Saint-Cirq-Lapodie (Quack, quack)

Our final call of this short break was to yet another perched village in the French top 100 most beautiful villages. The ancient chateau of Saint Cirq was the home of the Pompéjac family and was owned by the 7th century bishop of Cahors, St Didier. By the 13th century, the site was strategically important and there were three castles close together overlooking the valley. The castles were destroyed by the King after the English got into the castles 3 times in the Hundred Years' War. 

As with so many places that we visit, it is on a route to St Jacques de Compostella in Spain. 

We left our hotel after an early breakfast then followed a scenic route to Saint Cirque, following the Célé river and then the Lot. 

Salian sur Célé:

Tour de Faure on the river Lot 

Saint-Cirq from the bus. The ancient ruins are on the left. 

After a brief commentary, we all went our separate ways to see the village. Some of us climbed to the highest point - the site of the ancient chateau. 

There is little to see at the top other than the views over they town and the valley. 

The church was built in the 16th century and includes a Romanesque chapel.

Views over the valley and in the streets

We had lunch at this restaurant before our journey home - needless to say, we had duck. 

Then we rejoined the bus for a four hour drive home, some of which was in the rain, so we were lucky to have had a sunny morning. 

Périgord: Sarlat and Laroquue Gageac

We collected a guide to the area and then our driver took us via a scenic route to our first stop: Sarlat where we had a short walking tour of the village in the rain followed by some free time. Sarlat is one of the 'plus beaux villages de France' - which means that they joined the club of pretty villages!

Sarlat is a 14th century town built around a Benedictine Abbey. It is well preserved but many of the pretty corners have been taken over by restaurants and, in the train, sun umbrellas stand in for real umbrellas and spoil photographs. 

These geese are a focal point for tourists. Geese are an important part of the local economy in the form of foie gras. The market, close to the geese, sells plenty of local produce including chèvre cheese and foie gras at €100 per kilo.

We passed the monument du morts and wondered, for a moment, what was being commemorated. We soon remembered that it was the Galipoli anniversary. We have seen no other sign of the anniversary in France, although France lost as many men as Australia and New Zealand put together however we were told that the French soldiers were mainly from Algeria.

We then set off in the coach for a typical lunch of the region. For food, the answer is 'duck', what's the question?!  We started with a soup with duck,  then moved on to .... duck with potatoes roasted with the duck.  Thankfully, pudding wasn't duck but tarte aux noix (walnut tart), walnuts being a local product.

Our next stop was La Roque-Gageac on the Dordogne river, another of the 'Plus Beaux Villlages de France'. The rain had stopped by now and the sun made an appearance enhancing the photos. We were no longer being reminded of ducks by the puddles.  

La Roque is not so much a perched village, as a village built into the rock. 

We walked up the hill to the other side of the church. 

The rock holds the heat, so the gardens can be stocked with palms, banana trees and other tropical trees and plants. 

We were booked on a boat trip down the river Dordogne and as a group, had a boat to ourselves. 

When we had all boarded, the boat turned so that we could get a good view of Laroque. 

The trip, which took about an hour, flew by with an entertaining commentary including many puns fortunately easy enough for us to follow. Our furthest point was Vézac. 

On the way back, we had very good views of the Chateau de la Malartrie and town. 

The Manoir de Tarde from the 16th century. 

Dinner was in the hotel. We started with a duck salad which was followed by yet more duck. By now, most people were quacking and were sure that it would be a while before they ate duck again. Revolts were threatened for the next day if duck appeared.  

Then the entertainment arrived: 4 musicians and 8 dancers. Three of the musicians had accordions, the fourth brought something related to bagpipes. After a number of dances, when a suitable opportunity arose (and another person had fled, I (Pat) retired to blog as I hate the bagpipes!  In the end our group was also able to join in with the dancing.

A weekend in the Périgord

Our local Foyer (a group of clubs) has organised a 3 day trip to the Périgord region in the centre of France by bus. 

We set out at 0630 on Friday morning, stopping for breakfast by the Canal du Midi just after 0800.

 We then continued on our way arriving at our hotel in time for lunch. 

Our first trip out was to the Gouffre de Padirac, a vast cave system. First, one must reach the cave system  to descend 75 metres by 500+ steps or use 3 lifts. 

When we entered the cave, we walked along a pathway by the side of an underground river, on our way the the boats that would take us further into the caves. 

The cave system Is 40km long, but only 2 km is open to the public. 

The boats take 10 people and are moved by a oar, in a similar fashion to punting. The water is not deep, perhaps a metre or so and is blue. 

After the boat journey, we were taken on a walk to see the galleries. Some of the lakes are breath taking and would be impossible to photograph.  There is not much light and photos are not permitted, so we can't show any here!

This is one of the stars and you can see the water. 

There is an option to go climb 500 steps to get to the upper galleries where you can look down on the lakes - it's a breathtaking experience. 

Our next stop was Rocamadour, a town perched on a rock overlooking the river Alzou. There are many churches and the town was once a pilgrimage destination, rather than the tourist destination it is today. 

We then returned to our hotel for dinner and an early night. 

To Margate

After we returned home, we had a few weeks of catching up with admin matters and trying to sort out the mountain of photos, then it was time to resume to our regular visits to the UK to keep up with Ernie. 

We arrived late in the evening, having taken the train from Béziers to Paris and then the EuroStar to Ashford. 

Helen and family have now moved out of their house in Broadstairs while it is renovated and are now living in an apartment in Margate. We were able to rent another apartment in the same development, so were close by. The apartments are part of a large site, the Royal Seabathing, which was a hospital. 

The development is still being worked on, and will be for some years, but there is a large number of apartments in use already with an underground car park. 

Our first day was gloriously warm and, it being school holidays, there were plenty of people on the beach. Ernie enjoyed getting his feet wet, but it was too cold for us to play properly in the sea.

Margate is on the Loop bus which goes around Thanet, so we know some parts of it, but not others.  As usual, our week involved taking Ernie to some of his favourite a trips,  on the Loop to the Hornby visitor centre. 

A trip on the 'blue train' to Canterbury with Ernie on. Is always popular and this time he brought his scooter.  The local park was also popular and close by and we all enjoyed walks into Margate and ice creams at the little cafe of the crazy golf, which is very close to the Seabathing. 

We managed to get to London on Sunday to see Jim and Sohpie who was in the UK for a few days. 

We returned to France for a couple of days before our next trip .....