Photos 4th October

Camped up next to the lake on the Kiwi farm

Coypu and Kingfisher lake next to the van

Alain the Beekeeper cleaning his hive

The sky as the big thunderstorm was building

The start of the 13 hour thunderstorm

Thursday 3^rd October

Decided to head straight to Doazit in Landes about 40 miles north of Bayonne to make sure we are nearer the coast and Spain for the weekend. It seems funny driving past all the towns and cities I associate with French rugby teams like Dax, Pau, Toulouse, Bayonne and Biaritz.

The country side is gradually changing now with more conifers about and ferns and bracken a bit like miles and miles of Thetford forest.

We camped the night on a Beekeepers farm next to a field of maize and just as we arrived there was a Honey Buzzard circling overhead. After lunch met Alain Laluquer the farmer who has been keeping bees for 15 years and he took us round his workshop and spent over an hour explaining how he makes his hives and how the honey is produced, all in French! Each colony has one queen and 15,000 workers and he gets about 12kg of honey from each compartment of the hive. He changes the queen every three years for a new young one to keep the colony fresh and active. Afterwards we got to try the two types of honey he produces, Acaia and Chestnut and bought some to take home.

As we were cooking a thunderstorm started in the distance and gradually just built and built until all we could see to the east, north and west were thunder clouds with massive lightning flashes. As it got dark the storm just continued to build until it reached us and it thundered all night with some massive cracks and lightning that lit up the whole van every few minutes. It just went on and on and poured with rain and we timed the last roll of thunder and lightning at just gone 10;30 the following morning, some storm.

We are currently at the coast in a small town called Soustons and hope to go to the beach later if the sun comes out.

Tuesday 1^st October

Camped on a mixed arable farm tonight 80 miles south of the Pyrannees, the landscape here is changing to rolling hills with fairly steep valleys but the rivers are starting to run south to north coming off the mountains. We crossed the last of the big rivers running east to west when we crossed the Garrone and headed on down south.

The farm we are staying on grows soya beans, green lentils, sorghum, onions, garlic and sunflowers for sunflower oil and the white cattle that are all over the place. I cycled up to the top of the hill at the back of the farm and looked at the mountains to the south, some of the peaks are over 10,000 feet high and don’t look like they are over 80 miles away, I would love to be able to go down and climb them.

The farm is a couple of miles from the nearest village, Maubec that was founded in the 10^th century and is on the top of a hill with walls built on a limestone cliff around it. Most of it was destroyed when France was engaged in religious wars but quite a bit remains and it was very pretty like a lot of the perched villages and towns we have seen.

Autumn is definitely on the way here as the leaves are turning and the walnuts are falling and we can pick a basket load by the side of the road in no time. The sunflowers are looking a bit sorry for themselves though, some are still green but the majority that have not been harvested look black and shriveled with heads bowed instead of following the sun. I like the French name “Turnosol” which means flower that follows the sun.

Wednesday 2 October

Before setting off we bought some garlic, onions and lentils from Beatrice and Jean-Pierre Pointu the farmers and thanked them for letting us stay. Beatrice said they had only had two or three English camper vans all season which seems a pity as it was such a lovely spot.

We set off for Montgaillard with the intention of cycling around a trail relating to 17 ancient potters and their sites. We found the first no problem but after that got lost and cycled 12 miles around some very pretty country side in 30 degrees plus heat with some rather steep and long slopes and didn’t find sight nor  sound of a potter or pottery. We got by by scrumping figs, melons left in the field after the harvest and walnuts.

On the way to our next campsite we passed a small “Lavoir” in a village called Mauroux, it was a communal wash site built in 1550 and had a stone circle with a wooden roof and was fed by a small spring coming out of the hillside through two stone troughs. It was too good an opportunity to miss so saw two Brits dip their hot heads and feet in to cool off, the locals driving past must have thought us daft paddling about in their wash basin.

Tonight we are camped at Parleboscq on a farm that grows grapes, kiwi fruit and hazelnuts. On arrival the farmer met us and treated us to sampling the local Amangnac and wine, Kiwi fruit liquor and a very nice duck and mixed pepper and onion confit. Apparently it takes 10 kilos of Kiwi fruit to make half a litre of liquor. We had never seen Kiwis growing on trees before but they were full of large hard fruits that will ripen in another month or so.

After our tasting we went fossil hunting as there is a small cutting in the forest just behind where we camped that has shells and shark teeth dating back to the cretaceous period, we found lots of shells but unfortunately no shark teeth. This would have been an ideal place to have had Gareth and Leah with us as she has always been an expert fossil finder and I bet she’d have found a shark tooth. Gareth would have loved the site as we had a small irrigation pond next to us full of fish and as we got back to the van we noticed we have a neighbour a nice small Coypu who seems to like a tree stump about 20 feet from the van. We watched him swimming about whilst supping our beers and heard him calling as we settled down for the night. The following morning as we opened the curtains Viv spotted a Kingfisher sitting by the Coypu’s stump.

Cycling under the village walls of Maubec

The farm with mountains in the background

Sunflowers

Cooling off in the Lavoir

A few more photos 1st October

Mr Coypu just visable centre stage

Viv scoffing grapes with Msr Simon Fontanel

Me singing to Msr Fontanels dog, Casper

Not a bad picnic site, Msr Fontanel's farm

The family picking grapes for the table

Moissac

Some photos 1st October

Camped up at Sarah and David Meakin's wine and beer brewing

St Antonin Noble Val

Our host from the previous night Sarah standing her stall in St Antonin Noble Val

A vanilla stall in St Antonin Noble Val

Parked up at the Dairy farm for the night Lauzert

La Canal des Deux Mers, the canal crossing the River Tarn at Moissac

 Saturday September 28th

We went back into Villefranche de Perigord to try and get onto the internet as although it was free in the tourist office no-one seemed to be able to get on line. Having given up we went to the market but only four stalls so ended up chatting over a coffee with an nice English couple Rachel and David who live in Deal and have a house locally.

We were intending to visit Cahors but quite a big place and nowehere easy to park the van up and cycle back so pushed on south and spent the night on a small wine and beer producers farm run by an English couple called Sarah and David Meakin who produce their own wines and beers under the Domaine du Merchein. Sarah made us very welcome and gave us a tasting session despite only have just got in from a day at the market and having to be up early to run a another stall tomorrow. We bought a bottle of wine and a beer brewed with a couple of stalks of Saffron in it that sells well locally.

As we were getting ready for bed there was a really big thunderstorm brewing and I sat outside watching the lightning show as it got closer before bed with a glass or two of wine. As the lightning was flashing I could here Corncrake calling in the fields in front of us and just across the valley as it got dusk I could hear wild boar squabbling as they came out to feed but it was a bit too dark to actually see them. We turned out the lights in the van and watched the storm gather before we went to sleep but woke up later to the rain hammering on the roof and flashes and grumbles all around.

Sunday 29^th September

Visited St Antonin-Noble-Val  a beautiful medieval town that had a big Sunday market and met up with Sarah our host from last night standing her wine and beer stall to say goodbye. They have parties turn up the beginning of October to pick grapes, just a bit too late for us this year but maybe another time. The market was full of stalls all mainly local produce, I treated myself to a venison (Cerf) salami and Viv had yet another early birthday present when we visited a very good local potter Eric Fuare who makes porcelain ware both for use and decoration. He was very pleasant and showed Viv around his workshop at the back of his studio and they discussed glazes and other potty things.

We had a few places in mind to stay at and eventually ended up on a diary farm in Luzert parked up against the barn wall. We were met by the farmer’s daughter as she was out on a call as it appears she may be a reserve firefighter and dad is away. She chatted away and showed us around the diary where we bought some fresh yoghurt and goat’s cheese. The yoghurt was absolutely delicious so we bought some more for breakfast for the next couple of days.

Monday 30^th September

Drove down to Moissan a town on the River Tarn where the “Canal Des Duex Mers” crosses the River Tarn on a long aquaduct that has a cycle track by the side of it we cycled along. The canal runs from Bordeaux to the Mediterranean and it is possible to cycle alongside it all the way, now that would be an adventure for a future year.

As we were cycling along the canal we spotted a large Coypu swimming along the other bank and cycled along watching it swimming until it decided to have a snooze in a little hollow in the sun.

Camped the night on a fruit farm just outside Moissac, the farmer took us to see them picking grapes for the table most of which go to Belgium and his wife gave us some fresh grapes, plums and green gauges. We also scrumped a few plums and big fresh figs whilst having a short walk. Our campsite was on a small hard standing opposite the farm but perched on the edge of the valley looking out across vineyards and orchards as we Bar-BQd as the sun went down.

Friday 27 September

We fancied visiting a small town called Domme just down river from where we had been staying and turned off as directed but missed the sign saying height restrictions until too late to turn. We drove up a really steep hill with some tight hairpin bends, until we met the town wall and an arched entry that was too low and a bit narrow for us. Unfortunately we had to turn around and drive all the way back down again.

Arrived early at Villefranche du Perigord on a Chestnut farm (Fermier du Chataigne) and after parking the van cycled the 5 miles back into the village to explore and look around a Cep market that had just started there. Looks like all the locals had been out collecting mushrooms in the woods and were selling them in baskets of about three and half kilos a time for between 10-15 euros.

Got back to the farm where Camille and Serge the farmers showed us around and explained everything then gave us a tasting session. We tried local chestnut honey, chestnut paste, jams, cakes and bread, flour and liquors. They showed us the mill they use to grind the chestnuts to make flour that is gluten free and the various machines to collect, sort, shell, sort the chaff out and dry them. It was really interesting and with the help of another French couple who tried to interpret at times we seemed to follow it all.

The following morning Serge showed us how they are treating canker and infection on some trees and explained how he uses small wasps to fight parasite infections.

We constantly appreciate how much more of the country side we have seen and the people we have met and places we have stayed via France Passion and would recommend it to anyone wanting to get into the more rural areas of France. On the whole they have all been very welcoming and friendly and willing to spend time showing us around and explain things with a real passion for what they are doing. By visiting the farms we have been right into the minor roads and backwoods and sometimes hardly see anyone else on the roads for hours.

Cycling into Villefranche

The Cep market in Villefranche

Serge the farmer at his mill grinding sweet chestnuts into flour

Nets spread under the trees to collect the chestnuts