Les Eyzies, Domme, Salignac 1-11 November 2023 We all left the boat on the 31st October. Michelle was off to Poland leaving at 4:15am. Daniel left at about 10:30 heading for Ireland and then London. And Howard picked up our hire car at 10:30 for our trip to the Perigord. Porte des Tours - Domme We stayed overnight in a B&B at Chateauroux, about half way there. We had a delighful dinner at the B&B, with 4 other guests who only spoke French. Overnight however, Howard had diarrhea, so he didn't go down for breakfast at 7:30am. But after a bit of a sleep in we set off for the final leg of our trip to Janet and Peter's farm near Les Eyzies. It seemed that fate was against us, as we had already been told that the central heating was broken and they weren't sure when it would be fixed, and I was still recovering from my cold. Janet and Peter When we arrived it was raining and it continued to bucket down for a few days. This meant no work outside the house, but we were happy to stay inside and chat and have a relaxing time. We had some electric heaters which did a good job of keeping the house warm enough. During Saturday night we had some kind of power problem, which resulted in about half of the power points and most of the overhead lights not working. Luckily the fridge and freezer were OK. Evening Entertainment When the weather finally cleared on Sunday morning Peter, Howard and Janet started on the list of jobs outside, but I stayed inside as my foot was quite sore. Howard cooked us a wild boar casserole using the meat that local hunters had given Janet as thanks for shooting on their land. We ate by lamp and candle light. On Monday we had an electrician visit who was able to confirm that one phase of their 3 phase power had failed and that it was a problem of the electricity supply company rather than within the house. Janet and I looked up the internet and found that there was a known problem in our area which they were expecting to fix by 2pm. Luckily the electricity came back on at 1:30, in time for the central heating guy who was coming at 2:30 with new parts for the heater. He was able to get the central heater working again, so we were back in business. Although it did take us a couple of days to realise that we needed to increase the temperature on the thermostat to bring the slab up to temperature. Farmhouse at Langlade Howard and Peter were out in the property every morning working hard on the list of jobs. Among the many jobs were pulling the ivy off the shed, clearing out the barn which is to have a new roof next year, and getting rid of brambles and other plants that are choking the garden and even some of the trees. Janet and I went to the Mairie (Town Hall) in Les Eyzies on Wednesday morning to find out what we had to do to get approval to start work on replacing the roof of their barn, and also to get permission to have a fire to get rid of all the garden waste that was being collected. In the afternoon Howard and I took a drive. As it had rained so much in the previous week, there were flood warnings and the Dordogne was running very high (no fishing this trip !). We were on our way to Domme which is a well preserved Bastide, a very important fortified town during the 100 years war and the wars of religion. From Le Belvédère de la Barre there beautiful views over the Dordogne Valley. From the Barre it was just a short walk past the church to the main square. I decided that I could do the short walk to visit the three town gates which were on the opposite side of town, on the understanding that Howard would go back for the car and pick me up. We took a different route home, through La Roque Gageac, and Beynac-et-Cazenac. We didn't do more than take a quick photo, although they are lovely towns we have visited in the past. On Thursday night we went out for dinner at a delightful, interesting and eclectic restaurant in nearby Les Eyzies. Unfortunately we had to leave on Saturday. It had been a great visit for us where we both recovered from our illnesses, had plenty of time to catch-up and reconnect with our good friends, and also to help out on the farm, with a plan to return at the end of winter to help with the bonfire. After lunch headed off for what was to be a two day trip back to Paris. We stopped at Salignac for a couple of photos in the way.
1 Comment
Suzanne Jessup
17/11/2023 12:40:14 am
Absolutely superb countryside Deb. We missed you at our annual lunch last week.Hope you are both fully restored to good health!
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