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.