Catching up with old friends and climbing châteaux with new ones

In previous years that we have visited the Saturday morning market in Sarlat it has been absolutely packed with tourists to the point of it being difficult to even move around. With this in mind I was keen to get there early and to their credit the troops were assembled on time and we got a great park, unfortunately in drizzling rain.

We soon realised though, that we were too early, with many shops not opened and stall holders still assembling their wares – I'm still not sure if this late start was as a result of the weather as it then began to bucket down…

The group had split up at this stage with some sheltering in a café with a coffee and I decided to have a quick fringe trim from a delightful young lady who refused to even take any payment for her three minute job.

I did return later in the morning with a furry koala which the whole shop exclaimed over and sat on the counter so I figured we were all happy.

Fortunately the rain eventually moved on and business picked up to the extent we all found something worthy of our euros. We also came across a group of young men, one of whom was getting married in three weeks time.

His mate (with far better English than the groom) explained that they were taking donations for the posies they were carrying and the groom was wearing an assortment of plastic garden instruments around his waist- I'm not sure if he was a gardener or this was totally random? We spent several enjoyable minutes with the group, purchased a posy and laughingly asked whether there were any single candidates for Zoe which apparently there were!

Sunday morning the weather was on the improve and I drove us to La Roque Gageac, one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (the “most beautiful villages in France” ) of which there are currently 154 which have met the strict criteria for inclusion on this list.

We had a pleasant lunch here before moving on to the Château de Commarque some 40 minutes away.

We were going to this particular château to rendezvous with an acquaintance from last year's trip. I had started a conversation with a young man in the hot air balloon last year who told me that his daughter's favourite animal was a koala. I had given him one of the stuffed toys I carry with me and he had subsequently been sending me photos throughout the year of “Sidney” the koala in various French locations!

This time we met the whole family and I had some more koala and kangaroo related gifts for the kids which down quite well.

We spent a couple of hours with them clambering over the site which encompasses troglodyte dwellings and a medieval castle.

There are hundreds of these fascinating and archaeologically very significant sites in this region and many, like this one, are being restored largely with private funding so we felt our small admission fee of 8 euro was being put to good use.

Arriving back at our chatette in time for a quick drink and loo break, Russell and I then drove down to the train station to collect our seventh group member, Yvie. Stepping off the train still speaking Italian (where she has just spent 10 days) she looked as stylish as ever!

 

 

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