A travelling day

A travelling day today so we availed ourselves of the hotel breakfast, which we had previously declined, since it cost 26 euros for the two of us.  Very pleasant though.

One thing I haven't mentioned about our hotel is that we were strictly forbidden from eating in our room. Haven't struck that before and it seems pretty odd in the context that other than next door (which will only open if they have at least two bookings) the nearest food is 20 kms away.

The other odd thing was that we were not permitted to do any washing of clothes in the room.  Bit of a bummer as the multi-night options are the ones we typically use to hang up our temporary clothesline in the bathroom!  They suggested the 20 km drive to a laundromat in town - not a great use of holiday time.

Notwithstanding that, it was a lovely place to stay.

We had plenty of time up our sleeve as we couldn't check in at St Jean d'Angely until 5 pm so we have stopped for a few photo ops and detoured to St Emilion which is a famous wine-growing area.  There was a vineyard every 100 m along the road in and apparently 50 wine shops - one for every eight head of population.  All very exclusive - the most expensive bottle we saw (a 1948 vintage) was selling for 10,000 euros!  Saw some very lovely wine glasses I would have loved to buy, but at 160 euros for a pair, I resisted!  A pleasant little detour.

We'd been debating visiting the Dune du Pilat [Pyla?] which was a 130 km round trip out of our way but thought the weather made it not worth the time.  However, as we hit Bordeaux the rain eased, so we took a punt and went for it.  The dune is 3 km wide and growing at the rate of 4.5 m per year.  So far it has eaten up trees, a road junction and a hotel!  There is a plastic stairway of 160 steps up the side and then a further climb to the top where there are magnificent views of the bay, even in the cloud as we saw it. The sand is golden and 'clean' - it didn't stick to our shoes.  So, another good choice - we're getting lots of variety!

Nipping along now on the motorway at 130 kph. Lots of trucks on the road but they are only allowed in the right lane. Traffic has been well behaved in general other than some crazy overtaking out in the countryside.

Leaving the Perigord/Dordogne Valley region

Shame we couldn't stay longer in this area, it is absolutely fantastic.  The bastides (fortified medieval towns), the castles/chateaus, the caves, the churches, the viaducts, the sense of history, panoramic views, the Bergerac Rouge (wine), the food, the boulangeries etc etc - all just brilliant.

When Sue mentions that we drove 'cross-country', perhaps this doesn't give the full flavour of what we actually do.  The idea is to set our destination into the GPS, and for the most part follow the recommended route.  But then we keep stopping and as required detouring on the way for yet another wow-moment, photo-op, wander through an old church (they are just about all open even for plebs like us to walk into), drive or walk through a bastide - you get the picture!  Sue is very patient, allowing me to indulge in all those stops, which sometimes considerably lengthen our journey.

So here's a photographic hat-tip to all those other places we visited in the region while we were travelling, whose names we often didn't know or didn't record:

Let's start with Lauzerte (I think), another hill-top bastide, a bit tired in places, a bit of a ghost town while we were there, without as much charm as some others, but nevertheless fascinating...

The Incredible Ruin in Cezorn - how did they build that tower, and how does any of it still stay vertical today?

A random viaduct...

A random church...

A view!

Vehicle access to a bastide through the wall, with our trusty car stopped outside...

A hot-air balloon...

A house built into the rock....

A bit of free-standing wall (St Emillion)...

PS: did you spot the "actually"?

Busy, busy...

Woke to a real pea-souper of a fog this morning so set out hoping for the best weather-wise. As we hoped, the mist cleared and we had beautiful sunny skies - our best day yet.  It got up to 19 degrees so we were in our t-shirts without three layers on top!

Four places on the agenda today, within a reasonable radius so not too much driving.

First stop was Lascaux II - the story here is that these caves had remarkable drawings inside which were drawn 17,000 years ago.  They were discovered in 1940 but had to be closed 23 years later as they were deteriorating too much.  Rather than lose the drawings forever, they built a replica and this is what we saw.  For me it was a little fake and commercialised.  Allan agreed but even so did enjoy seeing how the paintings took advantage of the contours and textures of the cave walls and ceilings.

Onward to a beautiful hilltop town (aren't they all?) called Domme.  We stopped for a cuppa and a crepe at the top of a cliff with most glorious views over the Dordogne.  It was nice to sit in the sunshine and just enjoy.

Two castles left for the day - Castlenaud and Beynac, one English and one French and just across the river from each other.  We enjoyed Castlenaud which was well restored and had interesting displays and again spectacular views.

When we got to the second castle, I opted to sit in the car in the sun by the river while Allan climbed the hill to see Beynac. Sounds like I made a good choice as it was very steep!  I had a lovely hour watching the world go by, and Allan enjoyed his visit too.

Back to the hotel to refresh and then we walked down to the neighboring farm restaurant for another 3 course gourmet meal. This one was a bit more exotic - Allan had goose with a smoked salmon entree.  Needless to say, I was more conservative in my choices!  We walked back to the hotel along a narrow country road with absolutely no lighting -a  little scary but on the plus side, we saw stars for the first time in France!