Eleanor, Day 13

Today was cold, and overcast, and cold!  And did I say it was cold?  We set off late as the SW had been trying to change a washer on a tap in the shower, I think successfully. 

We discovered that Moissac, a town where I had spent a very happy holiday with a French exchange when I was a girl, was not too far out of our way, so we decided to go there. We hadn't been able to get water in wherever it was we spent the night outside Cahors, so we asked the sat-nav to take us to the services in Moissac, which it duly did, and we topped up with water. Then we drove into the town, parked, and had a walk round, enjoying the Abbey church, where I remember attending an Easter vigil as a16-year-old.

We decided to eat lunch by the Tarn, and drove to a car park there.

It was cold, so I turned on the heater, forgetting that we needed the gas to be switched on before it would work. And the water pump started to make very odd noises - and on investigation, the bung was not there!  Madpanicarrgh!! while we threw the lunch things into the fridge again and dashed back to the services where luckily it was where we had left it! Phew!

So back to the Tarn for lunch, and then we drove on to Agen, but we found the Satnav's idea of the town centre wasn't anybody else's. We decided to go and find where we were going to spend the night, but neither of the places we found was very nice, just services. We stopped at one for a cup of tea and a rest, but then drove back into town and have parked up by the canal, unfortunately on a rather main road, so not very quiet. We are not the only camping-car parked here, though!

The Swan Whisperer went exploring and found the way into the town centre, so we walked in and found a lovely brasserie at the station, very much not a station buffet, all 1930s decor. Delicious menus at €19.90 each (C £15), including the eponymous prunes!  At least, mine did. And we treated ourselves to coffee and/or an infusion, in my case (verveine), and so back to the van and bed. We really must get up early tomorrow, though - the trouble with being here, due south of the UK, is that it isn't really light until 8:30 am, so we are not really getting up until then. But I have set an alarm for tomorrow!

Eleanor, Day 12

Once again, we finish the day not where we had intended to be.

But to begin at the beginning. We set off from the campsite near Rocamadour to visit the town this morning, and found that we could actually have parked up overnight outside the Château, buy there were no services and, of course, no WiFi. But also probably no flies!  We seemed to have picked up an awful lot overnight, and although I bought a tin of Raid, it didn't seem to make much difference.

I had never heard of Rocamadour before starting to plan this trip, which just goes to show how ignorant I am, as it was heaving with tourists, far more than any of the other places we've been. Even Fontévraud was quiet - none of the school groups you would have got in the UK. Here there was at least one school party, and a coach-load of English and one of Japanese tourists. I couldn't take photos in any of the chapels, they were too rammed. 

We went on to the ramparts of the Château, which were a bit high for my taste, but I did manage some good photos.

Then we took the funicular down to the chapel level,

and when we had explored there we took the stairs down to the Cité, as they call it, which was basically a tourist drag and reminded us very much of Mont-St-Michel.  The same sort of very step and narrow streets, lined with what my mother calls "Do-the-tourist" shops.

I went back up in the lift, which really was a lift, and rather expensive, and the SW walked up, but I noticed he was breathing heavily when he arrived, which he tried to disguise. We both took the funicular back up to the car park!

The next stop was a town called Gramat, where we managed to get an adapter for the gas, and it is working now, so we have plenty to do us for the rest of the holiday. The SW thinks we have more gas in the first bottle than he thought we had, so I jolly well had a hot shower and an egg this morning!

We then headed to Cahors, but it was a bust, as the first parking we tried was in a supermarket car park, and really rather nasty, not like the one in Falaise, and the second was full and over-full. And the streets were too narrow for comfortable driving, and we couldn't see where any of the sights were. So we looked on the app and have found this car park in a random village somewhere, by a medical centre and, I believe, a sports centre.   And I am going to cook pork chops with an onion, mushroom and cream sauce, with courgettes and probably rice, but maybe pasta or potatoes, washed down with a local red wine! Yum, I hope. For pudding, we have discovered that Andros do fruit purees with cream on the top, which are lovely and we have been eating them all holiday. You can't get them in the UK, or rather I've not seen them there, and am profiting!

Eleanor, Day 11

Sunday again, and we were due to head south to Rocamadour, where Eleanor and Henry had been on pilgrimage. From the atlas, it was going to be a dull old drive, motorway all the way.  But by going a few miles out of our way, we could drive down through the Limousin and end up at the Dordogne, so that is what we did. A very lovely drive, past woods and pastures, lots of the eponymous cattle, rivers and lakes and pretty little towns. And so to Beaulieu sur Dordogne, which was lovely!

We walked round the town and watched the world go by on the river for a bit, and then drive on, now leaving Limousin for Midi-Pyrenées, and Corrèze for Lot.  We haven't quite got to Rocamadour, as this campsite is on the near side of it, but will tomorrow.  Meanwhile, free WiFi! I have gone back and uploaded a couple of pictures on to each blog entry, and of course all of them, to date, are now on Facebook.  

This campsite would be very nice if it wasn't for the flies!

Eleanor, Day 10

So after posting Friday's update, we returned to Nouaillé-Malpertuis to find the car park, which we had left empty, absolutely full! Luckily there was one space left, which we grabbed and went to bed. When we woke up, it was empty again, but that didn't last long, as it soon filled up again, this time for a funeral in the church next door, which is in the grounds of a former Abbey, and rather lovely.  We couldn't go inside, of course, because of the funeral, but we had a good walk round the grounds - now the Mairie and private housing.

Then we set off for Limoges. It was the loveliest drive through wonderful countryside, very autumnal. Even nicer once we'd stopped to shed a few layers - mornings here are very cold, but it soon warms up.

We liked Limoges, too. It felt as though we were quite in the South of France, although of course we aren't. A lovely Cathedral, pleasant Old Town, and delicious ham and butter sandwich!

We moved on to this little town on the outskirts of Limoges to spend the night, but discovered we have an adapter missing from the new gas thing. We think we can get, or contrive, one, but not on a Saturday night - we must have driven 20 miles round the various hypermarkets, looking! I was not impressed. Anyway, we got back here and there was enough gas to cook supper, although we are not having showers this morning, just in case.....

Then, when we got back to the car park, it was as bright as day with a floodlit football match going on!  They turned the floodlights and the car park lights off at about 22:30, so that was all right - but they came on again at 06:00, waking me out of a sound sleep!  Oh well, I soon dozed off again.

Eleanor, day 9

Today was Poitiers, which we thought was going to be a bust, as we couldn't find anywhere to park, but then we did and had a lovely walk through the city centre to see the palace (now law courts) and the churches associated with the Plantagenets.

Then lunch, then we drive down to a place called Nouaillé-Malpertuis where we are going to spend the night. The SW went for a walk, while I read, and then we drove back nearly to Poitiers to have dinner in a Buffalo Grill to take advantage of the free WiFi and upload photos.

Eleanor, day 8

Today we visited both Fontévraud Abbey and the Forteresse de Chinon. It is both possible and easy to do them both in one day, but I'd strongly suggest, if you do, doing then the other way round, as Fontévraud is marvellous and Chinon rather disappointing.

Instead of playing up the really fabulous architecture and telling us about the buildings and so on, they have a series of very dull films inside, about the various royals who lived there and only a very little about the building, and outside they have decided that King Arthur had links with the place so it is all about the Knights of the Round Table. As if! Everybody knows that was Winchester, where Alfred still waits to drop his sword in shock when a virgin walks by! And the Round Table is there and visible to all! Chinon, forsooth!

So we came away and went to the supermarket before coming to this camp site. We really didn't feel we had learnt anything from our visit, except perhaps that Joan of Arc came here, but that was all.

But Fontévraud, by contrast, was totally magical. The huge church, with the effigies of three of my many-times-great grandparents and Richard the Lionheart. 

The cloisters, the refectory, the dormitories... Many of the areas are used for concerts and so on, it's very well used. One cloister is used for conferences, and I think there was one going on.

What we hadn't known was that it had been, until 1963, a maximum security prison, and there was a lot about that, too.  One exhibition compared and contrasted the lives of the nuns and the prisoners. It was brilliant. And some pictures showed you what the area had been like when it was a prison, and how it had been restored. Fascinating. Definitively "worth the journey", as the guidebooks say, whereas Chinon, despite having been the seat of English government for the best part of a century, simply isn't.  One star - " interesting " at most.

Eleanor, Day 7

Gosh, is it really nearly a week since we set off - and in two weeks we will be home! But for now we are thoroughly enjoying ourselves, even if the gas igniter on the fridge has stopped. Oh well.

We were on electricity this morning, and had out showers on site - lovely and powerful. Then we went to the other side of the village to see our friends Josiane and Claude, whom we hadn't seen for far too long. After a lovely time with them, we headed on, firstly to the little supermarket in the village and then down the Loire to Saumur.

Of course, typical, most of the road that actually went beside the Loire was closed for road works, and we had to go inland a bit, but it was still a nice drive. We discovered, as we came into Saumur, that we needed diesel, and decided to buy more gas at the same time. The woman in the caisse couldn't have been more helpful, I don't know why people think the French aren't! So we have another big bottle of gas - now if only we could get the fridge to light....

We parked up by the Château de Saumur and had lunch, and then paid to go into the château.

There was a guide who told us all about its history and how Philippe Auguste stole it for France..... And then we went in and it was mostly a museum with furniture and so on. There was also a horse museum on site, and we looked at that - Saumur appears to be a major equestrian centre.

After a drink in the café, we came away and drove to Brézé to have a quick look at the château there, and so on to Fontévraud where we will spend the night and visit the Abbey tomorrow.