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