Having decided to leave Europe via Calais we started our progression through France amazed at how warm the weather was. We had heard how chilly it was by comparison to Spain and were not looking forward to being cold at all.
Taking the coastal route to Perpignon through the Costa Brava, Lloret de Mar, Bascara etc etc we stayed just one night in Elne very close to San Cyprien beach and Perpignon City.
Our main aim in France this time was to head to the Dordogne. I had read a book The Ripening Sun by Patricia Atkinson and had always wished to go see and explore the area she described in her narration. It sounded magical and we needed to go and see this wonderous place for ourselves.
So we headed for the mid pyranees - driving through continuous wine country under a clear blue sky, huge and grand chateaux dotted along the backdrop of this most amazing scenery - this was truly the grass roots of France and an incredible day of travelling. Suddenly our surroundings became more and more familiar and we realised we were in Montelieu, a very unspoilt village high above a deep gorge renowned for its plentiful "other worldly" bookshops or libraries as the French call them. We had thoroughly explored this village on our last visit to France so we kept moving on to Saissac where the panorama is spectacular and a must stop for photo addicts like us. Arriving at our chosen campsite,once again, it was closed!!!!! No worries a Camperstop beside a Cemetery, undertaker/funeral parlour will do us for one night - it is free after all!!!!!! As eery would have it a fog descended that night and hung over us the next morning so we eagerly decamped and headed for Vezac, at last we were getting close to the Dordogne region. Yesterday though we were basking in 25 degree temps - today we had 8 degrees!! Our luck had run out.
The weather was so bad this day that as we passed through Castelnau and Larrouse - picture perfect townships - it was just not worth stopping. The French countryside on a dismal wet day is nothing like the French countryside in sunshine so we ambled on. Montricoux, Caussade, Thadrac, Degonac, Cenac, Roque Gageac - whoa we are here, Patricia Atkinson country! Gageac was where she had her vineyard, on which the book was based, and gosh the sight before us was amazing. To our left the mighty Dordogne River and to our right a sheer mountain face that a whole township had been built into. It is totally beyond description but our photos on facebook tell the whole story. There were "once habited" caves, houses, churches, chateaux, castles and turretts all built into and below this amazing cliff face - what a sight to behold.
We camped in Vezac that night, surrounded by these majestic castles - the temperature was also 0 degrees. So, as we had seen and explored a little of the area in very unpleasant weather, we decided to move on but not before visiting Beynac et Cazenac, a magnificent castle 3kms from Gageac, vowing to return in more clement weather - like summer.
Continuing north-west we drove through the Limousin area to Lac de Saint Pardoux - where Molly broke the speed limit going uphill - through the Loire Valley to Le Mans - where, well I am sure you all know what goes on here..........! Knickle knackle trees line the roadside and are caught in silhouette as the fog rolls in at around mid day each and every day and it is freezing. "Je suis Charlie" references pop up here and there and at every Boulangerie that is open we stop to buy a "mille fueille" - open is the operative word here and deep down I am grateful most are closed.
As was our next campsite closed at Mont Saint Michel - gosh Alan Rogers (Camping Cheque)you really need to get it right!!! However much closer to the Mount is a huge Camperstop where we parked, took down the bikes and biked to the Mount. Both healthier and cheaper.
There are so many changes happening around this place, the main one attempting to re route the dyke as the water is undermining the foundations at high tide - not forgetting it has been surrounded by water at high tide for hundreds of years - so reclamation work spoils both the tranquility and aura of this wondrous feat of architecture. It is also very, very commercialised.
However, once away from the hustle and bustle, as you go deeper into the buildings, the peacefulness returns and there is plenty to oooh and aarh over for hours - which is exactly what we did.
Next morning we headed for Dieppe - a drive of 5hours plus - through the Vallee de la Vire. Molly gets a special lane - the Vehicular Lents lane (the slow lane) - and then, ironically, gets flashed by a speed camera???? Go figure that one.
We seem to have found the sun again temporarily but the whole landscape is covered with a haze. Towns flick past but to be honest we are just driving - there is little to see other than gorgeous, furry, white cows and nickle, nackle trees. This part of France is not special for us so after a night in Dieppe we head straight for Calais and the ferry terminal.
The weather is now atrocious - cold, strong winds and very wet. We are parked in a Camperstop on the edge of the ferry terminal. Great big ferries back out of their berths, do a 180 wind and head out to sea - right outside our bedroom window and all night long. Helicopters join in at 3am.................!!!!!!
Tomorrow morning it will be Molly and us on the ferry heading for Blighty. We are just hoping the weather is a little more friendly. Fingers crossed X
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