I can't believe it!

Monday 23rd October 2017 - Thenon, near Perigueux.

Moving on from Cahors we continued our travels northwards.  We had agreed to visit Rocamadour.  It is the place that most people have recommended to us as a beautiful site in the Dordogne area (but not actually on the Dordogne river).  The scenery has definately changed from vineyards and crop fields to pastures with cows.  It is a much more green and rolling countryside and the local stone is more of a pale yellow colour which is apparent in the colour of the buildings.

We arrived and parked up before getting any view of the village.  We expected something of a UNESCO World Hertigae Site - but were shocked to find it isn't on the list!!  We can't believe it.

It should be!  The chateau is at the top, the church and chapels on the middle section and the village on the bottom.  It is a place of pilgrimage and has a representation of Christ's tomb in a cave near the top of the cliff.  The church is a place where people come to renew their baptismal vows.  It is very old and very scenic.  We, probably mistakenly, took our bikes and ended up carrying them down lots of steps and then had to cycle up a steep hill to get back (avoiding the stairs).

It was also surprisingly quiet.  We are good at visiting the touristy places on a Sunday or Monday.  We only saw one coach party.  The car parks were quiet and I'm sure we would have no problem staying overnight in the van but we wanted to move on.  However, we did have some Rocamadour cheese before we left.

It's not the only beautiful town in the area.  We crossed the Dordogne river and found a small medieval town called Martel.  No, not the 'brandy' producer!  

You can tell how quiet it was by the only customer at this restaurant.  Martel was really quiet, hardly a sole.  It was pristine, unspoilt and delightful in every way.  I guess it must have its busy times, it is after all, a cool late October day.

Next stop was Terrasson on the river Vézères (after years of owning an iPad I have just learned how to put accents on letters)! It has two historic bridges but we only saw one.  It is a larger town but the centre is also old and very beautiful.

If you are coming to France for your holidays...book here and visit Martel.  You will avoid the crowds and have a wonderful time.

Our wild camp stop is at the small town of Thenon.  We drove through the town and found this viewpoint over the Vézères as if it was tailor made for us....just one place for our van.


We can't have life perfect though.  The bloody fridge still isn't working on gas.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Strictly raining!

Image
Saturday 4th November 2017 - Vironvay. We had a rainy day forecast so we had a quiet day.  We had a drive to Louvier market and more importantly we made an important visit..... We also bought some brioche for a second attempt at a bread and butter pudding French style. I will have to check with Wendy to see what she thinks.  It was certainly tasty and disappeared quickly. Our day was nice and relaxing followed by a lovely meal. We watched Strickly Come Dancing for the first time, Sian and Janice are big fans and I sneekingly enjoy it too.  Ger puts up with it too. There was break in cloud for a while and although the photo isn't too good we saw a nice moon reflection on the Seine.
Read more

Bonfire Night but no fireworks!

Image
Sunday 5th November 2017 - Boulogne-sur-Mer. We said our fond farewells to Ger and Sian.  They are extremely kind and considerate hosts.  We enjoyed our stay very much. We moved north to stay at Boulogne so we would be close to the tunnel for tomorrow morning.  It felt very cold today despite some bright spells.  We felt so cold it was like a cold Bonfire Night in England.  We will not be celebrating Guy Fawkes here in France...they don't do that here. We arrived in Boulogne and had a little walk around.  It was a little dreary on a Sunday but the old fortified town area was nice with a grand cathedral. I came here about 3 years ago with my friend Bruce, so had some memories. We found an Aire de Camping Car and couldn't immediately park because of parked spectators cars at the entrance blocking the way.  The town football ground is next door and a game was in progress.  We waited for the end of the game to allow cars to leave before we could drive...
Read more

France is closed!

Image
Wednesday 1st November 2017 - Nogent-le-Roi. We had changed our plans a little by deciding that tomorrow we would visit Versailles. As we drove past Tours and northwards we realised that the roads were pretty quiet and when we stopped at a Lidl supermarket and found it closed we twigged that it must be a public holiday.  It is now November and it is All Saints Day.  The day that the French remember the dead.  It seems a great idea but I thought it might be a bit morbid thinking of the dead all day?  Whatever people were doing they were not in public places, they were not eating out, exercising or shopping. We called at one of our favourite places from two years ago, Chateaudun.  It's a small town south of Chartres. The chateau is very imposing.  We stayed at an Aire de Camping two years ago on a car park just below the chateau walls.  I am wearing long trousers for the first time in a long time.  I managed to avoid wearing them through October but...
Read more