We drove down through central France on Saturday 6th June, with huge storms and winds on our tail, but a great highway in front of us. We drove right through the lower half of the Loire Valley, into the Massif Centrale and into Dordogne region - about 4.5 hours according to Tom Tom, but it took us most of the day with pit stops. The beauty of the rolling valleys and hills (and many winding roads!) was pretty immense, and made up for the grey skies.
We found our gite at Petit Maison (near Sarlat) without too many hitches and have settled in pretty well. The gite is built into a small embankment and has a cave like quality (!)but it pretty comfy with all mod cons. We have done well with a little home cooking Dordogne style and dining out in some super nice places. Duck seems to be on every menu, and we enjoyed most of the different styles of cooking, including in the crepes! all the patie de fois gras cunard style are everywhere, with the cute little ducks in all the shop windows! quack quack,poor little beggars.Walnuts and truffles also feature strongly in this district.
Thumbs up to the lovely little French villages, beautiful despite their winding narrow roads and speeding locals,the gorgeous old castle gardens preserved so lovingly by the French,the ambience of the River Domme and its lovely green lush valley terrain. The valleys are so numerous here that each has its own weather pattern, distinct from the next! We also have to say that the rural French people have remained very charming, and have tolerated our poor attempts at French very well!
I am not sure there is any thumbs down, except the weather could have been better overall; but has not really interfered with our plans, and today was quite sunny and warm! Tomorrow also predicted to be warm, then off to Provence.
Enjoying ourselves immensely, more stories soon (and photos tomorrow)
cheerio
Val, Cheryl and Marcelle
