredos in this otherwise simple little church. Behind me the evening sun shines yellow and bright through the west windows.
TUESDAY 30th August
We took the children to the Plan d’Eau in Combloux – the great tableau of the Mont Blanc peaks in front of us.
WEDNESDAY 31st August
We took the cable car up to 1200m. As part of a free cable car deal our friends gave us a yoga class. It was most enjoyable, even if the mechanical digger mending the restaurant didn’t quite add to the air of peace.
THURSDAY 1st September
Robin and I walked up to 3000m – two and a half hours up and down. Exhausted but an extraordinary sight of Mont Blanc in the far distance from the top.
FRIDAY 2nd September
We drove all the way back to Calais but a nice hour at the Nyon pool by Lake Geneva, again Mont Blanc shimmering over the lake in the distance. After stopping we take the crowded 11.30 boat and arrive back at 2.30.
SATURDAY 3rd September – St Gregory the Great
I go early to Downside for oblates.
After compline I am alone in the dark Abbey Church and light a candle in front of the wooden cross of Christ and think all we can hope for is that our children are happy and all we can hope for ourselves is that we are happy in this moment, with what we have now, not what we want or don’t have but what we have now.