# The Bells ~ The Bells...



## peejay (May 10, 2005)

Parked up at a delightful little village not far from the church but these places can have their downsides...

Why do some churches chime their bells on the hour and then repeat it all again a few minutes later?

Do the French have short memores or something?

Unfortunately these ones don't get turned off at night either. C'est la vie. 

Pete.


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## an99uk (May 12, 2005)

You should be grateful it only chimes on the hour and not every quarter like we suffered in 2010


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## bigfrank3 (Mar 26, 2007)

We have found it's either bells or railways. :lol: :lol: 

Frank


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## Sprinta (Sep 15, 2010)

I love to visit a charming little village called Andermatt in the Swiss Alps, I've been there over a dozen times mostly by motorbike and stay at the Hotel Sonne, it's very quaint and has a lovely church locally that chimes on the quarters and the hours until about 11 at night. Then it stays quiet...............

Until at 6am it strikes, 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 .....,...................................................................

it finally stops at about 173 o'clock , I reckon it's the village's own alarm clock to wake everyone up

:lol: 

lovely place all the same and I hope to stop there sometime next week with the MH


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## aldra (Jul 2, 2009)

reminds me of the Arab call to prayer early morning in Israel

I grew to love it, especially in the time we were there when it was live

Went back a couple of years ago

recorded but evoked so many happy memories

Aldra


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

an99uk said:


> You should be grateful it only chimes on the hour and not every quarter like we suffered in 2010


Yep, does that as well, on the quarter, on the half, on the bluddy three quarter.

We reckon the bell ringer is on something. :lol:

Pete


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## 04HBG (Dec 9, 2007)

We spent a night at a lovely village called Cristolay De Blaye just in front of the Marie.
The clock on the front of the Marie let rip every hour and on the half then 30 seconds later the church clock let rip, obviously they didnt want them clashing.

That went on right through the night then at 7am they really went to town to wake the village up.

RD


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## eddied (May 9, 2005)

04HBG said:


> We spent a night at a lovely village called Cristolay De Blaye just in front of the Marie.
> The clock on the front of the Marie let rip every hour and on the half then 30 seconds later the church clock let rip, obviously they didnt want them clashing.
> 
> That went on right through the night then at 7am they really went to town to wake the village up.
> ...


 It's quite normal throughout Italy. A lovely sound. I would miss our village bells tellling me it's coffee time at 06:30. And then me and Donna C rely on the bells throughout the day (and the night) for the time, instead of clock watching.
saluti,
eddied


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## Dooney (Feb 8, 2008)

peejay said:


> Parked up at a delightful little village not far from the church but these places can have their downsides...
> 
> Why do some churches chime their bells on the hour and then repeat it all again a few minutes later?
> 
> ...


Did it have a boules club one side and a fishing lake the other? We stayed on one that chimed every quarter through the night, took some getting used to, only stopped one night, they were loud.

Jerry


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## raynipper (Aug 4, 2008)

It's something to do with age.!!!

We have a 200 or 300 year old French grandfather clock and it too strikes twice at the hour. 
I guess back then when very few had time pieces and they just might have missed the first couple of chimes. It verifies the hour.

Ray.

p.s. we don't keep ours working as it blooming noisy.


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

raynipper said:


> It's something to do with age.!!!
> 
> We have a 200 or 300 year old French grandfather clock and it too strikes twice at the hour.
> I guess back then when very few had time pieces and they just might have missed the first couple of chimes. It verifies the hour.
> ...


What yours or the clocks Ray? :lol:

Your reasoning sounds good to me.

We're now at Dampierre Sur Loire, not a church in sight. 

Pete


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## an99uk (May 12, 2005)

peejay said:


> raynipper said:
> 
> 
> > It's something to do with age.!!!
> ...


 :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## Geriatricbackpacker (Aug 21, 2012)

When faced with the same dilemma we ask ourselves 'pay for a site or put up with the bells'...never paid for a site yet but that hasn't stopped the cursing at 4am, 4.15, 4.30. 
In May we stopped at a lovely waterside aire in Brezolles which boasted of both church bells and a cockerel...now that takes noise pollution to another level!


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## Christine600 (Jan 20, 2011)

My van seem to attact diggers. And they start 7 or 8 in the morning and keeps digging for hours. :? :roll: :lol:


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## wobby (May 1, 2005)

peejay said:


> Parked up at a delightful little village not far from the church but these places can have their downsides...
> 
> Why do some churches chime their bells on the hour and then repeat it all again a few minutes later?
> 
> ...


Part of the joys of traveling through France, wouldn't be France otherwise. Love it. :roll:


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## andrewball1000 (Oct 16, 2009)

peejay said:


> Why do some churches chime their bells on the hour and then repeat it all again a few minutes later?


Noticed the same repeated hour chimes. I think it is to mark the hour for those working in the fields and they repeat it in case the forgot to count the first time round. The Westminster chimes have a lead in to remind you count when the hour strikes.


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## aikidomo (Jan 8, 2008)

We stayed at a site in Wales a CL and the village had a Bell tower, we were quite close and it was a Sunday.
That stopped and as I was just settling when the Farm Cockeral decided to start up, along with all the cows that were making their way from the milking shed,ahhh the sound of the country....... we got up. :lol:


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## Lesleykh (Apr 13, 2009)

We once stayed opposite a mosque in Konya, Turkey, during Ramadan. I shall never forget the sound of the dawn call to prayer - it was so much louder than the regular peel of bells from our village church.

Lesley


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## GerryD (Sep 20, 2007)

I could never complain about the sound of church bells, whether day or night. It is part of life's heritage and should be embraced. 
I get very angry at the NIMBYs who move into a village and then complain loud enough about the church bell that eventually they get it silenced in accordance with our ridiculous noise pollution regulations.
Gerry


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## tonyt (May 25, 2005)

C'est la vie? Non! C'est La France!


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## peejay (May 10, 2005)

GerryD said:


> I could never complain about the sound of church bells, whether day or night. It is part of life's heritage and should be embraced.


I don't think "embraced" is the word I used at 1,2,3,4,5&6am the other morning. :lol: :lol:

Pete


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## Uller (May 29, 2010)

Part of the soundtrack of our travels - church bells in France, barking dogs in Portugal, complete silence in many parts of Scandanavia!

I think the bells that are repeated at 7am (and often 7pm) might be Angelus bells - the Catholic 'call to prayer'. Not heard much now, but seemed to be more common in France. They made me think of the line from 'Do they know it's Christmas?' - something about the clanging chimes of doom.

If you don't like church bells, best not stay at the aire at Monsaraz (Portugal) - three churches, all ring their bells throughout the night and each is a few minutes out from the other. 36 bells at midnight!


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