Sunejo,Thursday, 22nd May 2014, c.17.50

Hallo, Lady Lucy!

Ah, Milord Harry, there you are! Where have you been? You did not send me any postcard;

I’ve only been away a week! And you haven’t been lonely, have you? People have been here, and you’ve been out and about.

How you know this?

That.

What?

It’s “How do you know that ”

Hm! Since when are you the expert teacher of the English?

I’m not. But anyway, there was a phone call. That’s how I know you’ve been out.

 Je comprends …..So now, racontez – where do you go?

Did.

What?

“Where did you go?” or “Where have you been?”

C’est bizarre, ça! 

We went to the Dordogne Valley. We left here at about 12.15 last Thursday –

Ah yes, I remember it well …..

– and travelled 300kms to the north. The weather was very fine and the snow on the Pyrenees is receding:

We crossed the River Lot:

and left the motorway at Souillac, where there is this magnificent railway viaduct, which SKT & CLT have often tried to photograph as we go by on the motorway, but never got a good one:

Then they got lost! Satnav couldn’t recognise the spot and the place we were looking  for wasn’t on the signs! But just before 7pm we found ‘Soleil Plage’:and we pitched up on an “emplacement” with this view of the Dordogne just a few steps away:

On Friday they put the awning up beside me, so more space to have, and they went to swim in this pool complex:

And on Saturday they did very little also, but make bookings to do a canoe trip on Sunday and hire a car for Monday and Tuesday. SKT must tell you about these things.

Yes, the canoeing was wonderful. The ‘base de canoë’ was just outside the campsite (at the ‘beach’) and we booked the ‘Parcours Nature’. The man took us to the starting point by minibus (with one other couple) and the canoes on a trailer behind and pushed us out onto the river. We then had all day (if we’d wanted) to go with the flow 10 kms downstream to get back to ‘Soleil Plage’.

We had plenty of time to study the river bank:

the Castle of Montfort:

and the birdlife: this is probably a black kite:

After about an hour we beached the canoe (on the second attempt – the current took us past the first spot we aimed for!) and enjoyed the little picnic we’d taken with us:

Then, after another hour, as we came round the ‘Cingle de Montfort’ (more later) and past the campsite, some friends we’d made, who had a riverside pitch just near Harry, took our photo as we paddled by:

They told us that several people had grounded their canoe in the shallow water to the left at that spot, so we felt a bit chuffed at avoiding that, and steering successfully in to the beach on the first attempt. A highlight of the holiday – the weather had been ideal; unbroken sunshine, but not so hot that we were constantly thirsty, sunburnt  or exhausted.

We swam again – in the pool, not the river! – and that evening we treated ourselves to an excellent locally themed meal at the on-site restaurant.

[The arrival of a German party led to an ineresting exchange between them and the waiter which has prompted me to put a little rant on my neighbour blog ‘Daddy Says ….’  Have a look if you like, but be warned – it’s Esperanto propaganda! 

THE SCANDAL OF LANGUAGE

]

Monday May 19th: Once we had the hire car we made our way downstream by road to see Beynac and ride in a different sort of boat, a ‘gabarre’, a flat-bottomed boat formerly used as river transport, taking, eg, nuts to Bordeaux and bringing back essentials, eg, wine.

Beynac, ‘un des plus beaux villages de France’, occupies a spectacular site and it’s castle remained in English hands – and loyal to the English kings – during the hundred years war,

whereas this one, on the other side of the river, changed loyalties several times. (It would then have been just the fortress, without the stately home.) It’s now owned by a Texan millionaire, not oil – the inventor of the car crusher, apparently.

The river trip, with effective commentary in French and English, afforded excellent views and interesting historical insights, so we were well pleased with it.

However, we then tried to find some gardens which we had been told were ‘absolument magnifique’. Once again, satnav let us down, we couldn’t find it on the map, and signage was inconsistent. We really were going round in circles, passing one school at least three times! Gardens are Carol’s thing and I was tired, so when we found it, I let her visit on her own. I fear she was disappointed. ‘Keep off the grass’ signs were everywhere and there’s a limit to how much topiary and how many box hedges one can enjoy in one place! Still here are a few of her pictures:

Back at base we swam again and enjoyed a ‘Blanquette de Veau’ that we’d bought earlier – tinned, but tasty. Then we invited the neighbours, Mike and Sandra – that’s them in the water with Carol – to coffee and what would have been in ‘the library’ if we’d brought it with us!

Meanwhile, Harry chatted up the little white car – sorry, Lucy!

Ca m’est égal. He can ‘chat up’ , as you say, who he want.

Hmmm ……

Tuesday 20th May 2014: Having the car for a second day, we set off for Rocamadour. However, our first stop was quite close by at the ‘Cingle de Montfort’. The information panel was missing from the rough parking area beside the road, but we later found out that ‘Cingle’ is a local word referring to a meander. It’s some bend! We took far too many photos of the river, saying “we’ve been down there”, and a few of the castle. Then I realised that the cliff behind us was perhaps even more interesting:

We picnicked overlooking an artificial lake at Gourdon, and made our way across country to Rocamadour, wondering whether SATNAV was choosing the best route (we decided later that she wasn’t). Rocamadour is certainly spectacular, but that said, both it and the ‘Grotte des Merveilles’ (no photos allowed)  were disappointing. The road train ride from the car park at the bottom to the village added nothing either by way of views or information, for there was no commentary, and the narrow street was very ‘Mont St Michel’.

The visit to the cave (the ‘grotte’) took 80 minutes instead of the supposed 40 because, out of consideration for members of the group who spoke no French, the guide said everything twice!

We made our own route to get back to Soleil Plage, and were quite sure it was quicker, and more scenic, than SATNAV’s. We decided to go for a meal at a Pizza restaurant in the last village before Montfort, and just as we parked up the weather broke (we’d seen it coming) and we dodged the the first drops of what developed into a terrific storm.

The meal was good, but back chez Harry we found him surrounded by a sea of mud and began to wonder how we were going to dismantle and stow the awning (‘Harriette’!) and whether, indeed, we’d be able to drive off the pitch without slipping and sinking …..

Things were better in the morning, and Harriette was dry by the afternoon,  thunderstorms were forecast so we bustled about and got everything packed up much more successfully than we had feared. As we emptied the tent of ‘stuff’ we found this gentleman lurking in a corner, and very reluctant to leave!:

We were just finishing puting the bikes on the rack (they would have been quite useful on site but one of the pedals seized up on mine which made riding it a bit tricky), when the first raindrops fell, at exactly 5.30pm. Within seconds we were experiencing the most terrific thunderstorm, torrential rain hammering on Harry’s roof, prolonged streaks of lightning and tremendous thunderclaps. I’d really liked to have seen more of it and tried some photos, but there was no suitable viewpoint without getting soaked! However, we still had that little white car with us; I’d waited half an our for the man on the car park, but he still hadn’t come for it! So when the rain eased off a bit we darted out and DROVE (!) up to the swimming pool to use the covered area. (There were three sections, covered and heated, outdoor and heated, outdoor unheated.) While we were there the hammering started again ….

We had a ‘three tin meal’ during which Mike came round to say the mud wasn’t too bad and we could get to their caravan after supper, if we didn’t mind taking footwear off in the awning before stepping in! We did that and played a closely contended rubber of bridge over a bottle of red wine. They won from game all, 90 all, for those who know what that means. It’s a bit like 2 sets each and 4 all final set in tennis.

The rain had stopped and when we stepped out of the caravan the stars were absolutely brilliant! However, that didn’t last, and in the small hours the flashes, crashes and hammering started again.

The morning was something else! All was calm and surprisingly dry. Grey, low cloud at first, but within minutes of sun-up, it had all burnt off. These photos couldn’t have been taken five minutes later, honest!

We’d packed everything except the picnic table and we’d ordered pastries, so we settled down to outdoor breakfast, together with the usual visitors:

The great tit was very tame and had perched from time to time on the ketchup bottle and the thermos as well as the seats and the table. We also had visits from, or saw, sparrows, a robin, blackbird, goldfinches, greenfinches and, we think, goldcrests.

But it was time to go. Harry moved off pitch without problems and we left the little car on the car park and the key at reception, which neither we nor the staff were very pleased about, but the man didn’t seem to think there was any issue.

Harry?

Ja?

Do you want to narrate the journey home?

There’s nothing to tell, really. You’ve gone on long enough. We stopped at Aire Jardin for lunch and the view of the Piebald Pyrenees was much clearer than sometimes and seen sooner – before Toulouse.  And here we are – Lady? ….. She’s gone to sleep! I said you’d gone on too long.

……….

Maybe, but we have to say it was nice to swim in our own pool before enjoying a salmon and couscous supper that Judy and Carol prepared for us. Next day, Sunejo let the minders go:

and on the way to the airport we had lunch in Limoux – outdoors till another heavy shower drove us indoors for dessert:

(Lucy has actually woken up and told Harry about what happened at Sunejo while we were away. You can see that here:

http://carolthompson73.wordpress.com/2014/05/28/house-sitting/

We’re very grateful to Judi & Carol for coming over and looking after the house, the plants and the pool. It’s good that both we and they were lucky with the weather. So, who’s next?