Hotel Le Bailliage Salers

Took us a while to find a park last night as we were aiming to stay in Le Rozier which is close to the start of Gorges de Tarn as that was the drive we wanted to do today.

Unfortunately roadworks stood in our way and we took the next best option of the drive through Gorges du la Jonte.

Stunning is the best way to descirbe this drive. I got the ...

Arrived here after dark last night and managed to find a spot right on the river. It rained all night so we didn't venture out of the Scoobs.

This morning the weather was much better so we headed to the town square to check out the weekly market ...

We left the west coast and headed inland to look for work. We stopped at Angouleme for lunch which had a spectacular view from the old city. We carried on into the Dordogne, and looking for a campsite came across a municipal site in a little town called Argentat-sur-Dordogne. The weather was stifling hot, which that night brought on 24 hours of massive thunderstorms and then 3 days of rain! The Dordogne was flooding and even Argentat lost electricity one night!

... sense. So, after making the drive up the Costa Brava in our slightly disabled car, we arrived back in Avignon, where we'd rented the beastly thing a week before. By the way, the toll road in France can be pretty hairy, in terms of giant tailgating trucks. It IS very fast, but just a word of caution to timid drivers or those who have a problem with constantly having to stick your credit card in toll gate machines before ...

... jean michel, the friar, in the cathedral. today was emotional because a lot of our friends from the chemin are not continuing, so we had to say good bye to them; i might have shed a tear or two saying good bye to some of the nice old french ladies that have helped us along the way. we only have two more days of walking through the french hills before we descend into a valley that apparently ...

... because his bag is too small as well as his marked and loud noting that his body weight is much lower than mine, has not been afflicted with any painful blisters, and other than the usual figuring out how to wear the pack pains, has been pretty pain free. I have been pretty pain free as well, minus a small blister i developed on the second day on my left achilles tendon region, and which underneath the moleskin and a european remedy ...

... Probably more fun to write. Jules offered us a ride. And dispatched one of his rabbit-toothed dogsbodies to take us down the road. He drove us two minutes, then stumbled through a long and awkward farewell-see-you-soon-youve-been-gr**** ****-what-was-your-name-again-sorry? Freedom! Ride with an English teacher (a French one). Quite creepy. Never become a Language teacher. Serious "autostop ...

... Puy. Relief. Le Puy is a beautiful town. It has a crumbling castle perched on a comically craggy cliff in the centre. Find the internet and realise that Betabet is not in Le Puy. Take a bus to a little town nearby then catch two more lifts off kind souls and finally. Arrive.

... rows of cypress pines lining the winding roads, the beautiful little villages, the vines lining every slope, the olive groves, the colours of Tuscany. Having bought provisions from the village, we settled into our apartment in the old converted stables overlooking the vineyards, for an Italian feast of fresh tomatoes and basil with local buffalo mozzarella in the delicious Villa Branca oil, meats and fresh bread followed by fresh, juicy figs and cheeses. We ...

... winter. We don't pretend it's not coming...we know it will be there every single year without fail. When it gets cold at home we bundle up in down filled coats and toques, turn up the thermostat, and drink lots of hot drinks (or other warming beverages). When it nippy here in Europe, they don't have forced air heating and without wall to wall carpeting, the old floors are bare wood or tile. Perhaps the people walking ...