Roque de Val Thursday

When we last visited Jill, she took us to a local town that Nicky wants to see again. After some research we found it was Domme. The local market is the attraction and they usually end at noon in France, so an early start was due. It is a good market with all sorts of stalls from vegetable to artisan and artistic. Full of colour and very busy.



Nicky was suffering from her feet and didn't want to walk too far, so I drove as near to the town centre as possible. We ended up in the middle of the market, completely surrounded by confused Frenchmen and women. I suggested to Nicky that getting to the market was simply getting out of the car and I would find somewhere to park, hopefully, not at the bottom of the hill. Oh! I

Didn't tell you Domme is a fortress town perched on top of a steep hill. It has fabulous views of the Dordogne valley and the hills beyond. Well the only way out for me was down a one way street the wrong way, through an old folks home. I turned a very tight corner to find the road blocked. I reversed into the entrance to a cemetery and then headed back for the centre. After 200 yards there was a car park with one place left AND in some shade!! AND only 100 yards from the Market! We padded round the market for a time and then rescued Sophie from the car. It was still in the shade, just.

We walked round the ramparts admiring the views.

In the afternoon we went to Chateau Miland the one time home of Josephine Baker the great star of the Follies Begere in the 20's & 30's first black film star worked in the French resistance and loads more check out Wikipedia.

We headed back to Roque de Val, Sophie was hot and so were we so we drove through to the beach on the river. Nicky thinks she lost a ring there yesterday so while Sophie was swimming for her ball we were scouring the stones on the riverbed. Pretty daft really, but I did see something metallic just behind a stone, too far to reach; so out had to come the swim suit. The water was fantastic, sadly I didn't find the ring.

Then a rush back to shower and change for a Mexican evening at a local pub. Very well attended and the group were marvellous. We danced til they gave up before midnight :-( We could tell this was not Spain! (would have been 5am!) Any way thoroughly enjoyable and a great way to spend our last night with Jill and Dave.

Wednesday

Ok so most days are boring just looking round for things to do or to happen. You may have noticed on cars with tow bars they have one or two electric sockets, well we just have one the one that deals with side lights. indicators etc. The other socket provides electric to the van for lights, and important things like the FRIDGE, the van has two plugs. Last week we found an auto electrician who said bring the car and van Wednesday morning and he would put the new wiring to the car. Today's the day!!. We got up early (well for us) and dragged Jill down to the Auto electrician to take us back for a couple of hours or so while he fixed it!! He looked at me with a totally blank face when I drew in with the Van, I explained he said come back Wednesday and light dawned, but not for long. He examined the spare plug on the caravan, thought for a while and said he did not know about this and it was not for him. Nor could he recommend a garage that could help. Disappointed and feeling guilty about getting Jill involved we returned to the house.

So we cleaned the car and the van and got ready to load up on Thursday.

Jill and Dave recommended a beach on the river Dordogne. It was only a few kms away at Saint Julien de Lompol. Turn left 3 times!!! Well, you now know about our ability to follow directions and it took longer than it should to find, but it is a lovely place. Sophie and I went swimming. I can't remember the last time I swam in a river, but the water was so warm it was fantastic. Sophie was in her heaven.

We got back to shower and go out to a special restaurant (known to locals only I suspect) it is very off the route, but is a trout farm I think with a restaurant. We sat by the lake with huge Carp and Ducks and Geese. There was a dummy man sitting in a boat in the middle fishing?? and during our meal we were supplied with far too much bread, therefore, expected to feed the fish and ducks etc in the lake!! It was a lovely evening and very unexpected and unusual.

Roque de VAL tuesday

Beautiful clear blue skies this morning. Temperatures upper 20's perfect! Decided to go to the caves of Cougnac. They were occupied from some 20,000 years ago. There are cave paintings of animals and we think a man. Fascinating ceilings with thousands of thin stalactites, like a huge hair brush. In the afternoon we went to Sarlat La Caneda. Lovely town. WE missed the first carpark and drove through the town parking at the other end. So we ended up walking into the middle through some fascinating main ans secondary shopping streets with lots of different shops. I was a bit surprised with the cost of everything. Coffee 2.20 Euros a cup 33cl beer 3 Euros etc.

At time I am writing this I only have 38K dial up connection and photos take ages to load, so I will and later, Sorry

As you can see I can now add some pictures

Roque de Val Monday

Well surprise surprise it rained again last night. I was cloudy this morning, but brightened up in the afternoon. We set out to Racamadour, about a 30 min. run. We were a bit low on petrol so instead of going straight through Gourdon I turn off to the Intermarche to get some cheap?? petrol. Well Intermarche is 1.23 euros a litre whereas the garages around are 1.38 euros a litre and the motorways often more!! The traffic going back into Gourdon was nose to tail so I decided to detour round. We found some lovely country lanes and pretyy very clean villages all built of the local Sandstone. Any way an hour and a half later we arrived at Rocamadour. We did stop breifly to examine a fortified mill. We couldn't see much and they were closed for lunch, which saved us 6 Euros each entrance fee.

The town is on three levels. We arrived at the top and it was jam packed so we drove down a very steep hill looking for somewhere to park. We eventually found a spot right at the bottom. We then took a small train up to the first level. This is a pic. of Sophie on the train

The town is stuck to the side of a cliff and the streets quite narrow. There is no roum for cafes to have tables outside in the street. So no chance of a coffee or beer with Sophie in tow.

To get to the next level and the Churches there is a lift or a long flight of stairs. We took the stairs.

At the top is the Chateau. Nicky went up there are some stunning views from up here. That's Nicky in the middle of the parapet. looking down at us.

We tried to find the caves, but there was a 45 min wait to the next tour and that would have meant getting back to Roque de Val rather late.

Roque de Val Sunday

Il Pluie

Yes the clouds came over and it rained. Large spots at first and then a gentle rain. This started late Saturday night. Then the lightening and distant thunder. We ate inside, joined by a local ex-pat called Norman. Norman is Irish and divorced for the seond time. He commutes regularly it seems. He's a great character, though his lapses into the 4-letter words of the Anglo-Saxon are a bit too often for Nicky's taste. He was planning to go to Holland first thing in the morning, but Jill was concerned about him driving the 4 kms home on the main road, so led him back route through the country roads.

So Sunday morning and still clouds did not encourage an early start. Gourdon ( the local town -3km away) was holding a "Medieval Festival" for two days. Talking about rain (Pluie) there is a place here called " Ecoute si'll pluie" (do you hear if it rains?) Well the local story is told that a mill was on the site and when the miller woke in the morning he would ask his wife if she could here rain. If she said NO then he got up and went to work. His reaction if she said 'Yes' is not recorded!!??

So we left Sophie at home and did the tour of Medieval Gourdon with help from the locals:

All seemed to be having great fun, but it cost 3.50 Euros each to get into the square to see it all.

Roque de Val

Jill Truman and Dave lived opposite us in Ashleigh Road until they moved out here 4/5 years ago. This is our third visit.

We had such a lovely welcome, so flattering that all the 'blues' were washed away. They have a charming two (or is it three) houses on a huge area of this wonderful part of France. ( One of the houses is now derelect and has been so for maybe 100 years). It is a really fascinating place.

Narbonne to Carcassonne

It was quite a cool night and we woke feeling shivery, I regret not putting the blanket out just in case. However it got us up to an earlier start. Carcassonne is only a short drive from Narbonne. I had intended to get slightly north of Toulouse another hour or so up the road, but in the end we decided to have a short day in the car. Got to a town called Trebes near Carcassonne and intended to have a look at a small provincial town. Nicky went to the Tourist Office and got information and they told her of a camping site in the town. It turned out to be 3* and half the price of the camps on the road. We set up and by 3pm decided to look round the town. Frankly it only had the Church and the canal du midi so it was rather disappointing. I said I'd had enough of driving so we went back to the camp site. We were actually allowed to BBQ so that made a pleasant change. A English family opposite had been there for a few days, they had come here every year for years. It is a nice site.



Another chilly night. I woke in the morning to find a very cross Nicky. Sophie had woken her in the night barking, so she took her for a walk in the dark!! Later there was a loud commotion outside and Sophie barking again. This time Sophie had taken off so fast after something that she broke her chain and disappeared. The chain links are made of 20 gauge steel spot welded!! Eventually Nicky found her and shut her in the car for the rest of the night.



So I woke to a very unhappy Nicky. 1) I had slept through it 2) She hadn't been able to get back to sleep 3) she had wanted to go to Carcassonne and walk round the old town yesterday instead of Trebes and staying in the camp 4) since we had stopped short of our planned destination we didn't have time to explore Carcassonne.

The trip to Roque de Val was quiet apart from Sophies annoying heavy breathing.