A New Adventure in France

We’ve moved on again to another riverside location, this time in the west part of the Dordogne river and on the borders of the Périgord Pourpre (named for the grapes) and the Périgord Noir (named for the dark oak forests). Our campsite is at Limeuil which sits on the confluence of the Dordogne and the Vezère rivers with a golden stone bridge crossing each river. Limeuil is another of the Plus Beaux Villages de France so we’re really counting them off in that virtual sticker book. The campsite is right on the river with a shingle beach and views over the old town. There is plenty of wildlife to see and hear including egrets, swans, owls, woodpeckers and red squirrels. This was actually a site that we had booked to stay at during the first two months of our longer trip, but it got cancelled due to our delayed departure, so we’re pleased to have made it here.

We were also delighted to be joined here for one night by Claire’s first Cestas french exchange host, Danièle, and husband Michel. Danièle started English lessons with the Cestas group but wasn’t able to continue so Claire was then allocated a second lovely host and now has the pleasure of knowing two couples in the Bordeaux area. Danièle and Michel bought a campervan about a year before us and have recently changed to a newer one, basically a Renault version of ours. They also had plans for travels this year – to Norway – which had to be cancelled and so have been taking advantage of weather windows as and when French lockdown has allowed. They were travelling back from the Auvergne region to Bordeaux and would be passing close to us so it was a lovely opportunity to catch up.

We walked across to Limeuil on the afternoon they arrived and had a look around the village. It used to be an important and busy port town, sitting on two rivers, and the entrance gate showed markings of the height of floodwaters in the village – 1944 was not a good year for the villagers, however tall you were! The Maison de la Justice at the top of the village is where rowdy sailors were locked up for the night. A wedding party was passing the town, with all cars in the procession sounding their horns. The bride and groom were in a Citroen Mahari jeep – a collector’s vehicle that Joe has always liked but which are surprisingly expensive to buy. There are lovely views from the top of the village and the village church houses a black Virgin Mary – of particular significance to boatmen.

When we got back to camp we were invited to join our friends for an aperitif, which turned out to be a bottle of champagne and we discovered it was Danièle’s birthday so we felt particularly honoured that they had chosen to spend the evening with us. Michel was a teacher before he retired 3 years ago and taught English to young children so Joe and Michel were able to converse in a mixture of French and English although Joe’s confidence in french grew impressively during their visit.

The following day Danièle and Michel wanted to do something in the area before returning home and suggested Chateau de Beynac, a well known castle above a town on the Dordogne about 40 minutes away. We all went in their campervan and after parking at the bottom of the town we climbed the near vertical cobbled streets of the beautiful village to arrive at the castle at the top. How do the locals cope in the wet or with their shopping? This part of the Dordogne is very touristy and usually swarming with Brits but we saw only one or two British cars all day and numbers of other visitors were also pretty low.

The castle really is everything you could ask for in a ‘proper’ castle, with all the medieval features you would expect including moat, keep, drawbridge and portcullis type entrance, and the bedroom of Richard the Lionheart. No wonder it has featured in a number of French films, none that we recognised. The castle is privately owned and you can only imagine the costs that must have been involved in the renovations that have taken place over the past 50 years. A really great visit enhanced of course by being with our lovely friends. In fact it was the first time we’ve had the chance to interact in French over an extended period – and quite tiring after our brain cells had been fully exercised! Bordeaux is one of the Covid red zones in France so unfortunately it looks like we won’t be able to catch up with Cestas friends there this year.