We had always planned to rent a house as part of our trip, assuming that we probably wouldn’t want to camp for the whole time and we’d even thought of doing that in the busy summer months. In fact, in this strange year, campsites have been unusually quiet. Even during the 5-6 weeks of the… Continue reading And then there were none……

Well it’s really beginning to feel autumnal, with colours turning and leaves falling. The weather forecast for this week has been dire but the days, apart from one, have actually turned out to be better than predicted so it hasn’t stopped us getting out. The days have generally been dry and quite warm in the… Continue reading Exploring three rivers

We’re in a country famous for its food and staying in regions with many local specialities that are synonymous with France – bread and patisserie, duck, foie gras, nuits, chestnuts, cheese, wine and many others. Most of our campsites have not been next to towns or villages with any restaurants, so opportunities for eating out… Continue reading Food and daily life

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… Continue reading Catching up with French friends

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… Continue reading A relaxing week

Our time at Figeac came to an end and we decided to spend another week in one of our first, and favourite, campsites on the river at Anglars-Juillac, west of Cahors. Surprisingly, the small campsite is still well-populated but mainly with Dutch and Belgian travellers – no French to be seen. It’s as beautiful as… Continue reading Harvest Time

Figeac was a great base to explore further east, both along the Lot River and also other regions. We decided to have a lazier day and to ‘let the train take the strain’ as the station at Figeac was not too far away. There are limited destinations but we opted for Rodez, a small city… Continue reading Eastern Treasures

Figeac is also on one of the Chemin de Compostelle routes but we hadn’t expected any particularly scenic walking close to the town. Our walking app showed a circular walk direct from the campsite entrance so we decided to give that a go. Very quickly we were into lovely scenery, passing some ‘pilgrims’ walking in… Continue reading Windmills – do you mind…?

Gouffre de Padirac There are a couple of more touristy sites we wanted to see and do in the northern Lot area, two of which are in the same area so we decided to make a day of them on the motorbike, now that holidaymakers have departed. The first was the Gouffre de Padirac, a… Continue reading Underground Boats and Steam Trains

This week we moved on to Figeac, the second largest town in the Lot department and situated on the River Célé at the eastern extremity of the department. Our campsite is a short bicycle ride from the centre of town, on the river Célé next to a leisure park and kayaking area. We’re not looking… Continue reading Figeac