Our time in France

 

We arrived in Saint Sozy on the Dordogne river and spent the night there planning our paddleboard for the next day. In the morning we had our 18km stretch planned which would land us in Souillac with 3 different chateaus enroute for us to see. Our first challenge was to get on the river which took a bit of manoeuvring as the river was very shallow in places. One big advantage of our paddle down the Dordogne was its one way system, ie. you were heading in that direction if you liked it or not. The disadvantage of this was that there was no paddle in hell in getting back up to where you started so we were unsure of how we would be getting back to the van but that was a problem for later. It was a very relaxing paddle at points with the high cliffs surrounding us and the tide putting in most of the effort. We did have to navigate various shallow points in the river and we quickly learnt to shift to the front of the board to allow the back to lift up to avoid the fin getting stuck in the rocks. We went through some very shallow rapids which were mild but quite scary on a paddleboard. We sometimes had to stop and walk the board to a deep spot in the river. We spotted all the chateaus which looked like they could possibly fall off the edge at any moment. We finally got to Souillac just under 4 hours later. We spotted a kayak company where we landed and asked about a bus back. They said the next bus wasn’t for 4/5 hours and a taxi was possible but expensive. I asked whether they do kayak trips to Saint Sozy which they did but they didn’t take the hint that we wanted a lift. We decided we could burn a few hours anyway, found some food and chilled by the river before catching the bus. Considering the bus was only 3 times a day it was empty and despite us being the only passengers the driver refused to stop where we wanted and insisted on taking us to the actual bus stop another km up the road which extended my run back to the van (in sea shoes!) while Catherine looked after the paddleboard.

The next day we visited Rocamadour where we were able to park up in the monkey sanctuary car park and visit the religious sanctuary and home to the black Madonna. The village is built into the cliff and requires an up hill walk or the climb of 216 stairs. We walked up the hill to the first rampart where we accidently entered via the exit (my fault but several people did follow me in so it wasn’t just us who got it wrong). We walked around the rampart for awhile before finding s queue to go down some stairs. We queued like any brit would and eventually found out that this was an additional part of the castle only open due to the special weekend (we had no idea). The guide took us down some very steep stairs to where the pilgrims would go and access the sanctuary. It was good and gave you a different view of the area but was very steep. We continued on down through the village and to the main Chappelle Notre Dame which contained the black Madonna and the car less village at the bottom. Once there we had to climb back up to the village L’Hospitalet which was inhabited as early as the Upper Palaeolithic era. We then headed back to Jeff and drove towards Bordeaux to our next stop which was a vineyard and saffron farm. While there we went into the shop and tried some of the local produce and came out with some saffron oil, saffron sugar and saffron beer which all tastes lovely.

The next morning we drove to a place where we could park where we could then cycle into Bordeaux in just under an hour. We are discovering that France has really good cycle routes and it makes it so easy to cycle to different places without being at the mercy of cars (however when you are on the road the French do get a little close in the cars).

After a nice flat cycle into the city we were excited to eat at one of the 5/6 vegan restaurants that were listed online only to find that Monday was the one day that a lot of restaurants in Bordeaux were closed. We did however find a lovely vegetarian place which served us an early lunch. We spent a few hours on foot exploring the city, visiting the cathedral, basilica, the parliament square, the mirror lake by the river and then we cycled up down the promenade for a while to see a wine museum before deciding to call it a day. We were in Bordeaux on the Monday and it was nice to see all the flags at half mast for the Queen’s funeral all around the city. We didn’t particularly want to sleep the night where we were so drove an hour or so south to a secluded woods with lots of deer where he hid for the night.

Next morning we visited Dune de la Pilat, Europe’s tallest Dune and it was a sight to see! In typical us fashion we found some free parking around the back and hiked our way up the sand mountain. It seemed to go on forever with various large drops at the edges giving us some serious vertigo! On one side you could see the forest and the other the sea. We chose our path very carefully as to reduce the amount of uphill we needed to walk in the very soft sand! All in all a must see if your anywhere near the area.

Next on our list was Biarritz, a nice sea-side town at the south west of France. We parked up in our favourite spot (a sports ground) and cycled our way into the town. 70m uphill and 70m down which was not the easiest, especially as we decided to do it twice so we could shower and change for dinner and cocktails which seemed fitting in the resort town. The area was beautiful with a great beach and lots of cool restaurants and bars. We sat on the beach for about an hour, swam in the sea briefly and were entertained by the eccentric local women who was playing music and doing some sort of Yoga/Tai chi/body combat. What ever it was she seemed happy doing it.

After a morning of laundry and cleaning the van we headed to Laruns in the French Pyrenees where we planned a long hike for the next day – Lacs d’Ayous, a 15km hike with a 700m climb. All the climb was at the beginning so while tough it was nice to get it done while the weather was still fairly cool. There were 3 lakes enroute which were all stunning. The landscape was beautiful, very green, surrounded by the mountains. We saw all types of wildlife and even got stuck in a herd of sheep/goat crossing a bridge! Pretty tired by the end but we decided to spend the afternoon to get over the Spanish border where we found a great camper stop with all the facilities we needed to service the van and Rich gave Jeff a much overdue exterior clean!       

Sorry for the order of the photos, they uploaded like this

A waterfall we discovered on the walk in the Pyrenees 

The beach in Biarritz

tiny people at the top of the Sand dune

The vertigo inducing side of the dune, it was a big drop from the top

Cathedral in Bordeaux

Mirror lake in Bordeaux reflecting the Palace

Entry gate to Bordeaux

Jeff hiding in the vineyard 

Grapes ready for picking in the vineyard (we tried some and they were nice)

A bell at Rocamadour which apparently rang every time there was a miracle 

The Dordogne River and one of the three chateau's 

The Dordogne River and one of the three chateau's 

More Dordogne river

goats on the walk in the Pyrenees, we also saw cows, pigs, sheep, birds, lizards and butterflies

A cow on the walk in the Pyrenees 

Pyrenees views from the walk

more Pyrenees  views

Biarritz view from the lighthouse

The length of the sand dune was impressive but you cant see from this how many ups and downs there were

Me following Rich, I had learnt its easier to walk in someone's foot prints than in the soft sand

A bird in Mirror lake. These are friendly little birds and have a keen interest in food. They get close if they think you have food and are not scared of you

A view of Rocamadour from L'Hospitalet