Meyrals

Friday 31/05/19

Bokkie is relaxing alongside a gite complex (5 self catering cottage, 3 self catering apartments and the owners' house, a converted barn) which luckily has no guests at the moment (other than us😊).

We had a lovely visit from Charmaine who is in the final push before her exams.  It was nice for her to get away from the flat for a few days and get Mom's cooking to help the brain cope - and so lovely for us to see her again.  Picking up and dropping off from Bergerac was a doddle, much simpler at such a small airport.

On Saturday we popped in to show her the magic of the Sarlat market and, once again, it didn't disappoint.  The weather has been quite changeable as you can see from the photos, misty mornings, rain, thundershowers and no, at last, glorious wall-to-wall sunshine.  Pool time!

The gorgeous Meg, what a lovely dog

Sunshine on the left, thundershowers on the right.
Hope the path leads us to the left!

Grass, grass, everywhere...

Meyrals church 

Morning routine - long walks with Meg

We can't even remember when last we swam in a pool.

We have been taking long walks every day with Meg, the rescue dog (we think Collie/Lab mix) who has the most fantastic nature - we're all getting fitter on this sit.  I have managed to get a good dose of gardening in, strimming around the trees in the orchard (pears, apples, plums, walnuts and everything else you can imagine) and mowing the many lawns.  House-sitting has been a very interesting experience for us - we get to test drive different lives, pets, houses and appliances.  I finally got to drive a ride-on mower, cut with a Flymo and vacuum with a Dyson without having to buy any of them.  We have used many different cookers with varying results and are certainly getting good ideas of what to look for when we set roots down again one day.

Not too long before the owners get back then we will head north for a couple of days, turn left and follow the Loire valley towards Brittany to visit Barbara and Tim who we are house sitting for during six months in winter, and then dash for the ferry to the UK. Summer has now truly begun in France, and we feel blessed to experience it.

Bergerac

Monday 20/05/19

Bokkie is nestled on the bank of the Dordogne and her batteries can take a breather as we are hooked up to a power supply for the first time in a while.  We don't need to hook up, but it's included in the campsite price so it makes sense to top up the batteries.

We had a busy morning, stopping off at the airport to devise a plan of action for picking up Charmaine, filling up the LPG and shopping before setting up in the camp.  Luckily the airport is quite small and informal so we will try to do do a drive-by collection - the parking has height restrictions so we can't fit in there.

Bokkie in her spot 

It's a lovely position for a campsite and there are geese and goslings wandering around the camp.  It was quite empty when we arrived but has filled up quite a lot this afternoon.  We have been amusing ourselves watching the campers setting up all their paraphernalia only to find out that their satellite dish can't make contact with the satellite.  This always turns out to be a deal-breaker and everything has to be packed up so that they can move to a better spot for signal - usually away from the nice views.

The last thunderstorm of the day seems to have passed now, so we will head into Bergerac for a late afternoon/early evening stroll.  

Went for our walk - yes we got soaked.  Worth it for the view, though!

La Sauvetat-du-Dropt

Sunday 19/05/19

Bokkie is parked in a lovely Aire with only 4 spots on the banks of the river Dropt.  It's a lovely village with a Roman bridge spanning the river with quite a lot of room for flooding which obviously happens from time to time.

Not a bad view for the night

Part of the Roman bridge, unfortunately they are busy repairing it so couldn't get better photos

A nice welcome to motor-homers 

Very pretty Aire - Bokkie has the spot with the view!

As usual, a huge church in a small town

This is the most knotted tree I have ever seen

River Dropt

We had a fairly easy drive and stopped en-route to dump Bokkie's waste in Pont des Sables as this Aire doesn't have services.  It's still raining intermittently so we're alternating between short walks, reading and playing Scrabble.

Tomorrow we plan on taking a look at Bergerac airport to see how we can pick Charmaine up with Bokkie (as she's arriving on Tuesday), do some shopping for the house-sit and then booking into a campsite in Bergerac.  As for this evening, it's Sunday so we're making American style pancakes for supper - a motorhome staple!

We passed a procession of vintage cars, by the time Toni got the camera ready
there was only one left.  I haven't seen an old 404 for years. 

Love the decorated roundabouts

Houeillès

Saturday 18/05/19

I know we shouldn't complain about the weather, we are living a life many would envy at the moment but we have severe cabin fever so you'll have to bear with us.  

When you are in a motorhome and it rains the whole time you either stay put in your (very tiny) home or you get wet.  It's noisy on the roof and it's annoying!  In hindsight we should have stayed South in Portugal until June, but then we would have missed out on many of the sights we have seen in France but the weather is really getting us down - who knew the rain here would rival the UK downpours??

Rant over!

We haven't moved too far, we are pacing ourselves to arrive in Bergerac on Monday as we will book into a campsite for a couple of nights when we pick Charmaine up.  This area is very different to other areas we have travelled through in France with huge areas of pine forests.  The villages dotted about are quite small but with large properties and very few large shops or other commercial businesses.  It must be quite isolated to live here although it is only about 100 km to Bergerac or Agen.  It has a distinct 'Platteland' feel to it.  

We managed a quick walk around Houeillès during a break in the weather. [The nice thing about the blog is I can type the place names and don't have to try and say them]

French pastries, a well known antidote to cabin fever.

We quite like it, if only it would stop raining and warm up a bit.

Pissos

Friday 18/05/19

Bokkie had a relaxing day in Le Teich while her travellers suffered with hay fever - the Spring winds have made it unbearable, especially for Toni.  We managed to get out in the afternoon for a long walk (Toni) and cycle (Andrew).

The small marina with the motorhome aire in the background

We were woken early on Friday morning (4am) with heavy rain and I was worried Bokkie might get stuck as we were parked on grass and I had reversed up the ramps, meaning I would have to drive forward onto the wet grass before reversing back out of the Aire.  I had read horror stories of how easily the heavy Hymers can get stuck and bogged down in wet grass fields but needn't have worried - Bokkie idled out with no problems.

Bokkie's spot in Pissos

We've moved inland and are doing a bit of a loop back to Bergerac so that we avoid Bordeaux's traffic and see some new areas.  The village we are in has a large gravel area behind the church that motorhomes can use and we thought we might be on our own but it filled up quickly in the evening.  It's a strange town - almost pretty and spread out over a large area.  The architecture is very different to what we have been used to but it looks rather neglected.

More rain forecast for Saturday so we'll keep moving.

Le Teich

Wednesday 15/05/19

We had a peaceful night, the tranquility only broken by the next-door church's bells chiming until 10pm and starting up again at 8am.  Either the locals have zoned it out by now or they all sleep at the same times.

We set off with the intention of getting around Bordeaux and trying to find somewhere along the coast, it's quite touristy so free parking spots are at a premium.  The area around Bordeaux became more and more built up with every available space covered with vines - a bit like Spain and olive trees.  

Traffic increased as well with quite a few traffic jams around Bordeaux itself.  We were clearly on the main France/Spain/Portugal transit route with a steady stream of trucks on the highway.

We've been able to avoid traffic like this for some time now.

We pulled in to the aire at Le Teich but it was full and we had to reverse out again.  While we were doing so a kind Dutch camper walked over and told us he was leaving in half and hour so we loitered in the road outside the aire and then dashed in as he left.  A prime spot in the sun in a very popular area - perfect!

We are in a huge estuary area again and went for a (longer than intended) walk along the pathways enjoying the bird life.

Arachon bay, we could smell the Atlantic but couldn't see it.

We may stay another day.