Sarlat Between Showers

We had a relaxing time in Domme on a cool, but warming up, Tuesday. The views are great but, in my view, not as appealing as that from Loubressac. Even taking out the quite heavy presence of tourists, mostly English it seems, there is something just too perfect and kitsch about this part of Dordogne that gets under my skin a bit. A nice place to visit for a few days, but not a place to live in is my current view.

A Couple at Castelnau

By Monday, the weather had become quite ugly and cold. There were several deaths in Brittany and in the South due to the bad weather which was covering all of France and we had to light the fire in the gite to keep warm. We did venture out to visit Castelnau Chateau on Sunday and then Beynac and Sarlat on the Monday. The visits were okay but quite depressive in the cold damp weather. This was on Monday when a lot of shops are shut, compounded as this was also Pentacost and 6 out of 10 French workers were expected to take the day off; (even though it is no longer a public holiday) their third long weekend in May!!! Even so, Sarlat is a great little medieval town with a nice feel about it. The coffee and cake went down quite well before we headed home for dinner and a fire.

You need water to make things Green

As we sit watching the rain outside watering the Dordogne region, we recall the sun we had last week and remember that for things to be nice and green, you need rain. Maybe a bit less than we are getting now. It has cooled off a bit since last week as well.

Lane by the Fire

We have now moved from the Lot and into the Dordogne. We did think that the weather had finally turned towards summer but Saturday was firstly dull and overcast before it started raining. This location change was always going to be a little bit complicated as we knew we would need to make two trips to cover both lots of luggage. This will be the only time we need to changeover this way. Ashley and Randall left Puymule just before 9am and we had completed both trips by 2.30pm which was not too bad considering the weather, the small roads we were using, the cleaning time for Puymule and getting through our goodbyes and greetings. We completed the changeover just in time to get to Brive so that Yvonne and Rachael could do a quick food shop and for Randall and Ashley to fill in the time by going to the last round of the top division rugby game. Brive-Bayonne. Brive lost a scrappy and disappointing game but the atmosphere was great and quite different to that back in Oz.

The new gite is a lower standard than we would normally take at two ears. It is a very simple cottage consisting of a family area/kitchen, toilet, bathroom and double bedroom downstairs with the two other bedrooms upstairs (a double bed in one and two singles in the other). We decided to sleep the Lane’s upstairs whilst we would take the downstairs bedroom.

Farewell Puymule Dinner

Our French hosts Michel and Marie-France invited us over for a simple dinner for our last night at Puymule. Even though we also had a farewell lunch in St Cere (Moules Frites-mmm!!!), we did manage to hold our own over 5 courses for dinner and most liked the pate, roast beef, salad, cheese and apple tart fare, even the friendly dog managed to enjoy some of the meal. We all agreed that the choice of gite here had been a success.

Deliverance Trio on the Dordogne

The weather has at last warmed up and we are keen for a bit of outdoors activity. We decided to canoe from Vayrac to Montvalent, a distance of about 9kms and a fairly easy two hours plus on the Dordogne. Rachael and Ashley were in one kayak with Randall in a single. Yvonne gladly taking up the babysitting option. It was hot on the river and ooh so cool to just drift along with arms over the side. Quite an interesting venture with regular small shallow “rapids” and nice views along the river walls. Trip very well organized and quite on time for start and to pick us up the finish. Had a great yarn with some French Canadians who were also on an extended holiday in France and managed to exhaust most of my French during a long conversation in the pick up van on the way back to Vayrac.

Doing the Tourist Bit

We have enjoyed some great local area outings with Ashley, Rachael and Jayden as well as our friends Raymond and Genevieve. These have included return trips to Salers, Carennac, Autoire, Figeac, St Cirq Lapopie and Martel, plus discovering a few new villages to us.

Keeping Fit and Healthy

We have taken advantage of this great walking country to enjoy a few walks in the hills and along the Dordogne. Sometimes with maps as well as locally produced info on marked trails. We have made the occasional mistake and some of the info is not as accurate as it could be so our map reading skills are also being tested.

Jayden Lane has adapted well to a more mobile way of living and is lapping up the attention he is receiving

Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne has a very pleasant feel about it and there are some houses with great views of the river. So good that Yvonne even showed signs of bending a little to contemplate a potential purchase here.

We are now in the fourth and last week at Gite Puymule so it is time to reflect on any learnings here. Most points are almost the bleeding obvious but it is good to go through the experience of learning them for yourself. At three bedrooms, the gite size is about right. We could probably get by with just a large kitchen/family room as the “lounge room” has been sparingly used, noting you need a large outdoor eating area/verandah. Under house space provides plenty of junk storage capability whilst removing clutter from day to day existence. I like the idea of a pool if we are to be anything like “country living”. Lastly, we do need to be within easy walking distance to a baguette and a café. Here we are about 7 kms out of both Bretenoux and St Cere which is just that bit too far. The “buy” also needs a view. We have one here and it is great.

On our jogs to the chateau, it is great to glance across the valley to Loubressac and to have the occasional view of Castelnau-Bretenoux chateau as it looms out of the morning. We never tire of the fantastic views along the valley and into the hamlets.

I am starting to believe we need about 4 weeks per location to settle in and to develop living ideas. It will be interesting to see how we look at things when the Lane’s go home to Oz.

We are not missing Australian news and politics at all and it is great to realize that you can live quite well without hearing how George W, his cronies and his lackeys are continuing to stuff things up for millions of people. We are surviving well with the occasional bit of web news and podcasts of a few of our favorite programs.

The weather is now beginning to warm up again as so we have all had a taste of the pool and hope to do more with the remaining days here.

We have enjoyed showing Rachael and family around our favorite part of France.
Outings have included the ‘Fete de Fraises’ where even Jayden enjoyed a few strawberries.

Look at Little Lane

Jayden is coping well with our desires to make the most of Rachael and Ashley’s time here. It is a bit of a change for this little queenslander to be so rugged up but he looks great in his little outfits. He does notice the farm animals and enjoys his position in dad’s sac a dos.

We have not checked on house prices here too much as yet, given that we are still trying to dedice on which area of France we are most interested in. But the Lot is still towards the top of the heap for mine.

Rachael and Ashley have now walked the 4 kms to Catelnau-Breteneux. It is a nice walk through several Hamlets and there are lots of superb views along the valley as you wander along. Then there is a drop down and a turn after which the old castle looms into full view. It has a powerful position obviously but it is nicely offset by the cluster of neat houses that surround the castle. A short visit to the Beaulieu markets and we are off home to a light lunch on the verandah.

Lane Family now in Action

We have made our own little pilgrimages to Rocamadour over the last few years when we have visited this interesting part of France. The weather is still a bit hit and miss this year and after a hot end to April, May is proving to be fairly normal so far. On our drive around this area we love going through the small but spotlessly clean little towns and we enjoyed a nice little drink at “The Petit Relais” last Thursday.

In the rustic family area

Yvonne deliberating weather to re-organise this family room or to just take a pew with some more cheese and red wine. Taken from the kitchen area. We do have a few flies to contend with from time to time.

Towards St Cere across the road

From the front gate and across the road towards St Cere. There are about 10-15 houses in the hamlet including about 4 gites. Most well placed for long views down the cele river valley and towards Loubressac or St Cere.

Local views

Someone we found wandering along the local road about 4 kms along the ridge from the gite

First Photos

External view of Gite with one local prisoner on view

Gite Puymule

We are now in the second week of our stay in Puymule, a small hamlet located between the towns of St Cere and Bretenoux in the Lot Department of the Midi Pyrenees. The hamlet is on a ridge line and just 4 klms from the old fortress of Castelnau-Bretenoux. The views extend from St Cere, through to Loubressac and beyond.

This is a very well located gite, fairly recently renovated and one of the biggest we have rented with all facilities we could need. The gite can sleep up to nine adults with three bedrooms and two fold down beds in the living room. There is a large open family room with the kitchen at one end and a fire place at the other end. There is a single bathroom with shower and bath and a separate toilet. Outside, there is a vine covered verandah with a great table setting overlooking a 10 metre swimming pool. A shower and change room for the swimming pool and small children’s swings, slides etc completes the outdoor area. Whilst the footprint of the land is not large, the orientation of the gite and the well established gardens give the whole place a very homely feeling.

We feel that with a few minor changes in the kitchen and living areas and a bit of an overall clean out, this place will be a great place to stay for a few weeks or more.

We spent most of the first week just slowly re-acquainting ourselves with this part of France and getting in the basics that we will need. We have completed three or four good walks from the gite and have limited ourselves to just short visits to St Cere and Bretenoux for essentials, apart from a night at the movies with just 8 other locals to see La Mome (The Kid); the story of Edith Piaf. Over the week we went through a range of feelings from, ‘been here done that’ to ‘wow! how many years can you spend here just taking in the ever changing countryside’. As far as potential acquisitions go, we are now tending towards a place where you can easily walk into a café or boulangerie, or about 3 klms maximum from a village.

Saturday we drove over to Brive (< 1 hour) and enjoyed a great game of first division rugby. Sunday we drove up to Paris and now we have returned from there with our daughter Rachael and her two fine men Ashley and Jayden. And so our tourist activities have sped up a bit. Tuesday we went to a Foire aux chevres et aux chevaux at Turenne and although the weather was not the best, we had a great afternoon. We also wandered around Collenges la Rouge. Today we checked out the market at Beaulieu sur Dordogne and Rachael and Ashley enjoyed a tour in the Gouffre de Padirac while nana babysat.