Is it possible to get bored with medieval villages and chateaux and castles and......old stuff?

Tuesday 25th April

The answer is NO. Today we've been to explore some of the above and enjoyed all of them.

But we have had a new experience: rain! Just when we were happily contemplating not wearing winter coats and we had worn T-shirts for the first time as the temperature climbed into the mid-20's, last night it started to rain. And the temperature dropped to 13 degrees as the rain/ drizzle/heavy mist persisted for the entire day. The clouds got lower and lower blocking out some of the panoramic views from the locations we visited.

But not to be thwarted we headed off to visit some more sights: we are very persistent tourists!

Equipped with our bright red French marine jackets Liz and I managed to stay dry although Liz forgot her hood and had to resort to wearing Ewan's flash new hat. We all agreed it wasn't a bad look for her!

First call was 'the feudal fortress' of Beynac. Set on the very top of a sheer cliff overlooking the Dordogne and the town below, it was a very substantial and impressive fortress. With a panoramic view for miles around there was no chance of a surprise attack, as you can see from the photos. Lots of tapestries to insulate any warmth from the huge fireplaces, and lots of pulleys to enable everything to be hoisted up to the heights of the castle. They were prepared for anything.

Restoration work in progress.

You can appreciate how steep the cliffs are and just see the town at the very bottom! 

Then it was off to De L'Abri du Fort Troglodyte - la Roque - Gageac (colloquially known as the Fort Troglodyte which I had somehow heard as Frog Troglodyte). In this place the town is set into a steep cliff straight up from the road which follows the River. So if you want to see anything it's straight up steep ramps or endless stairs. We were hoping to see the Fort which, like some of the buildings, was set into caves within the cliffs but it's being restored so no hope (although Liz admitted she wasn't sure about the old steep wooden stairs that provided access to it).

Some kind of weird date palm in Avenue
 Banans

More great views of the Dordogne River and the patchwork countryside in the drizzle and mist. On the way down Liz and I ended up going through an Avenue of Banana palms which seemed a bit bizarre in the cold rain. But there was a little church and lots of stone houses gripping the sides of the huge cliff so very pretty.

A crepe and omelette sustained us for our last visit for the day.

As opposed to Beynac where the fortress is on the top of the town and the houses are lined up along the river at the bottom of the cliff below, Domme is a town which sits at the top of the cliff and overlooks all of the surrounding landscape. We wandered around the ramparts/town wall and then around the streets of the town. Beautiful old stone mansions behind high walls, fabulous hotels and restaurants with remarkable views, and even the views from the local public park were lovely as you can see.

We decided that we should give ourselves some time off from travelling for good tourist behaviour and in the misty rain headed for home.

But only along the winding roads, so we could admire the bright green spring growth on the trees in the forests. As we have moved towards the south the flat plains of the north with open fields and few trees have been replaced by lots of trees and woods and larger hills. Not the towering huge gum trees we are used to but lots of narrow trunked bright green trees which glow in the sunshine - when the sun is out! No idea about the species of tree though!

A quiet night in and time to prepare for the trip to Bordeaux tomorrow

your relaxed and warm correspondent

Dianne