Month: July 2017

343 miles to Calais!

Brilliant hosts, starting with a lavish breakfast on the terrace.

They are retired schoolteachers who let out their attic to guests.  Richard is a sculptor, beekeeper and all sorts of other hobbies, so introduced us to his bees and their honey.  Also drew us a small tour map.

L’Angais market and chateau.

Usse – apparently the influence for Sleeping Beauty.

Chinon market.

Chinon fortress.

Stopped for a coffee/beer.

And a read.  Deckchairs came in handy.  It was pretty warm by now.

Yum!

Back oop north – as they don’t say in France.  250 miles up to the Loire which wasn’t too bad.

Minor detour to Villandry – we liked what the satnav showed.

And this is Villandry – not a bad way to relax very near the end of the journey today.

Staying in a minuscule hamlet called Valleres.  Headed into Azay-Le Rideau for a wander and dinner.  More chateaux tomorrow.

Lascaux – look it up if it’s new to you.  Paintings from 10,000 years ago.  Not the originals as visitors do too much damage, but a remarkable reconstruction.

In this building they have created an exact replica – stunning.

We were in there for over 3 hours, then dropped in to the nearby town of Montignac.  Probably the most attractive of all the towns we have seen.

Don’t you think blue skies make the photos a million times better?  It also means it is much warmer and makes sightseeing less comfortable.

So back home for a swim and some R&R.

Views from the terrace – again much better with a blue sky!

Decided to go back to Montignac for the evening.  Sorry about the blurredness, but no idea who this was or what he was doing.

Dinner – my view …

… and Eileen’s view.

And it looks good at night as well.

Note the bridge is closed to traffic.  Bit of an issue when we realised we were parked on the wrong side of the river.  Quite a long detour to get home.

A bit humdrum – if sightseeing in the Dordogne could ever be described as such.  So here’s some photos.

And the sun came out  in the afternoon, so back home for snooze, reading and so on.

A bit of orthodox sightseeing today – no bikes!  Started at Domme which is meant to be an extremely pretty hilltop town.  It is, but we weren’t overwhelmed – it seems more like a film set than a town.  But good views.

Then to Beynac which really is a spectacular chateau.

Not a bad place for a picnic.

Or a cafe to enjoy a coffee.

Sun came out so back home for a lazy afternoon.  But just one small postscript.  You know when you get in the wrong queue at a supermarket, there can be many reasons for the hold-up.  When was the last time it was because someone was paying by cheque …..

Morning at rest after yesterday.  Proof it was warmer than it looks!

We had clocked the Tour was coming through Sarlat today, and in a last minute change of plan, I suggested we hang around at the side of the road for a couple of hours.  Eileen didn’t really see the fun in doing that …

Lots of marketing vehicles beforehand chucking all sorts of tat ..

… at a remarkably large crowd.  Thousands in Sarlat alone and so multiply this through all the other towns and villages makes for a remarkable spectacle.  Deckchairs, picnics, champagne and so on.

Here are the leaders.

5 minutes later the peloton zooms through at about 30 mph.

Proof I woz there!

And that’s it.  All done and everyone goes home.  So head off to Eyrignac – much more to Eileen’s taste.

Even found time to sit down and read books and gaze at the view.

Then back to Sarlat old town for dinner .

As it was going to be an easy day (ha ha), thought we would take a small detour via Brantome.  How did we cope before google maps, satnavs and no data roaming charges?  Google claimed it would take us 3 hours and 2 minutes to get to Brantome.  3 hours and 4 minutes and we were parking!

Very pretty little town – well worth a couple of hours mooching and lunching.

And it wasn’t raining.

As you will have already seen, the heavens opened.  Add to that a motorway closure leading to traffic jams and we weren’t doing that well.

But we made it to Sarlat.  Having stocked up with some goodies, had dinner on the terrace.

Saw some adverts for the Tours de France and realised we had an incredibly lucky escape – our drive this afternoon is exactly the route of the Tours tomorrow – that would have been fun.

And finally, what is the peak experience of France?

Cheese?  No.

Wine?  No

Here you go – even better than they look.  Vive les peaches!

So which idiot thought that “only 250 miles” would be a breeze?  I think it’s known as hubris!

There is some dispute as to whether we’ve been here before.  Eileen is certain we have (possibly even twice) whereas I have no recollection.

Anyway, here we go.  Don’t be fooled by the clouds – it was extremely warm and humid.

Quick break for a coffee.

And up on the ramparts.

Headed out a bit further in the afternoon on a Chateau hunt here’s one in Montpoupn but we didn’t go in.

Then a quick breather in Montrichard.

But here’s one we did go in and look around.  Spectacular!

Finally to Ambroise for dinner.  View.

Slightly better view …

And a couple of random pics that we liked.

Off to Sarlat tomorrow.  Only about 250 miles so should be a breeze.