Packing, poppies and birthday cake

On our last day in the chatette we decided to take a trip down memory lane and visit the lovely bastide town of Monpazier. A number of us had stayed in a villa there last year and it was also the village that our 2015 ride finished in so was familiar to all of us except Zoe and Annette.

It was just as lovely as ever and we all found shops to peruse and then had a great lunch in the square.

Rather than cooking on our last night, we followed our host's recommendations and drove the short distance to Domme, the beautiful bastide village that Russell, Zoe and I had visited before the girls arrived.

I thought the girls would appreciate the view which they did and the restaurant did not disappoint either.

After two weeks in the house there was a considerable pack up and clean to be done (especially taking the bottles to the depot!) but many hands made light work and Saturday morning we were out on schedule at 9.30 and on our way to a considerably bigger Sarlat market.

What a difference sunshine makes! The market had swelled to the size I remembered from previous trips and I was glad that the girls would see it at full capacity.

We spent the better part of the morning there and then set off with both cars loaded to the max, en route to Bordeaux train station to meet Patrick.

A spectacular poppy field en route was too good to pass and provided a great photo op as well as a challenge to extricate ourselves from the narrow dead end road but was totally worth it.

The GPS managed to guide us quite coincidentally to exactly the right 'Hall' of the Gare de Bordeaux where we were due to meet Patrick and Rosey had time to return her rental car nearby before he arrived.

French kisses were exchanged both ways and new introductions made for the first timers and we were all introduced to the 9th rider, Yves, a French gentleman who has been on many of Patrick's rides previously.

Russell, Zoe and I then set the GPS for Château Lamothe where we were to collect the last two members of our group, Charlie and Lyn, who had only flown in the night before from Oz and were catching up with old contacts.

We all reached our final destination, the small village of Sauternes, in time for dinner which provided a congenial “get to know each other” as well as an opportunity to celebrate Sharon's birthday.

Tomorrow, the real action begins!

 

 

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