Delivering Linelle to the train on Friday served several purposes apart from the obvious. I had already emailed the Office de Tourisme about leaving our luggage there the next day so we sussed out how to get to a nearby (narrow and quiet) backstreet to drop the girls and luggage when Russell and I would have to return Pablo to Bordeaux on Saturday.

We also managed to find a dentist to repair the tooth that Fiona had chipped the day before (43 euro thanks very much!), chat to the dentist about her show jumping daughter and visit another sellerie ( saddlery) where they had a great hot pink bridle (that I may forever regret not buying…) and have a farewell lunch with Linelle.

Back in Monpazier it was time to do the last day pack up (challenging for everyone by now) and enjoy a final dinner against the Monpazier skyline.

Saturday morning we were on the road by 10 heading back to Agen where Patrick, our ride organiser (from 2015) would collect us later in the day. Unfortunately the only down side of the lease car ( as opposed to a rental) was return had to be at Bordeaux, so after leaving Fiona, Yvie and Julie with a mountain of luggage at the Office de Tourisme, Russell and I returned the car to Bordeaux ( a little under 2 hours in heavy holiday traffic) and then caught the train back to Agen.

Patrick was there to greet us as we walked out of Agen train station and as we climbed into the familiar white van we were soon chatting like old friends and on our way to collect the other three plus luggage. One of the many things I really like about Patrick is there are never any comments about the excess luggage we seem to have accumulated every time we meet him!

I won't detail the following week too much except for a few highlights, mostly it was just wonderful riding and company … Suffice to say it was the same but different to last year. Great horses, a patient informative guide, ( who treats his horses magnificently) diverse but different ( to 2015) countryside and of course wonderful food and wine.

The Armagnac region is known obviously for its Armagnac (brandy) but also for its Floc and we visited the winery that Patrick works in during winter to hear all about the process and try a glass or two.

Floc de Gascogne is a sweet, strong liqueur, made by blending barely-fermenting grape juice with Armagnac brandy. It can be made in both white and rosé forms and can be produced in any vineyard which qualifies for the Bas Armagnac, Haut Armagnac and Armagnac-Tenareze titles. Patrick proudly produced it as an aperitif every lunch time and we all became quite fond of 'Floc time!'

We visited a winery owned by a direct descendant of D'Artagnan ( see the Three Musketeers) and tried more wine and had amongst the best belly laughs of the trip…

We rode through villages large and small and miles of sunflower crops in full bloom, our reward for braving the heat and July tourists encountered in Provence earlier.

Sunflowers gave way to vineyards and harvested fields (perfect cantering spots) and then to a slow moving river which one day provided a shady spot for Simon to set up lunch for us and the horses.

Russell's horse, Roland, is apparently the boss of the herd and on more than one occasion he untied himself and Patrick was happy to let him wander the field and join us for lunch one day!

We stayed in impressive château variously owned by an English couple who had intended to buy a weekender but met a guy at a bar who told them about a bargain that needed some work….

to the gorgeous Château Saint-Loup, owned by a French monarchist couple whose private chapel ( containing a fourth century tomb – allegedly the Bishop Saint-Loup,) was the view from our window.

Rumour has it that after the French Revolution the villagers wanted to move the tomb to a village church but the four pair of oxen pulling the wagon refused to leave the property so he was returned to his original resting place!

It is mainly used as a wedding venue now but the owners are friends of Patrick so we five had the place to ourselves.

We had dinner in Condom, (home of the wonderful Three Musketeers and D'Artagnan sculpture) and heard the local band in full song after dinner, some of us even dancing in the square after a rosé or three..

In Nerac we had dinner in the shadow of the château where Jeanne d'Albret, mother of the future Henri IV of France once lived.

On our final night in the village of Barbaste we discovered another saddlery and did our bit for the local economy (OK, mainly me) and then strolled back past the picturesque moulin (mill) where we would have our last dinner together that night.

Saturday morning we visited Nerac market before four of us departed Agen by TGV for Paris and Patrick drove Fiona to Bergerac for her onward journey to the UK.

The thousands of photos that I took do not do this area justice – the Gascogne is much less visited than other parts of France but has a surprise around every corner for those intrepid enough to venture here and I'm sure we'll be back!

A bientôt 🙂

 

Thursday morning was the Monpazier market and despite arriving from Australia only the night before, Fiona seemed up to the challenge so we headed off in six different directions in what was quite a sizeable and diverse market for a village the size of Monpazier.

There were typical fruit and veg, fish, sausages, cheeses, many jewellery vendors ( some from Thailand, some handmade in the region), clothing and other many other 'treasures' and it turned out to be quite a fruitful morning for all of us!

After a quick lunch at home the plan was to drive to the spectacular village of Rocamadour, located to the east of us – a cliff top village located above the river Alzou. Russell and I had visited on a previous occasion and thought the unique setting would appeal to the rest of the group.

The town itself sits below a collection of monastic buildings and pilgrimage churches reached by the Grand Escalier (“big staircase”) It is now largely dependant on tourism which has resulted in some tacky souvenir shops shoulder to shoulder with some artisan stores worth having a browse in.

The drive ( a little under two hours) got more challenging the closer we got with narrow winding stretches where we encountered crazy oncoming drivers and buses that stretched my driving skills. I was beginning to worry whether the girls were going to think it was worth it but when Julie exclaimed “wow! That's amazing!” as we drove around the last corner, it was all worthwhile.

 

We spent a couple of hours wandering around the cobbled streets taking photographs, visiting the churches and buying take home gifts but saved the ascent for the lift which climbs 50 metres a lot quicker than we could!

We had to be on the road again by late afternoon though as we had a dinner booking at Hotel Edward 1er, the hotel we had stayed in on our last night in 2015.

 

Dinner turned out to be a lively and delicious event in a beautiful outdoor setting with balmy conditions. It would be our last dinner as a group of six as we would deliver Linelle to the train in Agen the next day as she continued her journey homeward.

 

 

Dragging ourselves out of bed at the very unfamiliar time of 5am we were glad to see beautiful clear and calm conditions and during the 40 minute drive to the meeting point we noticed little patches of mist in low lying fields.

We were meeting in Beynac and it was a contrast seeing this village with hardly a tourist in sight compared to the packed village we had seen and canoed past yesterday.

Before long we were joined by a family of three and a father and his adult son who were locals celebrating Dad's birthday. Our pilot, Francis, arrived and we were on our way to the launch site, balloon and basket in the trailer behind.

Being a bit of a veteran at balloon rides (hahaha) I knew that the groundwork would take awhile and watched Julie who was wide eyed with excitement and a tiny bit of apprehension as preparations got underway.

Francis had a very efficient helper and it wasn't too long before we were briefed on landing position and then clambering over and into the basket and gently floating up. It was obviously perfect conditions as we saw five other balloons popping out one by one from over the hills to our west.

Fields of sunflowers stretched in one direction as château after château popped into view in the other. The villages of La Roque Gageac and Beynac were simply stunning and it felt like we could literally have stepped out into the courtyard of Richard the Lionheart's castle atop the cliff.

All too soon Francis landed us perfectly in a hay field (after gently nudging a few tree tops on the way down) and we celebrated with café and croissants in the field – an absolutely exhilarating experience.

One of the other passengers was a local who had brought his Dad a ticket as a birthday present and he told us that his daughters favourite animal was a koala and that she had planted a eucalyptus tree in their yard! Luckily I had a spare soft toy back at the house and I arranged to drop it into the local Office de Tourisme for him to collect. (The next day I got a Facebook message thanking me and advising me he had left some homemade jam for me!)

All in all a beautiful experience, if you're going to try hot air ballooning the country that pioneered it is a great place to start!

On the way home we couldn't resist the opportunity to photograph the magnificent sunflower fields, passing these on previous days we had been put off by traffic and extreme heat but this morning was perfect .

After a slow day savouring our early morning experience, Russell and I left the girls organising dinner whilst we drove back to Bordeaux to collect Fiona whose ballooning career was unfortunately going to have to wait until another day.

 

Sunday afternoon with a combined effort from Jeanette and Russell we completed the 2.5 hour drive into the busy city of Bordeaux ( still undergoing major roadworks which almost caused us to miss our flight in 2015) and parked in Bordeaux-Merignac airport. Our timing was perfect as we literally ran into the three girls as they were walking out to meet us.

New acquaintances were made, old friendships rekindled and stories shared from all of our experiences on holidays thus far on the long drive back to Monpazier.

After the girls had chosen a bedroom each, had the grand tour and unpacked, Russell cooked a barbie and we proceeded to get further acquainted over several bottles of local wine as we discussed plans for the upcoming week.

Not wanting to waste a minute but faced with a forecast of 38C, the next day we started slowly – lunch at stunning La Roque Gageac before visiting the nearby Marqueyssac Gardens.

The residence at Marqueyssac, in its current form, was built in the 1800s and inherited in 1861 by Julien de Cerval who was a passionate gardener and dedicated thirty years of his life to beautifying the grounds. He planted the tens of thousands of box woods which give the gardens the classic green appearance and was also interested in Italian culture so adopted aspects of Italian design as well. Unfortunately it was just too hot to fully explore the extensive acres and we found ourselves convening at the cafe with its cooling 'misters' after viewing the highlights. Personally, I enjoyed the gardens of Eyrignac (visited in 2008,) a little more I think but it was still absolutely worth the 8 euro entrance fee.

We were in no fit state to do anything but fall into the pool on our return, except drink more wine of course!

With Tuesday forecast to be even hotter, we decided the only thing to do was hit the water. Armed with picnic baguettes and fruits rouge we drove back to La Roque Gageac and made what was for some of us, a canoeing debut.

It was a popular pastime on this sweltering day and the river was a spectacle of coloured canoes and kayaks, ringing with laughter, shrieks and singing as we gently floated downstream under ancient bridges and past stunning château.

 

 

The baguettes tasted like a banquet when we pulled over to a shady spot for lunch and a paddle before resuming the 9km journey downstream to the point where we would be transported by bus back to the start.

I think it was a unanimous decision that we had made the best decision given the weather today.

 

 

Dinner was back in Monpazier village where we had a beautiful three course meal for a very reasonable 29 euros and discussed the highlights of the day which included Yvie's burgeoning canoeing skills.

The latest on the weather outlook indicated that the end of the week included potential thunderstorms and increasing cloud and so after consultation with le montgolfiere ( the hot air balloonist) it was decided that tomorrow morning would be optimal conditions, unfortunately meaning Fiona (not arriving until Wednesday night), would miss out.

The rendezvous point was at Beynac at 0630 so the three of us who were taking to the skies had a relatively early night and set the alarm for the first time in a couple of weeks.

 

The long drive to Sarlat was made more arduous by the violent wind that persisted Friday morning and the autoroute we were on ( one of the main routes into the Iberian peninsula) was packed with traffic, especially heavy trucks.

The 130kms/hour speed limit seemed like just a suggestion to some drivers and it was a period of intense concentration for the first couple of hours. Once we turned more westerly traffic thinned out considerably and the country also became more picturesque.

We found ourselves crossing the Millau bridge (an engineering feat, previously mentioned in another blog!) and on roads we had traversed in 2012.

Finally, signs mentioning Sarlat started to appear and we eventually rolled into Sarlat and found our hotel at about 6pm – plenty of time to freshen up before strolling into the old town for dinner.

On a warm July morning it was packed! The photo above shows about a tenth of the market. Every man and his dog was checking out the delights of the Sarlat market and in some sections it was a vaguely unpleasant shoulder to shoulder shuffle. There were however some great offerings and we spent the morning (separately) perusing, tasting, trying on and enjoying the market personalities!

We stocked up on some tasty offerings in preparation for the next stage of our party arriving tomorrow and then gave Jeanette the task of getting us to Monpazier and our next rental, only 42km away but almost an hours drive given the roads in the area.

We passed several familiar spots (from 2008) with many stunning views of La Dordogne ( the river for which the region is named) and it was just before 5 that we rounded the last corner and the “Dordogne Country House” came into view. The now familiar ‘key in the safe box’ routine negotiated we stepped in to a beautiful but dark residence as all of the shutters were closed to the heat.

Some time later we were able to view the house in all its splendour having thrown back the shutters and opened the windows as we wandered through the 4 acres of surrounding gardens, pool and terraces – our home for the next week.

Tomorrow, off to Bordeaux to collect Yvie, Linelle and Julie.