Meandering down through France

Some years ago in the days when were both working and taking two week holidays in our VW campervan we had a favourite destination in Central France - St. Gaultier. We used to stay on the Municipal campsite, a pretty small site with basic amenities (but cheap!) a gorgeous little town in the Indre region with a disused railway cycle track running right through it. So this trip we thought it would be good to go back to revisit the area and cycle the trail. This time though we stayed on the free Aire in the outskirts of town right by the cemetery (the neighbours are quiet at night!). Nothing much had changed in the town since we were here last unlike the village in the U.K. where we live where we are being hemmed in by all the hundreds of houses being built all around us.
With lovely warm sunny weather we set out along the track doing what we love the best! The track took us through countryside and sleepy villages       (where does everyone disappear to in the afternoon?) it's always such a delight cycling on the traffic free paths in France.

Leaving St Gaultier we headed further south to the Dordogne to visit some motorhomer friends we met in February in Mojacar Spain who live at La Coquille. Barry and Jean moved to the Dordogne a year ago and have a fabulous house and new life in France, we were fortunate enough to be invited to their friends BBQ which was a wonderful afternoon spent meeting lots of people who have either moved to France or have holiday homes there. And it set us to think that maybe it could be something we would like to  do - sell up our house in the U.K. buy a smaller property in Sussex nearer to our daughter and the grandchildren and a house in France. With property prices so low in France we could buy a really nice property in which to enjoy the tranquil country life - it all seems very appealing and gave us a lot to talk about!

After a lovely couple of days socialising we went deeper into the Dordogne to a pretty village near the epicentre of the region - Sarlat (easily accessible on the cycle track we were parked next to!!)
It's an interesting area to visit maybe a bit touristy but the ancient buildings in the town are amazing. If we do buy a house in the Dordogne we would prefer to keep to the edge of the province rather than in the thick of the main attractions.
Leaving the Dordogne we headed to the Lot valley to stay with our friends Rik and Marie. We were able to park in their garden where we had a couple of really peaceful nights - late one night I was looking up at the night sky filled with thousands of stars, the Milky Way stretched  across directly above, a sight never seen above our home in the UK with all the light pollution there is there. We had a great couple of days catching up with our friends and enjoying Marie's cooking before moving on to one last stopover in France before heading on into Spain.

Villefranche-du-Perigord - Market place

Medieval houses

Back on the road again!!

After spending six months of touring already this year you would have thought that we would want to stay at home, but it's actually quite the opposite - we just love the travelling life! The last couple of months have been wonderful being at home with all its comforts, taking time to catch up with our friends and family especially our beautiful grandchildren who seem to grow and change every time we see them - even if only a few days have past. We always miss them when we are away on our travels.
This time for our Autumn travels we have decided to head slowly down through France, taking time to explore and find some good cycling as well as visiting friends. Then as the temperatures start to dip we will head south to Spain, the plan being to tour the north before heading down the middle eventually ending up in the south and the Costa Del Sol. We might travel west into Portugal at some stage to visit the Douro valley we have heard so much about. Well that's the plan, but who knows where we end up going to as we have no fixed agenda just a few ideas of where we would like to visit.

Our journey began last Wednesday when we took the 11am ferry from Newhaven to Dieppe, a four hour crossing and not our usual route, but it all went well, the crossing was smooth and the time seemed to go quickly. Unfortunately after we disembarked as we were sitting in the queue for Passport control the driver of a campervan wasn't paying attention and swiped our driver mirror- the plus side is that we have 'Mirrorguards' on both sides which protected the mirror and all the delicate workings inside so Keith was able to fix the guard back on and no damage was done, but it wasn't the best start to our trip! What we did enjoy though was not having the long drive to Dover to catch the ferry as well as a two hour drive at the other end.
We headed to a free Aire at Mesniere en Bray only 25km from Dieppe for our first night on French soil, after a very peaceful night we then headed south to the Loire region for some cycling adventures. We found a great place to stop at Pontlevoy with free facilities including electricity overlooking a pretty chateau.

With a free cycle route map from the local Tourist Information office we found plenty of  peaceful lanes and

tracks to cycle on in the region and
really enjoyed the peace and quiet as we cycled through the forests. The jewel in the crown of the Loire region has to be the fabulous Château de Chambord built in the 16th century as a hunting lodge for the King, with all its rather whimsical pillars and towers and its central double helix staircase it is a fascinating place and so over the top! Apparently King Francis 1 only ever spent about seven weeks here in total! It's hard to believe that it is in such wonderful condition after hundreds of years including being left abandoned for some of that time.
We are in our element staying in an area with so much cycling to do and ended up staying another three nights based on an Aire in a pretty little village (Tour de Sologne) right on a number of routes for us to chose from. Perfect!

Cycling through the forest with the beginnings of the Autumn colours