CHAPTER 16. SOUTH WEST FRANCE CONT.

Today we drive downstream along the Dordogne river. The area between Carsac and St. Cyprien is particularly pretty with many chateaux on heights and villages nestled against the base of high rock cliffs along the river. We drive up to the fortified town of Domme for a great view, a little obscured by haze, over the river. La Roque Gageac is a very pretty village and has a convenient car park along the river. We drive up to Castelnaud Castle but the walk up from the car park looks like too much for Betty so we don’t get closer. We also drive up to Beynac Castle perched on the top of a rock cliff for another great view, again a little marred by haze, of the river.

The Dordogne was a front line battlefield for much of the Hundred Years War. Castelnaud was occupied by the English, while right across the Dordogne River Beynac was loyal to the king of France. It seems strange to us that such beautiful and peaceful looking country was once the site of constant skirmishes and hand to hand battles between occupants of the fortified castles.

From Beynac we continue on to Les Eyzes-de-Tayac and locate the Michelin one star Cro-Magnon Hotel Restaurant. We have an excellent four course meal, including fresh strawberry pie for dessert, in an elegant site almost outdoors. We take scenic small roads back to Souillac via Sarlat which is crowded with a street market, maybe the same one that was in Souillac yesterday.

It is even warmer today, tho with some clouds, as we drive north to Larche then west via tertiary scenic roads to Terrasson and down the Vézere River valley. We drive by the Grotte de Lascaux where there are big crowds waiting to see the prehistoric cave art; we want to see it too, but not with Betty’s mending knee cap. The Losse Chateau nearby is a very pretty site on a rock overhanging the Vézere. At Sergeac we head cross country via scenic roads to Salignac and then Souillac, arriving in time for another excellent menu at the Aubergue de Puits. We did eat well in the Dordogne!!

It is time to leave the Dordogne Valley and return to Quillan. We drive south with a little rain at first and then with clouds most of the day. Nearing Toulouse we see La Fenal Restaurant along the highway and stop for another great meal. We go on to the Les Chanterelles Hotel in Tournefeuille where we have a garden house with bedroom, living room, toilet and bath, garage, and glass doors opening onto a patio. We watch French Open tennis on TV, then sit on the patio sipping Cointreau until it clouds up and gets cooler. Then it hails, and rains with thunder and lightning, and the electricity goes off. We use our small battery powered reading lamp to work on crossword puzzles until the the lights come on again.