This has been a quieter week – at last – with time spent mostly enjoying the very local area by bicycle and the lovely September weather on the riverside. The vignerons obviously have an eye on the weather, which is set to turn, and we’ve heard and seen their harvesting machines out in fields early in the morning when it’s cooler.
We ventured out one day on the motorbike to an area north-west of the campsite and which took us just into the south edge of the Périgord region, which we plan to explore more in the coming weeks. More specifically, we were venturing into the Périgord Pourpre (purple) region, so named because of the grapes and wines of this region, most notably Bergerac and Montbazillac. When we were at this campsite back in July, we did a trip out to the Western a Lot region and stopped at the beautiful hilltop village of Montflanquin. As we ate our lunch looking out over the ramparts we could see another huge and impressive hilltop town or castle in the distance. Following the general direction towards it, we did try to find it, without success, although we discovered other lovely places that day.
Back to this week and our destination for our ride out was Chateau de Biron. As we approached we realised that this was the hilltop edifice we had seen that day and Monflanquin was now visible in the distance from there. The monumental castle is a mixture of buildings that have been extended and added to since the 12th century with parts of the architecture reflecting different periods from medieval to Renaissance. Until last century, throughout this time the castle was in the ownership of one wealthy and powerful family of the region, but unfortunately the Marquis de Biron squandered away the family fortune on casinos and horses and the castle was sold in the 1930s and then later acquired by the Dordogne department. Given its position, the surrounding views are the usual uninterrupted panoramic vistas. The countryside in this area is very attractive with Périgord style ‘mini-chateau’ houses clad in the local golden stone.
The warmer weather has made the river look very enticing and we have been meaning to try stand-up paddle boarding at one of our riverside stops. In fact since we got to France (and before) we’ve been talking about whether to get an inflatable canoe or paddle board and whether we really need to carry around any more equipment in our Tardis of a campervan. In the end they were all sold out in the shops anyway, so the decision was made. The wind was very low on two afternoons and the river like a mill pond so we decided to give it a go, with the owner assuring us the boards are very stable. Knowing we wouldn’t get any other tuition (apart from ‘ keep away from the weir’) we watched a YouTube video beforehand to get some tips – and very helpful they were. Erik set us up with the boards, helped us to get onto them kneeling down, and we were off. To our surprise, we were both able to stand up within a few minutes and paddle up river. Joe took a couple of impromptu swims along the way (for refreshment purpose!) but otherwise we did much better than we had expected. In fact we decided to go out again the next day and get some photographic evidence. Joe’s not convinced he prefers a paddle board to a canoe, but both may well still be on our Christmas lists…….
Wow, is there no end to your talents?
Beginners’ luck I think Mary! x
Well done on the paddle boarding. I’m sure I would have been in the drink within seconds of standing up if not before 🙄🙄
If the river hadn’t been mill pond calm I think I would have been too!