A blog about 2 Canadians who bought a house in a small French Village, Bellac. They blog about the trials, tribulations and the joys of life in France owning a small house.
It is now Saturday morning and things are getting back to normal. Or as normal as our new normal can be. We just got back from a quick 5 day break to southern parts of France. We rented a car from the local grocery store for a week, packed our bags, and headed off south. Our plans were to stop into two picturesque villages in the most southern part of Limosin as featured in a travel magazine we purchased back in March, canoe along the Dordonge River, and see Carcassonne. We have learnt from experience not to plan too many villages into one day.
Collonges-Rouge
Our first destination was Collonges-Rouge. The village is famous for its red sandstone bricks. These come from the exposed Meyssac fault that you can visit just down the road. This is the only place in France that you will see these bricks. The red colour comes from the composition of 2% iron oxide. They have made the village into a tourist attraction, but even with restaurants and gift stores, the hillside village is still a magnificent visit. It was a free city and this gave it many privileges such as not paying taxes to the King. The renowned wine was one of the sources of the wealth which was used to build houses, castles and mansions with ornate architectural details with the famous red sandstone. It is a car free village, which makes for a very leisurely stroll.
Collonges-Rouge
Cesar Tower in the Château de Turenne
Just a few kilometres down the road is the village of Turenne. This was the centre of the Vicomte of Turenne of which Collonges-Rouges was a city in. At the top of the hill are the remnants of the Château de Turenne. It was a climb of 130 steps just to get to the main entrance from the base. This doesn't include the climb from the parking lot up through the village to the base of the château. The buildings that remain of the château include the Keep/Clock Tower, and the Treasury Tower, where money for the Vicomte was minted. The main buildings were destroyed in 1738 by King Louis XV who had bought the château to pay for the last Viscount's gambling debts. It has been replaced by a French Garden. Across the garden still stands the Tour de Cesar, an 11th century watch tower. I climbed the 64 uneven steps to take in the spectacular view from the top. For centuries the Viscounts of Turenne commanded much of what I could see from the top. Steve escaped to an ombragè spot to enjoy the gardens. Both of these villages are on "Les Plus Beaux Villages de France". This is a list that I'm sure would take a lifetime to visit and there are many more villages that are worth a visit that are not on the list, but one can only see so much. We headed back to the car for a short drive to our Chambre d'Hôte for the evening. After being welcomed at La Masion de Tari by Martine, it wasn't long before we had changed and were enjoying a cool dip in la piscine. It was a great way to wind down after a busy day of sightseeing and driving. La Masion de Tari was in a very rural area, and we needed to head out to find dinner. We had pizza on our mind, so off we went to find an Italian dinner in France. Google maps had located a few nearby and I thought it would be no trouble finding them. Well things went wrong with our virage à droite au lieu de gauche (a right turn instead of a left turn).This took us to the town of Sarlat. We did find a grocery store to load up on snacks and lunch for tomorrow's canoe trip. We divided and conquered the store, as it was closing time. I was holding a bottle of wine when I ran back into Steve at the check outs, who had one of the bags of wine. What was I thinking? one bottle of 75 cl or 3 l of wine. After stocking up, we recommenced our quest for pizza. The town of Sarlat was just up the road, but we quickly realized that something must be happening in town, as the traffic was very slow, and all the parking was complet. We drove once around drooling at the sight of perfectly good restaurants and then headed south to where were were to be originally. We let our GPS lead us to a pizza place in the village of Domme. We didn't realized that the village was a very historic hill top village and car-free as well. Our quest for our holy grail wasn't going well and being hungry, nerves were a bit raw. After driving along the one road through town, we found our way down out of the village. Just as we arrived at the base of the village, there appeared out of the mist a restaurant with a terrasse, a welcoming atmosphere, and most important, easy parking. It didn't take a long read of the menu to get a table for two. Well we didn't find our holy grail of pizza, we did find a restaurant with a varied menu with French foods. It was a great meal, I had the duck and Steve had the cod, with very nice service, so good that we went back the second night to try the veal and the hamburger. After dinner, our drive back to the B & B was only about 15 minutes instead of the 90 minute tour to get here. Alls well that ends well, so we ended the evening by enjoying a night cap on the terrasse outside our room (thanks to the bag of wine) and then to bed for a good night's sleep before our canoeing adventure of the next day.
Tuesday morning we enjoyed a continental breakfast at our hotel, and then off to our day on the river. In planning our day, I was overwhelmed with the choice of canoe rental companies. I trusted the Trip Advisor award, and picked Explorando Canoes in Grolejac. We reserved a canoe for two for the day. The way it works is you park, get your canoe, pick how far you want to go, and then they will shuttle you back to your car at the end of the day. The River Dordogne was a slowly flowing river interspersed with some little rapids. It winds itself past cliffs, ancient châteaux and villages. Our trip was 17 kms from Grolejac to La Roque Gageac with an estimated time of 3.5 hours. We took about just about 4.5 hours which included coming ashore in a shady spot on the shore for lunch. As we drifted down the river, we were able to drop our feet overboard to keep cool. We arrived in La Roque Gageac about 30 minutes before our bus was scheduled to take us back to the car. We spent the extra time wading in the river trying to keep cool. The bus ride back was reminicent of our trip in Peru. A large bus on winding narrow roads and bridges, which in parts were high above the river valley but this on trip there were only other cars and buses attempting to share the road but no donkeys to avoid. Again arriving back at the inn, we were quickly changed and into the pool. Dinner was back at the same restaurant, sometimes you need a bit of easy. It was another great dinner. Back at the hotel, the night cap was much shorter, as we were exhausted from our hard day on the river. It's a good thing we were not in Simon Fraser or David Thompson's expeditions, as British Columbia might not yet be discovered.
Roque Gageac along the Dordonge River
A château along the Dordogne River
Caves along the river.
Garden in the Château Turenne
Collonges-Rouge manion
View from atop Tower Ceasr
Still to come, our continued journey to Toulouse and Carcassonne.
After spending last summer here in Bellac with wave after wave of guests, it is a different experience with just the two of us and no car. Looking back at the past five days since I last blogged, the week was full of... I'm not quite sure. Leisurely mornings, some gardening, a walk to the grocery store or two, a trip to the pool on the hottest day of the week, a trip to the local library and we even looked after the neighbour's garden while they were away for a few days. The attic has been an ongoing project as well, especially for Steve, with the ceiling being painted, and we had the electrician back this week as well to change a few switches and to change a light fixture. Now you can turn the light off at the top of the stairs as well as the bottom. Makes it easier for those late night trips....
My garden is coming along. The cucumbers are doing very well while the two sets of lettuce are lagging behind. The impatiens and petunias are doing well, but the geraniums haven't bloomed yet and the hydrangea may need to be transplanted, instead of just being in a pot. Just checking on a good place for it with enough sun but not too much, a happy medium. Linda, our neighbour, gave me a cactus like plant that grows like a weed, something I am able to grow, and looks great in a rock garden. So I am trying my luck with those as well. The lawn is still more weeds and clover than grass but that will be a long range challenge.
My lettuce. It will be a very small salad.
My cucumbers.
The start to my rock garden.
I know the photos don't do it justice, but if you are planning to visit, bring your own vegetables.
As we putter, we have adapted into the the village life. If errands into town don't happen before 12:30, then we have to wait until 2:30 when life returns to normal, except on Mondays and Sundays, and some Tuesdays. We have started to take pictures and notes of the times various stores and services are open just to keep it all straight. The post office clerk taught me how to use the self-service machine so I hope any documents get back to Vancouver all right. It unlike the bank machines didn't have an English button. I took out some easy reading books in French from the library and they even have an English section, so I am re-reading Lord of the Flies. Just wish their air conditioning was turned up a bit, as it would have been a great place to escape the week's heat. We had to resort to the local pool for that. It was a great way to keep cool on the hottest day of the summer so far. Only about 39 degrees.
It has cooled off nicely as the week went on, but still no rain. Tomorrow's forecast is for Belles éclaircies (Beautiful cloudy according to Google translate). Next week the heat, returns, in the low 30's so we will enjoy the beautiful clouds and the mid 20's this weekend. Which reminds me of a quote from Violet Crawley from Downton Abbey. Watch the video below.
As the weekend approaches, there is little change in life here except the Utile grocery store is open all day on Friday and Saturday, the church bells call everyone to mass just before 10:00 and we need to make sure we have everything in for Sunday's dinner before 12:30 as everything closes for the day but for the rest our life, there is no difference between the week and the weekend. I guess retirement is like that.
Steve painting ceiling (a.k.a.: waking up spiders)
The guest bedroom in progress.....
Dordogne River
We are getting ready for a few days out next week and we are heading south. Touring some picturesque villages, canoeing on the Dordonge River and then visiting the medieval fortress of Carcassonne will take up about 4 days. Looking forward to hitting the road again. Get the GPS out of the drawer and away we go.
Even though we are in a small town/village here in France, we are precariously tied to the rest of the world by our internet service provider, Orange. The service is overall not too bad, but regularly needs to reconfigure its internet connection which temporarily unties us from the world. We are still able to keep in touch with the world with our email, Twitter, Facebook and British television. It might be nice to stick our heads in the sand and not worry about Trump, American police shootings, the Islamic State, and Brexit to name a few worries, but the world won't go away.
As the sun rises on Sunday, July 17, all is calm here in Bellac. It is just over two weeks since I arrived here in France, and we have been to the Tour de France, three different performances at the Festival, two football games at the pub and had neighbours over to watch Bastille Day fireworks from our balcony. I have tamed the back garden by clearing out many of the weeds and vines that overtook large areas. I have also added some colour with some bedding plants and a hydrangea while Steve continues his work in the attic to get the extra room ready for our next visitors. (In fact we now have two bookings for next year already!) The hydrangea was looking a little ravaged at the garden centre, but the woman at the store ensured us that it was just a few escargots that had their way with it. With a 4 euro discount and the fact that it fit into our shopping bag so we could carry it home, it became ours.
Just writing about it makes me tired, but interspersed with the many improvements we have made to La Maison, we have had time to enjoy the village with many walks and time to sit in the park or on church steps and soak in the atmosphere. The weather has been great with nice warm temperatures and other than a brief shower, there has been no rain since my arrival. We are entering a hot week with highs of 35 predicted later this week. The thick walls of the house do their work by keeping it quite cool. Downstairs in the kitchen you sometimes need a sweater. Along with the sunshine, there is usually a nice breeze which moderates the temperature. Il y a une brise agréable aujourd'hui.
There was a kids' wading pool stored down by our garden shed that we brought up to fill with water. We cleaned it and fixed a few cracks in it and hope it will hold the water. Also, la picine municipale will be a retreat from the heat. This year there will be no pictures of us in our bathing suits. (see my blog post from last year : "Quand en France"). We have booked a week away next week to Carcasonne, an ancient medieval village about 4 hours south of here. Along the way there are many villages and attractions to stop at. We might even find time to canoe along the Dordogne River. It is a little touristy, but will be a nice break from the historical villages we will spend the rest of our time visiting.
Another wonderful meal
Before that we have one more quiet week here in Bellac. If it is not too hot, we will do some painting in the attic, and we have the electrician coming on Wednesday to install an extra switch in the attic so you can turn out the light when you are upstairs instead of coming down stairs and then going back up in the dark. The things we do for our potential guests.
This evening the pub below us is bringing back their "concerts". A group is playing this afternoon at 5pm. It will be nice to walk down and have something refreshing and cold and watch some live music. Dinner tonight will be moules et pâtes avec sauce pesto. A vin blanc should go nicely with this.
Well that was then this is now. We headed down to the pub a bit early with the thought of a nice pre-drink walk. Well the band was warming up, so we headed to get a good seat and began with a pint of cider each which we needed to be refilled not long after.
Sunday at the Pub.
The duo played the Eagles, English drinking songs, Sonny and Cher and..... It was a great way to end a lazy Sunday afternoon. We came home for an incredible meal as mentioned above. It was even better after a few ciders and white wine. The pain ordinaire topped off the excellent meal. After dinner drinks were had on the back deck with the view we will never tire of. As the sun begins to set, I watered my bedding plants and the vegetable garden and we retired to the house to Skype with family back in Canada. On coming home, we found we were recorded in the Cafe Pont de la Pierre Bellac's video on their Facebook live video feed. Check us out. We will republish with pictures tomorrow, today for some of you, yesterday for others.......
We sit here on the afternoon before Bastille Day, July 14. I was busy in the garden this morning clearing out even more weeds and overgrowth. I think our neighbour was getting upset with our weeds seeding his vegetable garden. It was a big improvement out there, but you can't really see the difference. The "lawn" area is still not centre court at Wimbledon, and probably will never be, but each day there are a few less weeds to go to seed. The gardens are looking better and our vegetable garden is showing some life now with our cucumbers and lettuce beginning to sprout. It won't be much of a salad bar, but it is the first time I have tried to grow vegetables. Friday, I will buy a pack of wild flower seeds, to fill in the back garden with some more colours.
Le Lavoir in Alloue
It seems quiet now in Bellac, as the Euro 2016 is over, too bad about France losing to Portugal, as is the arts festival. With this in mind, we began to plan a few trips away. Also, now that my brother Harold and his wife, Tanya are off the to Caribbean instead of the Mediterranean, we have some time on our hands. Carcassonne, a medieval village and then Narbonne on the Mediterranean for a few days. Later in August, we are off to Bayeux to visit the D-Day beaches along the English Channel.
For the past two days we rented a car from the local grocery store. Monday brought back memories of our drives through the French countryside discovering quaint and interesting villages and towns. Nanteuil en Vallee, Confolens, and St. Germain de Confolens were great stops with different ambiances to offer the tourist. We started in a village called Alloue. The town has a great little pâtisserie where we got a pastry for our picnic lunch. All of this was within about 50 kms of Bellac; new and interesting places to visit.
Steve and hollyhocks
We also used the car to stock up on the heavy and bulky types of groceries such as two cases of Steve's infamous sparkling wine (champagne) for 1.32 per bottle, a few boxes of wine, case of beer, just the essentials. We bought a few new chairs, some glasses and a fire screen at the Maximum, a used furniture and house.We finished the two days with a trip out to the east of the city and discovered a new local chateau
and an artist village, Rancon. We had been through the village before, but never have stopped. There are several artists studios and a new bar.
Chateau Drouilles
An update to a March story, I
just got back my bank card which was eaten by the local bank machine on the first time I tried to use it. Credit Mutual has a great web site where you email your bank manager, and the team got me the new card, and my new PIN number which I got correct this time and all is good.
Tonight we are hosting a fireworks party. Linda and Andrew, our neighbours and house sitters are coming over along with 2 of their friends. Here in Bellac they have the fireworks on Bastille Day eve, around 10:30 tonight. It was a great show and one a major city would be proud of, and not just a small town in central France. Even better it was all right off our balcony. A great night was had by all. Plan now for next years spectacular by booking with us very soon.
Now that the blog is cleaned up, thanks to Steve, and we are back home with Blogger it is time to get into some routines. Writing, gardening, staying out of the hot sun, eating, drinking, walking, just to name a few will all need to be fitted in to our days. Also, we have the attic, (le grenier) to work on. We discovered a carpet rolled up in the street a few days past, and dragged it home. On inspection, it had one small stain which we think will come out, and a frayed corner, but otherwise it will work great up dans le grenier. It is amazing what you find piled up on the streets around here. We also found the legs to our coffee table for the living room in the street, so we finally were able to get rid of the toaster oven box. We left the stuffed heron wear it laid, as it has seen better days.
That's me on the left in the France t shirt.
Once a month, you are able to put out your dead stuff for collection by whom ever and what ever is left is picked up by the city trucks. It is quite green here, the garden clippings are picked up every Wednesday morning, and there are several recycle centres near by for the glass, plastic and paper.
Alexi Evans
There is lots to do here in Bellac at the moment. We are in the middle of the 63rd Festival National du Bellac, that has concerts each night at the theatre, and then free concerts later in the theatre's garden. We went to see Alexis Evans on Wednesday night, an R&B trio which put on an excellent 90 minute show. Last night we skipped the theatre so I could watch the France/Germany football match in the pub at the bottom of the hill. It is amazing to sit outside by the river in the shadow of a 12 century church watching the game on a big screen tv, cheering along with the French fans. Allez Allez
Later on Friday, there is a market down by the river and of course the 10 pm concert. We saw Bukatribe perform. They are 4 guys singing a cappella with beat box. We weren't sure whether we would enjoy the show, but it was another great evening at the festival as enjoyed by a large crowd. Sunday will be a busy day here as the festival takes over the river park with a day of family entertainment, then we have the Wimbledon final with Raonic and Murray and then finally the final of the Euro 2016 between France and Portugal. Gee I have to go back to the pub.
Bukatribe in concert
Being without a regular car this summer, we thought we might take the train into Limoges to get a car a few times to get away. Now we have discovered that our local grocery store, Carrefours, which we knew offered rental trucks like U-Haul does, also has a car to rent. We will try it out on Monday and Tuesday. We need to pick up a few large grocery items, and do some touring to some new near-by villages. If it works well, we will try it for a few longer outings.
We are also learning that insurance companies don't make life easy for their clients. I am trying to fill in the forms for Steve's dental treatment, but they want everything translated, and copies, and , and...... of course we don't have a printer, and they want paper copies and not digital. Also trying to claim a few incidentals from Air France to make up for ma valise being 4 days late, (well only 3, but we had to go to the Tour de France instead of wait for the delivery). Here's hoping the applications go through.
Steve editing my blog
The time just rolls by with visits to the market, walks to neigbouring villages, the grocery and hardware stores, reading and what ever else strikes our fancy. I can now really be a gardener as the first of my cucumbers have poked their heads out of the soil, Hopefully the lettuce will not be long behind. We are looking forward to entertaining for the first time next week as we host nos voisins for the Jour de Bastille fire works on Wednesday night. They are launched from the park just below us, so we have a great view if last year was any indication. We will be serving some escargots that we bought at the market today as an snack. Also, we stopped by the swimming pool to check on the hours for the summer, and that might be a great place to cool off very soon as the hot sunny weather continues. (not as hot as last year, but very pleasant) The metéo predicts no rain at least for the next week and highs up to 30.
Our little oasis
We have created a nice shady backyard retreat for ourselves on these sunny afternoon. Notre terrasse has shade for most of the afternoon. It does get the sun again around dinner time, but who can complain.
Oh ohhhhhh, owwwwwwwwie, so woke up Friday with a bit of a mouth ache, I’ve been known to grind my teeth at night, but, by Saturday I realized this was an actual tooth ache, a back molar, sore to bite and chew on, hmmmmm, what to do. Google it of course, looked for local dentists, maybe English speaking????? Nope, but at least there were several french only speaking clinics within a 10 minute walking distance, but what were their hours????? All closed on weekends, nearest emergency dental clinic a train ride plus bus ride away, how bad was the pain, hmmmm. Decided to hold out, fortunately Vern insisted I pack some heavy duty painkillers (with codeine) just in case, because you never know.
With a quick call to my dentist in Coquitlam I was able to get some info on my teeth, problem tooth was a root canal done 15 years ago, OMG, root canal, how bad can that be, I have extended travel insurance, so any expenses would be covered. How much is a trip to the dentist, x-rays, drillings, root canals, stay calm, stay calm. Well thanks to the painkillers (side effects of constipation, nothing a few croissants with butter couldn’t help), I was able to hold out until Monday morning, with a plan of attack, I started with the closest, Unfortunately not able to see a dentist until Tuesday at 9:30am, could I do better, headed to next clinic, no appointments until the following week, hmmm, it seemed 1 more day was indeed lucky. So how did things work out, terrific, my assigned dentist spoke no English but I realized I was able to understand most of what he was explaining (some charades were involved). In the chair, a few pokes, a few instant digital x-rays, and we were able to diagnose/see an infection (une infection dentaire) surrounding said root canal tooth, his smile was more than enough to convince me that with a week’s worth of antibiotics, some anti-inflammatories, some dental floss sticks and medicinal mouth wash (solution de bouche) after every meal, that I would be much better by next week. So after another booked rendez-vous for the following Wednesday, he seemed to assure me that the infection should be gone and my tooth no longer aching (mal aux dents). Fingers crossed, I’ll keep you posted. So what did it cost, well using my Superstore credit card, the dentist was 23.00€, the drugs+dental products+laxitives 24.00€, plus pain relief, priceless (inestimable)!!!! So far :-}
It it now Wednesday, July 6 just before 9hr. (9:00am) It is a beautiful morning, and I enjoyed my first morning coffee on our balcony overlooking the village.
Petit déjeuner
Steve and I have been busy since my arrival on Saturday afternoon. Along with trying to track down the missing suitcase, and arrange delivery, we have been gardening, and putzing about.
The first big job was the garden. I began to clean out the overgrown vines and weeds along our fence with the neighbour. You couldn't see that I had cleaned up the garden, and edged it back in March when the hyacinths were in bloom. It is amazing how nature takes over, its just too bad it doesn't take over with wild flowers or other attractive growths. I worked down the fence towards the "garden" area. The previous owner had covered the patch with black plastic, so I began to pull back the blanket. There were a few roots, but the plastic had performed well, with the exception that it didn't keep out the ants. I uncovered quite a nest. Using every tool in my shed, I got a small plot of the garden ready to plant. I probably should read up on how to plant lettuce and cucumbers, but it will be an "adventure". I do have a neighbour, and tried to emulate his garden at least in looks. If the seeds fail, the plant store had lettuce plants I could always transplant. The ants seem to have found new accommodations, so I don't have to use the ant killer, which probably wouldn't have been a wise move in a vegetable garden.
Along with the vegetable garden, I took and cleaned out the flower pots and planted some impatiens, geraniums and petunias. I also bought a lavender plant, since we are in France, so now the deck looks a bit better. Some day we will have to redo it, but it works just fine. Steve and I also tried to fix my rain barrel. The facet leaked, leaving no rain water in the barrel. We will add this to the ongoing repair list, as the first attempt failed.... back to Brico Marché (the local Home Depot).
Along with work in the garden, the past few days have been topped up with walks through the village to the grocery, garden and hardware stores. Also, we stopped by the pub on Sunday night to watch France defeat Iceland.
Yesterday, the Tour de France passed through Le Dorat, the next village along the train line. Eleven minutes later we wandered up through the village to find the course. Being such a small village, it wasn't hard to find, also the loud music and racing cars of the "Caravan" gave away its location. The Caravan is a very quickly moving parade of the sponsors of the Tour. They pass by tossing out advertising souvenirs to the crowds that have gathered early along the road way. The family next to us were chasing down anything that came their way, and filled the shopping bags that other sponsors had already tossed out. You had to be aware of incoming flying souvenirs, as most tried to toss them to your feet, but others were at face level. I was able to catch a France flag with BIC advertising on one side, and a squishy cow key chain from the official cheese or milk sponsor. The elderly woman sitting next to us looked longingly at it, so I offered it to her. A few items fell and bounced off Steve, but they were quickly scooped up by an gentleman standing next to us. All is fair in love and Tour de France "stuff".
With time to kill before the actual race, we headed back to the village square and enjoyed a beer or two before returning to our position at the intersection of the D4bis, D675 et Rue Robert Laypayrière. Near the estimated time, the front 4 cyclists raced past our location accompanied by their entourage of cars. This was followed very soon by the peloton. We had our cameras ready, but it was an event where we should have just witnessed and not tried to record it. The peloton moved by so fast, that all I really can remember of the event was the rush of air they generated. But looking back at my pictures and video, it was an amazing, but short lived event.
Steve in the Fountain Square
After the race we spent some time wandering the village again before the train trip back to home. In the brocante shop (flea market) Steve found a pair of binoculars at a great price. It was a perfect afternoon out. On our walk back from the train station home, we stopped by another second hand store to see if they had any curtains for us to use in the attic room to break up the space. We found 4 panels for only 15 euros. A great deal considering the Eco-mart had one panel for 10 euros. You never know what you will find in Richocette.
So today, I have updated this blog, updated my I phone, done some laundry, went for a nice country walk, and now we still wait for ma valise. During the phone call on Monday we arranged for delivery on Wednesday after 2. They were going to deliver it yesterday. So what started out to be delivery on Sunday, turned to Tuesday, and we had to postpone it to Wednesday. I still won't believe it until I see the bag..... and now I see it. It was a great relief when the delivery van arrived with the suitcase. As I had broken a few rules such as having my prescription pills in the bag, ( I did have enough until Saturday with me), and I meant to take a picture of the bag, and ensure my name and address were inside the bag in case the luggage tag went missing, but one gets busy.....
Tuesday morning we enjoyed a continental breakfast at our hotel, and then off to our day on the river. In planning our day, I was overwhelmed with the choice of canoe rental companies. I trusted the Trip Advisor award, and picked Explorando Canoes in Grolejac. We reserved a canoe for two for the day. The way it works is you park, get your canoe, pick how far you want to go, and then they will shuttle you back to your car at the end of the day. The River Dordogne was a slowly flowing river interspersed with some little rapids. It winds itself past cliffs, ancient châteaux and villages. Our trip was 17 kms from Grolejac to La Roque Gageac with an estimated time of 3.5 hours. We took about just about 4.5 hours which included coming ashore in a shady spot on the shore for lunch. As we drifted down the river, we were able to drop our feet overboard to keep cool. We arrived in La Roque Gageac about 30 minutes before our bus was scheduled to take us back to the car. We spent the extra time wading in the river trying to keep cool. The bus ride back was reminicent of our trip in Peru. A large bus on winding narrow roads and bridges, which in parts were high above the river valley but this on trip there were only other cars and buses attempting to share the road but no donkeys to avoid. Again arriving back at the inn, we were quickly changed and into the pool. 
