Giants, Devils and Pussies

Sunday morning began at 7am with a roman legion, a group of pirates, and a marching band filing past Dickie. It should have felt weird but after the last couple of days of giants, devils and burning underpants it felt somehow normal. The parade started at 945am so we walked our five minutes into town and found a great spot at the start of the action by 9 o'clock.

brave children

By 1215 we had seen:
a two headed eagle ridden by a three year old bespectacled child with a red feather in his cap;
a giant horse propelled by 16 men hidden in its skirt and ridden by 4 more three year olds this time wearing faux armour;
A number of beautifully decorated floral floats complete with people of various ages wearing costumes from different eras;
several brass bands complete with twirling baton girls;
and five more giants;
....oh and the devil and a savage were there too.
What a hoot!

In true Mr Fluffy form, he was approached by a Belgian radio presenter to do an on air interview about his thoughts on the parade. Quickly mentioning he didn't speak French, the interviewer continued in English and we presume the Fluffster has been beamed live into the radios of several Belgian households spouting forth about the fabulousness of our stay in Ath. He was very excited to learn we had come especially to see Les Geants. The people of Ath are, rightly, very proud of their tradition.

Several times during the parade we were amused to note that a kitten had an even better view of the proceedings than we did. Its owners held it at the window above the action and it stared in awe as the giants twirled around, their hair swinging out almost close enough for it to touch. It's face was a picture.

Fond memories of Ath and its wonderful Geants will stay with us. Thanks to Julia Bovey and Martin Dean who, via Facebook, alerted us to it. It was great to see you all.

Not yet having our fill of strange creatures we headed off to Ellezelles, apparently the birth place of Hercule Poirot no less. I read in the tourist brochures that this town holds a witches' sabbat every June and that there is a 'Sentiers de L'Etrange' (Strange Walk) in the area. A local folklorist and artist, Watkyne, had set up this walk many years ago and has placed strange artworks related to local folklore along the way. It was a very cool walk through some lovely countryside, dotted with a devil playing a violin and numerous other forest fairy folk. The whole town was devoted to a 'sorciere' theme with many shops sporting witches in their windows. The church even had a giant topiary witch, complete with black cat, out the front.

Giant in the museum and me with bad hair

Mrs Goliath at her wedding

The Archer  being 'attended to'.

Victory watched by a pussy in the window

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For the last two days we have been heading back to Calais for the ferry home on Wednesday. It's been pouring with rain but it's been nice to snuggle down in Dickie and listen to the rain pelt down on the roof. We are now at the Aire by the ferry port and watching some rather dodgy characters eyeing up the vans. Or Maybe it's just me being paranoid.