Beynac-et-Cazenac

Sunday 12/05/19

Not much to write today, I'll let the photo's do the talking.  We are in the lovely medieval village of Beynac on the banks of the Dordogne.  The views from the top of the village are spectacular and it is a very peaceful place (apart from all the tourists...)

The nearby village of La Roque-Gageac

Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle

Beynac village with Chapel

Chateau de Fayrac across the river

Chateau de Fayrac on the right with Château de Castelnaud-la-Chapelle in the background

Chateau de Beynac looming over the village 

Chateau de Beynac

The roses are all in bloom and are stunning and very fragrant.

Monfort

Saturday 11/05/19

Bokkie is nestled in the shadow of Chateau de Monfort, a Disney-like castle knocked down and rebuilt four times over the ages.  

We are only about 6km from the previous night's spot but detoured to Sarlat-la-Canéda to catch the (world famous) Saturday market.  We were worried we might be disappointed - we enjoyed it so much in 2016, but have seen so many markets since - but it was every bit as magical.  The atmosphere and the smells are simply wonderful, a real treat for food lovers.  We had a lovely morning and managed to time our exit perfectly, just as the heavens opened.

We are now in familiar territory as we visited Monfort last time we were in the Dordogne yet, as we have so much more time now we had a chance to explore the area in more detail - by foot.  We found a lovely trail along the river below the chateau, quite steep and slippery, and got caught by a shower.  Luckily we had a small umbrella and waited it out under the trees.  When we got back to Bokkie the sun was shining so we decided to chance another walk and ended up racing the next shower back to Bokkie, just making it.

Chateau de Monfort

Hiding out from the rain splashing on the Dordogne

Bokkie in her spot for the night

We'll continue meandering, like the river, slowly heading towards Bergerac.

Groléjac

Friday 10/05/19

Bokkie has finally left the Lot valley and emerged near the banks of the Dordogne, close to an area we visited three years ago.  It was our shortest drive so far, only 9 miles and we spent the day going for a walk, cooking (Toni) and doing odd jobs (Andrew).

Bokkie in her spot

Groléjac 

The Dordogne river

Poppies with walnut trees in the background 

Luckily we were walking, not driving although Bokkie would probably fit.

There's a small stream running past the aire and the frogs all start to chorus each time the sun warmed up a bit, reminding us of our last house sit.

Safest place for a fly to sit?

Frog sing-a-along

Tomorrow we'll have a early start as we want to get to Sarlat in time to see if we can get parking for the very popular market.  We went in 2016 and loved it so are looking forward to it - and to sampling the cheeses and cold meats of the region.

Gourdon

Thursday 09/05/19

When we cleaned Bokkie at the house-sit I decided to investigate a knocking sound that we got from the steering at low speeds.  I found one of the CV joint boots had split, and was busy redecorating Bokkie's underside with grease.  Although not necessarily an urgent issue I wanted to try and get it sorted before it became more serious.  While in Cahors we did a door-to-door tour of likely looking repair shops to see if we could find anyone who could help.  We couldn't even find anyone who spoke english and decided to turn to the internet for help instead.

A lot of searching later I found a local company that looked promising, but they didn't answer their phones when we called on Wednesday - and found out that it was VE day so businesses were closed in France (so we walked around the local market instead) 

We decided to drive there this morning and, although they were super-busy and short staffed (the French tend to make long weekends when there is a mid-week holiday) they agreed to take a look and see if they could repair it.  Toni and I sat in the waiting room for a few hours and read our kindles while they investigated.

Good news, they fixed it then and there which was a huge relief.  Really good customer service, and we were delighted!  As it was already mid-day when we got Bokkie back, and the day was again quite rainy, we decided to do a short drive to Gourdon which has a medieval village centre and a lovely Aire.

We went for a walk around and found our way to the medieval butte with its magnificent 360° views over the surrounding countryside.  They also have an old 'orientation table' showing the surrounding landmarks.  It was so interesting to see so many places that we have been shown on it. Makes us feel as though we're starting to get to know the southern part of France quite well.

When you walk around a corner in a village and get a view
like this it is still amazing.

Panoramic shot of the view, stunning!

The lovely orientation table on top of the butte

We visited the Catholic church of Saint-Pierre; it's quite amazing to find so many huge churches - every small village seems to have one.  Toni took some pictures but as usual the dark interior and light streaming in through the windows makes photos difficult.  They were playing music through the speaker system so I decided to take a video to try and capture the ambience.  Unfortunately the soothing music is drowned out somewhat by a lady dropping coins into the donations box but you get the idea.  The video shakes slightly just before it ends as I felt someone prod me on my arm.  I assumed it was Toni telling me to stop filming, but she hadn't moved.  No-one else was close to us - we left quickly...! 

Cahors

Wednesday 08/05/19

Bokkie is on the move again, we have travelled just over 100km to Cahors, nestled in a loop of the river Lot.  We passed through here on our way to Gaillac, but it was raining so we kept going with a plan to return as it looked pretty.

The Aire is right on the bank of the river, easy walking distance to the old town which is very picturesque.  The council has put a lot of effort into keeping the town tourist friendly and there are hidden gardens dotted throughout giving it a lovely feel.

One of the secret gardens - Witchcraft garden

Cathedral of Saint Etienne

Steel railway bridge across the Lot 

The very impressive Valentré bridge

Bokkie peeping through the trees on the opposite bank

We realised on Wednesday that it was a public holiday in France (VE Day) and that there was a market next to the cathedral so we popped out in the drizzle to visit it.  We managed to get quite a long walk in before the heavens opened, fortunately just after we were safely back in Bokkie and armed with some local goats milk cheese and a lovely 'Tarte aux Noix' - a speciality of this region.

Our view from the windscreen - can you spot the fisherman drifting in the
middle of the river?

Our plan is to meander our way up to Bergerac where we are meeting Charmaine later this month, as she will spend a week's study break with us (so that we can pamper her and make sure she studies hard).