From 23rd September, sorry a bit out of sink

Monday 23^rd September

I’m sitting in the sun under a cloudless blue sky having just cycled into the nearest village with Viv for bread for breakfast on a Snail Farm in the Dordogne. The weather for the last few days has been what we hoped it would in the south of France, it was 25 degrees in the shade of the van late yesterday afternoon when we arrived.

After we had showered we stopped off at a little picnic site and after lunch fed the carp in the small pond by the side of the site and watched the frogs swimming and jumping about. There must have been about a dozen carp around 18 inches long and a good few pounds in weight in the pond sunning them selves at the shallow end.

We arrived at Vaunac late afternoon and set up camp on the Snail Farm, they have four large tented enclosures where they grow the snails and then supply the surrounding area. I looked in the restaurant in Vaunac and they were selling at 8 euros for six snails, I reckon the Song Thrushes back home in the garden must be eating us out of a fortune.

As I was cycling into Vaunac there were hunters on the side of the fields and I stopped to talk to them and found out they were hunting wild boar but hadn’t had any luck. It seems to be a local past time as they were hunting around the beer makers place the day before as well.

The field we are camped in must be about a mile or so from the nearest main road and is reached down a little track that winds thought the fields and woods and is full of butterflies and just us. We counted at least 12 different sorts yesterday afternoon in the space of 15 minutes plus Hummingbird Hawk moths, great big black bees and some huge wasps about 4-5 times the length of those at home, not the sort you try and swat, better to just move away.

There are lots of Black Redstarts around the villages and orchards here, funny to see them as the last time I saw one was in Wollacombe in March as unusually they move north to winter.

We plan to stay around here for a few days as it is close to the Lascaux caves, some famous wine makes, a chance to maybe canoe on the Dardogne and some nice cycle paths. We are also in the heart of Truffle country so you never know might get lucky on one of our walks.

We have done around 750 miles so far since leaving home and reckon it’s about 320 to Bilbao where we have to be two weeks today.

Tuesday 24^th September

We had stopped off in Perigueux as there was a nice cycle track over 5 miles long in each direction along the river that we had a wander along then back into the town to explore the old quarter and the cathedral. The river was beautiful, quiet slow moving but full of quiet large chub and the odd pike. Once back in the town,  the roads were tiny little windy ones just big enough for a car to get down and very quaint with walls that seemed to come together as they got higher. It reminded me of a wonky pub where all the walls leaned in and out in Bristol called the “House that Jack Built”

We were late arriving in Montignac as it was our second choice having been unable to find the France Passion site in woods just outside Perigueux but no problem as prawns for tea again as on promotion in the supermarket. The campsite was right in the middle of the village next to the river and we had a little ditch by the side of the van and when the frogs started up as it got dark I thought we were going to be in for a noisey night but fortunately they stopped after a while.

Wednesday 25^th September

Woke up to mist in the valley that quickly cleared to leave another beautiful sunny day, clear blue skies and temperatures in the mid thirties again. We cycled up to Lascaux to visit the famous cave paintings. I was a bit apprehensive as the original cave has been closed to the public as the effect of so many visitors was degrading the paintings. So they have built Lascaux II a new show cave that is a replica to within 5mm of the old one and spent nearly 10 years making it a perfect match. It was fantastic to see the paintings on walls and in the right light it brought a lump to my throat thinking about what had taken place and the original artists. Well worth the visit. It seems funny that Viv and I visited the Ice Age exhibition in London in March and this was a perfect compliment to that.

After leaving Lascaux we cycled the 2.5 miles back in Montignac for lunch then cycled 5.5 miles to Le Thot to see another exhibition about Lascaux. They showed how the paintings had been created, the techniques used and how they used the contours of the rocks and effects. Outside they had a selection of live animals near descendants of the ones used in the cave paintings like cattle bison and deer. We cycled back on the other side of the river valley on a small side road that wound along the edge of the river Vesere alongside walnut groves and fields of maize.

I have always wanted to see the Lascaux Cave Paintings since first reading about them in the National Geographic magazine when I was little and they have lived up to my expectations, nice when that happens.

Tonight we are camped in a Foie Gras farm about 4 miles outside of Montignac, a smashing isolated location on the top of the hills, just us the crickets and owls for company.

Minihaha and Hiawatha take to the Dordogne in a canoe, 19 km.

Minihaha approaching the rapids

Hiawatha paddling hard

One of the rock villages on the way down river

A well earned dip in the Dardogne to cool off afterwards

Thursday 26^th September

Raymond the farmer showed us the various produce she makes and explained the working of her farm, she harvests her walnuts and then sends them to a local co-operative that turns them into oil that she then sells. She was telling us she tried a cold press one year, the taste is still good but the oil does not last as long so now she always uses a hot pressing. Quite interesting as that explains why the flavor of the local nut oil is so more intense than stuff we have tried before at home and explains the extra cost, but well worth it.

We drove down to the River Dordogne at Grojelac and hired a canoe for a few hours and canoed down the river 19km (about 13 miles) to Pont de Vezac, took us three and a half hours a bit quicker than usual as the river was a bit higher and running faster due to thunderstorm last night.

It was fantastic experience gently paddling down the river, sometimes under huge cliffs, in little backwaters around islands, parts where the current was flowing fast over shoals and other places where it was slower and the banks much wider. We passed numerous chateaus perched up on the cliffs and a couple of small towns where house were cut back into the cliffs.

Viv looked like Minihaha perched in the front of the canoe and was full of oohs and ahs as various views opened up or we accelerated over the rapids.

We saw 9 Kingfishers, Purple Herons, Little Egret, Buzzards and Woodpeckers some really close up as we drifted past.

When we got back the chap running the canoe hire said we could camp in the car park next to the river for the night, as we were too knackered to drive on and find another place to stop, great though as just us and the birds and crickets calling. Although we were woken up by the church bell in the village perched on the cliff opposite at 7:00am when it struck 53 o’clock!

I had a refreshing wash and dip in the river before dinner, really cooled me off after all the paddling and cheaper than a shower.

Wednesday 25th September

Wednesday 25 September

We stopped at Sarlat this morning and cycled down to the beautiful Medieval town with a walled inner part that had a huge market when we arrived selling all sorts of local farmers produce and other goods. I bought four salamis, wild boar, duck, cep and bison to bring home if I can resist the temptation to eat them before then.

This area is known for growing tobacco although not as much as in the past, it seemed strange seeing tobacco plants growing by the roadside and leaves hanging in the sun to dry. The last time I saw tobacco plants was when I worked as a kiln hanger on a tobacco farm in Canada when I was a student, these seemed to have smaller leaves than those I remember.

Spent the night on a Walnut farm run by a lovely lady called Raymond who made us extremely welcome and presented us with a small basket of walnuts and a little jug of her own walnut oil that we had on our prawns and later cheese for tea, it was delicious.

Again it was just us camped in the middle of a walnut orchard about 3 miles from the nearest main road right out in the backwoods.

Bison cave painting Lascaux 2

Cave painting at Lascaux 2

 Cathedral at Perigeaux

Shelling prawns for tea in the orchard at Raymond's

Photos part 4

Viv enjoying a beer in Cussac before I had to cycyle back the 10 miles to fetch the van to pick her up!

Humming bird Hawk moth

A Praying Mantis I found dead by the side of the road

Sunday 22 September

We are currently sitting in an Aire by the side of the road having stopped for a shower and then found they have free internet access, so enjoying a coffee and chance to see what is going on in the world. In a way I am a bit surprised at how hard it is to find internet access in France after our experiences in Greece last year where virtually every cafe and bar had free Wi Fi.

We moved on from the campsite in Romagne about 60 miles south to a small independent beer maker on the outskirts of a little village called Gorre. He has a set up in a barn where he buys in the ingredients and makes about 27,000 bottles a year that he sells to local bars and restaurants and the rest at farmers markets. He showed us round and of course we bought a few bottles that went down very well.

The actual campsite is at the back of the farm in a field with views out across the hills and valleys and is quiet and beautiful, so nice we decided to stay two days. The landscape down here has changed again as we are now on granite and there are lots of hills and valleys. We probably saw the last of the River Vienne in Aixe sur Vienne just south of Limoges where Viv had a look around a porcelain factory.

On the way down we saw a field with about 20 Stone Curlews in it, I have only every seen about two before in Tenerife and just down from where we camped there was a great view of a Rough Legged Buzzard.

We cycled about 10 miles into the countryside and ended up in a little town called Cussac, I had to cycle back as there were a few too many hills for Viv and pick up the van and then fetch her!

The fields are still full of Buzzards, Jays and Woodpeckers and there are more cows now both dairy and beef with some magnificant looking brown beef bulls.

The farmers wife gave us some fresh peaches of the tree in her garden and tomatoes she had just picked that we ate for tea.

Photos part 3

Ringtailed Lemurs

The Bonobos waiting to be let into their house for bed

Sunset over the van parked up at the little independent brewery south of Limoges

Photos part 2

Viv with the sunflowers, not the biggest by far

The sort of place we might retire to!

Tucking into Moules et Vin

The old market in Lusignan

Spinder Monkeys in the Monkey Sanctuary

Some photos part 1

A fine wine, mind you after 12 different sorts they were all starting to taste fine!

Viv cycling into Loche

Me near the chateau in Loche

Bridgette the Goat Farmer spinning angora wool in her workshop

On eof the few fields of sunflower still in bloom as most were going over.

Wild flowers by the road side

Saturday 21st September

Friday 13^th September

Moved on from Civray to Bleres where we found a local Municipal campsite and managed to blag some free electric from a hookup that the previous person had not used up. Also found the showers were not only open but hot so each had a welcome douche. Had lunch there then moved on to a little independent wine producer on the outskirts of Amboise where we parked up in the corner of the car park for the night all on our own.  It seems funny the sorts of quiet little places you get to stay on this France Passion guide we certainly seen a bit more of rural France.

We cycled down into Amboise a town on the Loire about a mile and a bit a way but all downhill and had a wander round and found an internet café for a beer and chance to review e-mails and update the blog. The Loire is really wide here and splits around an island, the view from the bridge back across the town is quite impressive with the big Chateau on the hill. Apparently Leonardo Da Vinci saw out his last few years here before he died and there are various streets and places named after him.

It was lovely warm evening so we sat outside and ate until well after it had gotten dark before bed. We couldn’t go to bed too early as the local Gospel Singing group was meeting in the wine building for their weekly singing practice but they did make quite a nice background.

Saturday 14 September

Started raining during the night and has been pouring all day, we packed up and moved on to another Independent wine grower, Antoine Simoneau just outside a little village called St George-sur-cher and spent a very pleasant hour sampling about 12 of the local wines produced in the fields around where we are staying, so nice in fact Viv is currently sleeping off the effects of nearly half a bottle of wine. We bought two bottles of white and one red so the young sales guy earned his keep.

We are just waiting for Gareth and Vicky to arrive now as by chance they are booked into a hotel in St George to split their journey back and we are planning on going for a meal of Mussels and Chips later.

Met up with Gareth and Vicky and went for a meal, unfortunately no Moule and Frites but we did have a rather large steak that was delicious.

Sunday 15^th September

Moved off and found a lovely little farmers market in St George so stopped to buy a pot of honey, some vegetables and goat’s cheese all produced locally by the people selling it.

Stopped off on the outskirts of Loche and cycled into the town centre, it has an impressive chateau, keep and dungeons dating back to the 1400s and today was a European cultural day so entry was free so seemed rude not to visit. We stood in the room where Joan of Arc pleaded with some duke to return with her to claim his right to be King and visited the dungeons, summer houses and  keeps where various nobles lived, plotted against the king and were imprisoned at various times. Part of the castle was a prison right up until 1926.

Tonight we are camping at an Angora Goat farm in Chapelle-Blanche St Martin about 520 miles south of Nottingham. We met Bridgitte the farmers wife who looks after the goats and shears them, she showed us her workshop were she spins the fleece into wool and dyes it herself from local roots, plants and leaves and had just been skinning onions to make a yellow dye. She also knits various garments and has a loom for making bigger items. We had a good look around and met her herd of about 40 plus goats that live in the barn next to where we are camping.

Monday 16^th September

Rained again overnight but started to clear up by the time we got up and packed up ready to move on. Set off and called into Liguel a nice little town about 10 miles south where we did a bit of shopping and had breakfast parked up in the town square. Then on to Le Grand Pressingny a small village where we made use of the Municipal facilities to empty the tanks a job that needs doing every few days!

We set off again and stopped on the outskirts of Chatellerault where we parked the van and cycled down into the town but were not particularly impressed by it, although a fair size there was nothing that really grabbed us and it seemed a bit rough around the edges to be honest, the river was nice though and like most of the towns and cities we have visited was wider than the Trent with lovely walks either side and beautiful stone bridges often set with flowers.

It never ceases to amaze us how quiet the roads are, we are off the beaten track but quite often we could count the cars that pass in an hour on one hand. We just pass fields of Sunflowers ripening ready for harvest and high stands of maize followed by woods and streams and every now and then fields of beautiful wild flowers still in bloom. Buzzards usually common but sometimes Honey Buzzards as well with longer thinner wings and Pidgeon like heads, Kestrels and Crows in the fields and the usual hordes of Wood Pidgeon and Collard Doves.

We pulled into Availles en Chatelleraut for the night an oil producing farm run by the Lepine family, they specialize in making Walnut and Hazelnut oils and have been doing so for seven generations. It was fascinating looking around the production room. I didn’t realize they break the nuts and had a machine that extracts the kernels that are then crushed and cooked gently for an hour or so. The pulp is then squeezed, 1.8kg of walnut produces 1 litre of oil and 2kg of hazelnut does the same, I got to try some and it was so different from anything I have tasted before, we shall be buying a bottle of each. They also make a kind of flour from the hazel nut residue they add to cake making. The rest of the left over nut cake is used for cattle feed.

It really is fascinating the different places we have visited so far and people we have met, hardly anyone speaks English so it is really putting our French skills to the test but good fun.

Tuesday 17^th September

We set off intending to stop off in Poitiers but couldn’t find anywhere relatively close to the city to park up and didn’t fancy a long cycle ride of a few miles on the busy roads back so gave up! On the way out we did spot a supermarket and stopped to buy a kilo of mussels and a bottle of white wine so I could make Moule en Vin for tea.

We stopped in Vivonne for lunch and chatted the attendant up in the Municipal camp site who let us have a shower each for free, nice chap. As we set off to explore the town a crowd of people arrived at the site as it was the over 50s boule meeting, shame we left our set at home as we could have joined in. Vivonne was a very pretty town with lots of rivers and weirs running through the middle of it.

We spent the night on a goat farm at Celle L’Evescault in the middle of a small forest area. The farmer Msr. Granger showed us round the farm, he didn’t speak a word of English so it was not the easiest of tours but interesting none the less. He has 300 goats that are milked twice a day, quite a bit of the tasks are automated but the cheese making is still done by hand. We tried some of the cheese and bought a lump that even Viv who generally doesn’t like goat cheese liked. The goats seemed to attract loads of flies and a fair proportion followed us back to the van and took up residence in it!

The mussels were delicious by the way for tea.

Wednesday 18^th September

We spent most of the morning killing flies even after opening all the windows and shooing hundreds out along the road!

Stopped off and explored Lusignan an old medieval town that used to have a fortifications all around it but most were destroyed at some point in the past. There was a nice church and a beautiful market place with stone struts and an old wooden roof over it.

We were intending to spend the night on an Ostrich farm and parked up outside but it is shut at this time of the year except for weekends. We looked over the wall and inside when we first arrived but a bit later we cycled about 3 miles into the next village for a beer and discovered a nice little municipal camp site with a free hook up to the electric and facilities to empty out so moved on to there for the night.

Cycling back just as it was getting dark we disturbed a deer browsing in the sunflower crop right next to the road and watched it for a while before it ran off back towards the woods.

Thursday 19^th September

Where else but France could you find a really nice little campsite on the edge of a village with free camping, water, service and electric hook-up? It felt so nice we decided to stay an extra day and visit La Vallee des Singes or for those without a French bent the Monkey Sanctuary. The only thing you have to watch is that you do not draw more than 5 amps as it then shorts out the system for everyone on the camp site and the electrics have to be reset.

We cycled the 3 kilometres to the site and thought the entry price was a bit steep at first but well worth it, as there were 30 different sorts of monkeys and apes on show plus a few goats, cattle, donkeys, geese and capibara. The park was divided into about 15 different areas each one surrounded by a small moat and the various monkeys and apes lived in a mixture of large trees, bushes and large grassy areas with climbing frames and rope walkways. Some of them you could walk through and monkeys, lemurs and apes would walk right up and climb on you or sit next to you. Others such as the larger apes like Gorillas, Chimpanzees and Baboons were the other side of the moat but no more than 3 or 4 yards away. It was a lovely setting and great to be able to walk right amongst them. We might have another “You’ve been framed” moment when a few Squirrel Monkeys tried to steal my camera and eat it along with the mole on my neck. I kept my distance from the Barbary Apes after my last encounter with them in Gibralter when I got bitten by one.

Gareth would have loved the little moats around the enclosures as they were full of fish, some really big grass carp over 3 feet in length at times, perch, chub, roach and rudd and easy to see as the moats were clear and often only a few feet deep.

It was really funny watching the Bonobos a sort of chimp that is closely related to us and that the French text said share the same attitude to sex as humans. When it got close to food time they all got quite excited and some couldn’t contain themselves and it became something out of the 60s with free love all around with no regard as to who you were having free love with!

There was a little farm area as well with animals in it you could stroke, I sat next to a miniature goat for a photo and the next thing I knew I had a whole herd around me with a few geese as well for good measure that Viv thought was really hilarious.

We spent all afternoon nearly five hours in all just wandering around and watching the various animals, really great. We hadn’t taken any food in and came out ravenous but fortunately found we had parked under a hazel nut tree and feasted on nuts before we cycled back.

Monday 9^th September

Set off from home and had a steady drive down to Newhaven and spotted a few Red Kites and Buzzards, nearly had a fit when we filled the tank up from almost empty to full 63.5 litres at £92-00! The van speedo says it will do 120mph but I reckon that would be loaded over a cliff as it seems to cruise around the 50mph. There was a long jam on the M25 that took a while to clear but it looks like the van will do around 520 miles to the tank full.

Caught the ferry without any problems and caught a few hours cat napping until we docked at 4:00am, drove for about an hour until we spotted a nice quite little lay-by where we pulled in and camped the night about 12 miles out of Dieppe having failed to find the Aires listed in the guide we had gone to so much trouble to borrow before leaving.

Tuesday 10^th September

Moved off around 10:00am and headed generally south and found ourselves in a little place called Pont-de-l’Arche where we dined on Escalope de Dindon a la Normandie (turkey with creamed mushroom sauce for those that don’t speak French). Revised our destination over lunch and picked somewhere closer to hand and arrived at Le Noyer en Oche at 5:00pm. A very quite Cider Farm, just us and a couple from Belgium with a very big dog called Hubert. The farmer and his wife seem very nice and chatted for about a quarter of an hour mainly in French and seemed to understand what I was saying or at least were too polite to say otherwise.

As it is such a lovely little spot, a typical Normandy Farm with wood and wattle walls, cider apple trees and cattle all around we will probably stop another night and explore the local villages and country side on our bikes tomorrow having travelled 319 miles in the past 36 hours.

Wednesday 11^th September

Not sure if my French is quite as up to speed as I thought, I was asking Madame Lesur about water and the  rubbish bin and she was chatting back about her carrots in the garden, she showed me the water but not sure she would want me to throw the rubbish on her vegetables though.

Quiet day reading and cycling into Beaumesnil, Viv looked around a very impressive Louis XIII Chateau whilst I cycled 18 km to the next town to go shopping for dinner.

As we were having breakfast we had a lovely close view of a Common Buzzard chasing a Honey Buzzard over the orchard.

Thursday 12^th September

Said goodbye to Mdm Lesur and set off towards Tours, it was interesting the way the country side changed from Cider orchards and cows to more arable and as we got further south fields of Sunflowers and Vineyards. It was a shame the sunflowers had all gone passed their best as they would have been a beautiful sight if in full bloom.

We spent the night on a little vineyard, Caves du Pere Auguste who make their own appleation controlle wine, we sampled a bottle of Gamay red and nice it was too after cycling down to the river and along to the next village.

Viv at the Cider Farm, Beaumansnil

Cycling into Beaumansnil, note no onions yet!

The Louis XIII Chateau in Beaumansnil

Viv and Madam Lemur outside her typical Normenadie farmhouse

Viv enjoying our first dinner at the table north of Tours

The campsite at the Vineyard just to the east of Tours, Caves de Pere August

On the banks of the River Cher just east of Tours

Sunday 8th September F-1day

We has a BBQ the other night, Leah had some friends round and it was still just warm enough to sit outside as it got dark although we had to have warm layers and blankets at hand.

First real chance we have had to sit on the patio on the new beach at night!

Just after we had all gone in we had a visitor patrolling the edge of the patio, a prime suspect for the culprit who has been dropping rather large Richard 3rds all over the lawn, considering the size of the droppings it's been leaving I was expecting it to be about four times the size.

I think we have just about packed the van and we are pleasantly surprised at how much room is left, all the more to bring goodies back in! We have left poor old Leah with a big long list of things to do including the lawns, picking up the fruit and freezing some of it. I was busy this weekend pressing apples making 8 bottles of juice to freeze for Christmas and drink now. I also picked and halved 9 bags of lovely plums, there are loads left but it's been a hassle sorting out the ones with worms in from the nice ones. I really need to put grease bands on the trees this winter to try and reduce the bugs getting in next year.

Sandra the pig seems to have made a full recovery after suffering what looked like a stroke the other day but may have just been a wasp sting or something. She is back running around and arguing with the other pigs.

The Buzzards are still soaring over the garden most days but seem to have gone higher so maybe they have noticed Sandra has improved and will not be going to the big hutch in the sky quite yet.

The guitar is in the van and Viv's uke is in I am still toying with putting the banjo in but there is a degree of resistance to the idea from the other occupant but it would be nice to have the opportunity to play it a bit more.

Hopefully the next entry will be from France!