St Léonard de Noblat - beautiful town

We walked exactly 20 kms to get to this lovely place - very historic, and its 11C collegiate church is a unesco world heritage site. Our guest house is in the Place de la Collégiale, and we look at it from our window! This time we are in the centre of things…

But first I have to talk about dinner last night, at our beautiful guest house in the country, with Annie and Wolfgang, as it was quite an event. Firstly, it was like having a normal dinner with friends - we were the only guests and we had dinner with them. Wolfgang had some German pork and he was cooking something special he hadn’t done before….we ate in their sunroom - a glass encased room opposite our petite maison, looking out over the valley beyond. Started with a platter of tomato salad, with feta and basil, right up our alley, then the pork which was falling apart and delicious, with a torte de pommes de terre- yum potato dish. But it wasn’t just the food, though that was great. We had a very animated conversation - after the usual preliminaries, Wolfgang asked Amr what his family origin was, and when he said his parents were Egyptian they both got quite excited as their daughter-in-law is half Egyptian half Syrian (born in France). Anyway, that started things off…he asked if Amr spoke Arabic, and when Amr said yes, they had a small conversation in Arabic, because he had learnt some when posted in Abu Dhabi. So we learned that he had been a pilot in the German navy, and at 41 they stop flying and he went to Brussels, Canada, USA, and ended up as military attaché in Abu Dhabi for 4 years….interesting, and he and Amr got on like a house on fire…views similar - when living there they lived in the normal neighbourhood, not with all the expats, mingled with the people and loved it. They exchanged books to read…Annie, whose English not as good as W, was quieter, but joined in and told her version too. Anyway, it was a fantastic evening and so unexpected!

So we left them this morning, and started our next day’s adventure…and each day does being something new and usually unexpected! We were driven in the taxi to Les Bellanges and had 20 kms to walk to St Léonard. Another gorgeous walk through picturesque countryside…I learned things from Annie and Wolfgang also…the mountains are the edge of the Massif Central. Also I learned that the crops that are planted amongst the stubble of the grain crops are not a crop for harvesting as I had imagined, but just to ploughed up and make the ground rich in nutrients ready for the post winter crops. And the cabbages I see are for animal fodder - though in Spain they do use the cabbages for wonderful soups!

So we walked, a good well marked route. Crossed the big river, which turned out to be the Taurion, and the bridge was the Pont du Dognon….(which is why I must have glanced at the map and thought Dordogne)…Anyway, it was another good walk through stunning countryside, gently up and down…we stopped at lunch and had a small chat with Liv which was lovely. It had started to have a few drops of rain then, but stopped, but after another hour or 2 it did start to rain very gently…we ignored it as it was barely getting us wet (and our walking clothes dry very quickly) and by the time we viewed St Léonard in the distance it was a little more persistant, but we decided it wasn’t poncho-worthy, and walked into the town a little wet.

Such a lovely town, small but narrow streets and old buildings. Easily found our lodgings this time, right opposite the famous collegiate church, and a very perfect chambres d’hôtes. We have a stunning room, our window a few metres from the church, and lots of space. Dinner was part of our deal here, but there is an art show in town with many French artists exhibiting (and Italian Amr says)..which our place is full…and we were sent to a restaurant for our dinner, as the art crowd are dominating his house…perfect for us, and at the moment they are all out on the town - Saturday night again (no visible weddings this week!).

But tonight’s restaurant experience was again a first…and a French experience we had never seen! We were sent to a place called Le ResTaureau…we didn’t get it at first, though our hostess did mention boeuf. Anyway, we arrived and were expected, and sat down and he explained that the entrées and desserts were self serve, and we had 3 choices of main - beef tartare, beef on a skewer or steak! (Which is where the taureau - bull - comes in)…so we helped ourselves to the entrées (lots of varieties all in little plastic containers - tomato salads, prawns, snails, cucumber, terrines) then the mains, all with frites and lettuce garnish, then plastic desserts from the fridge!! Totally new French experience, and it was packed…so you never can tell or think you have learned what happens in places. I had a perfect steak, with green peppercorn sauce - done saignant, and Amr had the tartare. Everyone had beer or carafe wine…new experience, very good!

Now off to bed, Limoges tomorrow, for 2 nights.Read more