Before we left the UK, having seen a feature about vintage car racing around the ramparts of the historic centre of Angoulême, we decided to make that one of our stops and booked up for Circuit des Remparts. Our base for the 5 days was the municipal campsite just outside the city and next to… Continue reading Circuit des Remparts Angoulême
Oradour-sur-Glâne
Back in July we tried to visit the ‘Village of Martyrs’ at Oradour-sur-Glâne but were thwarted by a lack of phone signal to access our health passes that had been introduced for museums in France that very day. Joe has already visited the site a couple of times so a few days on my own… Continue reading Oradour-sur-Glâne
Limoges – Part II
Fortified by lunch and a glass of wine I headed off to find out about the porcelain that Limoges is world famous for, and the place to do that is the Musée national Adrien Dubouché which houses the most extensive public collection of Limoges porcelain in the world. The current museum dates back to the… Continue reading Limoges – Part II
A solo trip to Limoges
We’ve travelled back to the house in the Haute-Vienne as Joe is travelling to Normandy to meet up with biker friends from the UK and attend the Normandy Beach Race, a race of vintage cars and bikes that takes place on Sword Beach in Ouistreham. (https://Normandy beach race.com/en/). This is the first time we’ve been… Continue reading A solo trip to Limoges
Eymet and Duras
On another of our days out from Sainte Foy we headed due south to the Dropt river valley, exploring the towns of Eymet and Duras and the countryside in between. The Dropt river is a tributary of the Garonne and today runs through gentle rolling countryside of corn, tobacco and sunflowers but originally would have… Continue reading Eymet and Duras
When in Rome…
We’re in the heart of wine country here so we can’t miss the opportunity to check out some of the produce. First to the east and the Monbazillac region south of Bergerac which is famous for its sweet white wines. The village of Monbazillac and Chateau de Monbazillac were our destination for a day out… Continue reading When in Rome…
Sainte Foy la Grande
We moved on last weekend and the week seems to have flown by. We have some things planned in September and won’t be moving further south until they’re done, so we moved just a couple of hours north to Sainte Foy la Grande which is about 15 miles west of Bergerac and on the south… Continue reading Sainte Foy la Grande
Dipping into the Gers
Two articles last week in different newspapers featuring the Gers department piqued our interest -it’s a region we don’t know and haven’t visited. As it’s only a little south of Moissac we decided to head out on the motorbike and dip our toes into at least a small part of the area, looking at some… Continue reading Dipping into the Gers
Along the canal to the east and west
The canal towpath cycle routes make for comfortable cycling being shady and flat and we’ve explored along the canal in both directions from our campsite. To the east we cycled a few miles to the nearby town of Castelsarrasin and the Jacques-Yves Cousteau marina. This marina/ port, which has existed since the mid 1800s and… Continue reading Along the canal to the east and west
Moissac – further explorations
The abbey and cloisters are the highlight of Moissac but there is a lot more to see in this town. Fruit growing is the main industry in the area and we are surrounded by apple orchards, irrigated by the water from the river. Another main crop is the Chasselas de Moissac grape, a translucent golden… Continue reading Moissac – further explorations