Monday was wet again so it wasn’t until the afternoon when it brightened up that we ventured out. We had new neighbours on two sides, who were all very chatty – Nico and Ria from Holland with their dog Mike, and Agnes and Hank from Germany/Holland (He’s Dutch and she’s German, and their front door is in Holland, but their back garden’s in Germany!) Agnes is very forward and within seconds of meeting us, had given Karol advice on how to hang her washing out (!) and had invited herself into Stavvers for a nosey round. She was however very complimentary about Karol’s choice of interior decor!
After these encounters we decided to explore the small roads from the campsite on our bikes, and set off with a map from reception. Unfortunately I misread it and we set off in the wrong direction and soon encountered Karol’s nemesis – hills! They weren’t particularly steep but they went on, and on and on…. Eventually we reached the top only to be faced with a 3 km downhill on the main road as our only option. This led into Le Buisson so we cycled over the railway line, over the bridge crossing the Dordogne and turned right to a small hamlet called Bicaroque. This is a very pretty village but not much there, so we consulted the map again and realised that we weren’t far from the quiet road that we tried to pick up from the campsite. We picked this up a few minutes later and had a very pleasant quiet ride back to the site.
On our return we once more chatted with Nico and Ria who invited us back to their motorhome for a beer. We spent a lovely couple of hours with them, with conversation topics from Brexit to football (Holland had lost the previous evening to Portugal in the final) and a fair bit in between! Nico is the most articulate lorry driver I’ve ever met.
On Tuesday we got up a bit earlier and drove to Le Buisson to catch the train to Perigueux – about 45 minutes by train to the north. It’s the capital of the region and its largest city. We’d arrived by 9.30 so after a quick coffee and croissant we attempted to find the Tourist Information to pick up a map. Unfortunately, despite our best efforts using Google maps, two guide books and following roadsigns, we failed. Plan B – lets follow the walking tour in the guide book instead.
Perigueux is split into two parts – the medieval area and the roman area. Our first ‘tour’ took in all the important landmarks for the medieval area including the Cathedral St-Front, the Tour Mataguerre – a 15th century tower and the last one standing out of an original 28, and the Place du Coderc and the Place St-Louis where the most affluent houses were those belonging to the butchers who made pate and foie gras. By chance we also stumbled across the Tourist Information office, which had obviously moved as it was nowhere near where it should have been!
The weather had improved to the point where we could take off our coats but by 12.30 we were getting hungry so stopped for lunch, another delicious meal of the day and glass of wine. Afterwards we decided to make the most of the sunshine with a tour of the roman area. No sooner had we arrived at the first stop, the arena, than the heavens opened, and after trying to stay dry under a tree we eventually sheltered in a roman tunnel until it eased. Then the sun came out again, which allowed us to complete the tour, and dry off at the same time. The roman remains are spectacular and really well preserved so we were pleased the rain had stopped.
We caught the next train back to Le Buisson, made the long awaited Panzanella salad (which was delicious, thanks Debi!) and had a lazy evening.
The next day was wet again so we had another food shopping trip where we bumped into Peter and Ro. By chance we’d just bought them some Caprice des Dieux cheese – one of our favourites and they hadn’t tried it before. When we got back Roe called round to thank us and invited us to join them in the afternoon for tea and apricot tart. Never ones to refuse food we accepted and were just about to pop round when Hank knocked on the window and asked if he could also inspect Stavvers decor! It did seem a little strange but maybe they were just being very friendly, who knows? After talking to Hank for about half an hour we went next door, had our tea and cake and then we decided it was time for some wine. 3 bottles of red wine later the rainy afternoon had passed very happily! Peter and Roe are a lovely couple and we get on really well – as the forecast for Thursday was good we invited them to us for a barbecue.
Thursday was glorious so we set off for some water gardens in Carsac-Aillac where they have a spectacular number of water lilies. Gill had recommended similar gardens Latour-Marliac (where Monet was inspired) but having looked at the map it seemed too far from Limeuil – maybe when we are in St Sernin? We had a beautiful drive along quiet roads and a fabulous morning looking round the gardens. The gardens cover 3 hectares of an old Gallo-Roman site, beautifully planted with paths which give views all round. There are so many varieties of lilies, all different colours and a noisy chorus of frogs and toads (sorry Rob!). Hopefully the photos do the gardens justice.
We stopped off to do a bit more food and wine shopping on the way back, then had a relaxing hour by the pool before heading back to get organised for the barbecue. Peter and Ro helped us out by bringing sun dried tomato bruschetta for starters and apricot tart for dessert (different and even better than the one we’d had on Wednesday – this one from a wonderful bakery on the outskirts of Le Bugue). We had a great evening (our recycling bin is now overflowing with wine bottles) and a really good laugh.
It is interesting that on campsites the world over, after a few drinks the conversation inevitably turns to bodily functions. Peter had mentioned the day before that as he had been the sales manager of a kitchen and bathroom business he took a professional interest in all bathrooms, and had regaled us with a story about a customer who had complained that he couldn’t clear his new toilet when flushing. They had contacted the manufacturer for advice, and had been asked if they and the client had consulted the ‘stool chart.’ Not knowing such a thing existed Peter had researched it, and sure enough there is a chart showing the various sizes and shapes of stools. He very proudly demonstrated it to us! Of course, he only had to mention it once more to have us all falling around laughing – the great leveller of toilet humour eh?
We have heard these amorous frogs before – on our cycling holiday. they are really noisy. But there were no waterlilies unfortunately.