Citotel Orleans Lion d'Or Limoges

Set upon the River Vezere and quite pretty due to its 15th and 16th century Maisons a Tourelles, which looks like miniture castles due to their turrets. The rain had stopped for our little walk around the village but started again when we got back to the car - great timing!

Stayed last night in a pretty little medieval village of Solignac, right on the town square next to the villages 11th century church, which is on the pilgirmage route - Santiago de Compostela. It had rained last night and was still raining so our wander around was brief! Our plan today was to stop at several little villages in the area, of which they got progressively prettier.

... In addition, a close personal friend of Major Dickmann (the commanding German officer) had been taken prisoner by the Resistance. On Saturday, June 10, Major Dickmann planned his revenge, the destruction of Oradour.

They began their plan at ~ 2 pm. They surrounded the village, allowing no way out. Their pretext was a simple identity check. They rounded up everyone in the village into the ...

... sunshine, practising my best Gallic shrug, sitting in the shade of the cherry tree and chatting or reading or daydreaming or snoozing or just asorbing the stillness and birdsong, trying to resurrect my school French following 22 years of neglect, devouring my mom's incomparable home-cooking, consuming obscene quantities of tantalisingly pongy cheeses, guzzling ...

Distance covered: 22 miles

We chilled out for the day by taking it easy in an Internet cafe. Well I say Internet cafe, but there was no coffee. Just loads of nerds playing Half life and Warcraft. In fact it was the nerdiest place I had ever been (except the maths help sessions in the uni library.... obviously). Then, about ten grown men (early 30's) came in dressed as soldiers, commandos, and mercenaries. It ...

Distance covered: 35 miles cycle and 15 car

So we woke up early for the first time and set off in the blazing sun with high spirits. We were absolutely destroying the miles and there was even talk of getting a record (70+ in a day!!). But then an absoulte disaster occurred. About 15 miles away from a city my rear wheel disintegrated. It would be impossible to walk it. Maybe a hitch from a ...

... run, then tinder piled on them and lit to finish them off slowly. It's really horrific stuff, and the fact that they've preserved the town as it was for people to see and remember is amazing. You can read more online if you want, just google Oradour massacre or tragedy or something and you should get some sites. One thing that happened... We went through the museum before seeing the town, which was a very thorough well-done museum. About ...

... least we had this trusty little Lonely Planet guide, which recommended a few places around Dournazac and Chateau Montbrun.... Hmmm, they all seemed to be closed... Finally, 'La Taverne'- a place to eat (even though its ~10pm) and sleep (what! no rooms available!). Well, of course it did have a happy ending, but I start with the photos first....

... on this blog... We had a laugh and the public...accessorily my family had an even bigger laugh. We also made a little band just for the occasion, we drastically lacked time to practise, but we still managed to pull out a song or two. My brother at the guitar, his girlfriend at the base, my cousin on the guitar and vocals and myself on the drums. To the risk of appearing ridiculous again, I attached here a little sample of our "concert". Apart from that ...

... We found a sign, followed it, and then we were there. We had a look around the outside and found that it was closed. From a distance, it was pretty messy, but kind of like the one in Triar. Grass growing over it, with one big arch. We took the obligatory photos, and went looking for the Roman baths. After much cursing as we drove around the small streets, we found them. Normally, we would do a Tony Robinson from Time Team, and go, "Look ...