Eymet......Old Uni Friends

Our Journey took us through the Dordogne to a small village South of Bergerac to Karen and Simon Colebourn's house....well CDP then their house. CDP or Cafe de Paris a typical French bar near the town Church. It's funny how we abbreviate things like CDP and the AX or Ashley Cross or the BT, Bermuda Triangle and it's the same everywhere.
Anyway back to the blog.....we met Karen, Simon and their daughter Megan and their son Harry and had a great BBQ of duck breast and sausages with a fab salad of walnuts and some duck gizzard or such like. The  night, as you would expect, was full of great memories as it had been 20 odd years since we last met but the conversation, memories and the wine flowed. It was a fantastic evening so we would like to say a huge thank you to Karen and Simon and hope to see them again on our journey.
The next morning was market day in Eymet which was most exciting for Harley and a struggle for those with hangovers.

Dordogne photos of Domme and our mini Plage

 Typically Dordogne - this is our mini plage on the river - Tomorrow we are going to try and hire a canoe for two and one dog.......interesting.

 The tower entrance to Domme high up on the cliff top over looking the river below.

 The hiking path system in France is very simple its coloured way markers with different distnace and associated colours - the signs can be just paint marks on the road, a tree, a fence post and even on the backs of road signs its very simple and works really well.

 Looking up at the walled city of Domme from the footpath

A hot days walk in Dordogne to Domme by ironmanAllen at Garmin Connect - Details

Untitled by ironmanAllen at Garmin Connect - Details

11 miles in the blistering heat to a great walled town called Domme where the Knights Templar were held on trial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domme,_Dordogne

and more importantly its open on a Sunday for ice cream and refreshments galore.....

Circular walk from the Dordogne, Montfort by ironmanAllen at Garmin Connect - Details

Untitled by ironmanAllen at Garmin Connect - Details
Now this is France.......scorching sunshine, the Dordogne meandering, Swallows galore and buildings made of Sandstone....some looking very similar to habitats in Cirencester. Tomorrow the BIKE comes out......
Still ant work out why the French Cafes/Bars are always shut when we need a drink.............

Puy de Dome day..........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puy_de_D%C3%B4me

Our site was situated some 14 plus Km from the summit of the Puy de Dome and having walked the previous day to the local Put de Gravenoise at 933m we set our sights to something a bit more challenging...yes that summit in the background, some would say its akin to the Lions Head in Cape Town.

Our walk took us through Royat and then up and up and up until we reached the Volcanic national park where we then found a path to the summit. The weather was perfect for walking no wind, moderate heat and no rain. As we hit the major slopes the temperature picked up and so did the perspiration.  At the top we could see the view over the Auvergne and the volcanoes its famous for. 

The Puy de Dome has seen 13 tour finishes and tyhe most famous being the shoulder to shoulder finish of the 1964 Stage 20 12 July Brive – Puy du Dôme 217 km Julio Jiménez (ESP)

The 1964 Tour de france was one of the greatest races of all time. Anquetil had come off his Giro victory that ended just 14 days before the Tour started and was tired. His battle with Poulidor culminating in a titanic side-by side climb up Puy de Dôme in stage 20, where Anquetil had conserved just 14 seconds of his lead, is one of the legends of the sport. Unfortunately you cant cycle up this great climb today. 

As we admired the views we could spy on the horizon snow on the far off peaks and then the clouds came rolling in and unloaded their contents so we took the easy option of the train that runs up and down - those that have seen the Garmin post will no doubt have questioned our time down. 

 Harley being a petit chien was granted access to the funicular too - thank goodness for that. Our walk back to the van clocked a solid 28km for the day...and the sun came out too.

 Roll on The Dordogne..............

Untitled by ironmanAllen at Garmin Connect - Details

Untitled by ironmanAllen at Garmin Connect - Details

Just a little hike to day to  the highest Volcano in the Auvergne region, Poy De Dome, and the site of 14 tour finishes  but unbelievably you cant cycle up it..... Some great vertical Ascent achieved today.  

So here we go..... France the early days.

Having made our way to Longres a great walled city just North of Dijon we decided to stay for two nights in our first municipal campsite at an incredible 13€ a night. Facilities in the way of toilets far far better than the last place - no nesting birds and bird pooh in this one. 

Longres is the home of Longres Cheese which is small and round with a dip in the top so you can pour Champagne into it....how indulgent, let them eat cake.........

The cheese is aged in a cave or a cellar for 2 to 3 months and washed weekly....yes the French wash their cheese at the same intervals as themselves....ahhh lovely. Okay enough of the toilet humor. Oh yes and they do their own beer too.

We walked the ramparts of Longres and then the next day we took a 15km walk along the Roman Roads and encountered a number of interesting sights, Napoleonic Forts, Roman Fountains, and Ancient Escargots formations.

We moved from Longres on  Philippa's 47th birthday...how old is that????? and made our way to Royat in the Auvergen region and the home of Volvic water and the highest concentration of Volcanoes in France. So to celebrate I cooked and we cracked open a bottle of Champagne from Camel Valley not France, Coals to Newcastle springs to mind....