Club Motorhome Bloggers

Blogs written by Club Motorhome members.
Font size: +
4 minutes reading time (778 words)

Still in France, but only just

News No 2

 

After leaving our overnight spot on the Loire we travelled on to Oradour-sur Glane, near Limoges. Oradour is the site of an atrocity carried out by the Waffen SS in 1944 – just a few days after D-day. In their effforts to supress the resistance they attacked the village murdering one third of its inhabitants, of whom the majority in the village during the day were of course women, children and the elderly. They then burned out the village, which has been kept as a memorial; a new village was built just a few hundred yards away, but not until 10 years later.

b2ap3_thumbnail_P10709731.jpgb2ap3_thumbnail_P10709801.jpgb2ap3_thumbnail_P10709851.jpg

The following morning we were befriended by a cat; it simply walked in as we opened the door, and despite being forcibily removed camped on our step. Eventually we gave in as it had not tried to claw us when we threw it out, so we made abit of a fuss of it. No doubt it it regularly popped down to visit the motorhomers – it certainly looked as if it was used to having double rations! We called him 'Smoky' which he seemed to respond to, no doubt to ingratiate himself for a free meal!

b2ap3_thumbnail_P1070989.jpg

 

After a second night in Oradour we set off towards Perigueux, visiting a historic old village en-route

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P10800041_20141128-154944_1.jpgb2ap3_thumbnail_P1080007_20141128-155003_1.jpg

 

This is some of real rural France - a country so large that it has villages which have almost been 'forgotten'. The village garage, which looked as if its former life had been as a quite grand cinema or maybe even a music-hall, had long since finished trading, so we were too late to refuel Sally, even from the newer of the two petrol pumps!

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P10800111_20141128-155110_1.jpg

 

And so to Perigueux. Have a close look at the roofs of the houses. We'd not seen anything like it before.

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P10800201_20141128-155221_1.jpg

 

The next day we went on to Sarlat-la-Caneda in the Dordogne.

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P10800371_20141128-155516_1.jpg

 

We saw several groups of people dressed in tabards following a 'leader' and making notes – our guess is that they will be next summer's guides. There were a few other visitors but it was quite quiet until an invasion of Japanese tourists arrived, so we think it is probably a World Heritage Site, as the Japanese only seem to bother with the best! We went to our 'favourite French restaurant' – we visited it about five years ago and decided it was worth going again for another proper lunch.

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P1080030.jpg

 

We opted for the 5 course menu for the princely sum of 20 euros - it was excellent and certainly precluded any need to eat again for the rest of the day. We may not go there often, but we are pretty sure we'll be there again some day! On our return to Sally it started to rain – the first time in a week other than a few 'spits and spots'. And it rained for hours, which ws OK with us as we just stayed where we were, read a bit and slept off our lunch until next morning, by which time we were fit to drive again!

 

Then we headed for the Lot, with better weather for most of the day than had been promised. On the way we came across a a medieval village. Here the TI was open, manned by a lovely lady who's almost accent-less English was explained by the fact that she had moved there from The Netherlands some 20 years ago. She explained that at that time the village was in a very bad way, and was not recogonised for what it is. However, things are on the move now, with peple moving in to renovate the houses and set up small businesses and they now have as many as 4 people mannng the TI in the summer just to keep up with demand.

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P1080051.jpg

The 'Mushroom House' – with room for the carts to pass either side

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P1080056.jpg

This is some original wall before renovation.

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P1080058.jpg

It was good to see a place where the houses were being carefully restored and mainntained rather than 'done up'; all credit to 'the Planners'!! And we found something particularly endearing in this old French village

 b2ap3_thumbnail_P1080054_20141128-160149_1.jpg

 

We arrived in Biarritz this afternoon and will visit tomorrow. We are parked along with a multi-national group of about 20 motorhomers with the Aire at about 2/3s capacity – we think you'd be lucky to get in here - 1½ miles from the centre – in the summer. The weather is still holding up at about 16 deg., so very pleasant for getting out and about.

×
Stay Informed

When you subscribe to the blog, we will send you an e-mail when there are new updates on the site so you wouldn't miss them.

The rain in Spain
Off to Spain
 

ADVERT - Full Members don't see these - click our link below to hide them

Click here to join or upgrade to Full Member

We use cookies
We use essential cookies to personalise your use of our website. Please click the OK button to agree and continue.

Enhance Your Experience: Install Our App Now!

Get instant access to our app by installing it on your iOS device!
Simply tap the Share (share) button at the bottom of your screen,
then select Add to Home Screen ( Add to Home screen ).
Follow the prompts to add our app icon to your home screen for quick and easy access.
Enjoy seamless browsing and stay connected wherever you go!

× Install Web App
Mobile Phone
Offline - No Internet Connection
Offline - No Internet Connection