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Escape to USA, France and UK

July - December 2021
A 139-day adventure by Rosie Read more
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  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
    4
    1121
    Day 47

    Crozant - a beautiful walk

    September 14, 2021 in France ⋅ 🌧 22 °C

    An absolutely beautiful walk today, though it was quite full on - mainly because it is so humid. It rained in the night, which was perfect for us, and there will supposedly be thunderstorms tonight, but we didn’t walk in rain. But though the temperature maxed at about 24° it was humid from when we started at 9 am, and we walked about 21 kms - supposedly 18, but we had a bit extra to get down to our gorgeous hotel by the lake.

    Will first mention dinner last night at the George Sand hotel in Gargilesse…outside in the garden and just perfect. Pretty busy as the only place to eat on a Monday evening, and there were people in our hotel also that we didn’t know existed! And we even helped an oldish couple, with her very elderly mother, get into the hotel by the secret side entrance that is the only access when the restaurant is closed! They had the key but didn’t know where to go. People are so friendly, and very forgiving of our not perfect French, but we rarely get to speak in English.

    Our lovely hotel man was back this morning at breakfast, and we asked to buy things for lunch as our supplies had run out, and we doubted we’d find a shop along the way. He supplied bread, cheese, jamon (Spanish!) and refused payment, and also refused payment for the washing - said it was a cadeau! How kind…he spoke English and we did a bit of both.

    So we set off, and spent the day walking uphill, usually gently, and downhill, also usually gently except for one time when it was potentially hazardous - our Book said “slippery when wet” - and it was steep and uneven and rocky and wet (it rained last night, but not too heavily)..but we took care - don’t want to spoil the whole adventure with a sprained ankle or worse! And we found ourselves down by the Creuse again, all the time walking through spectacular scenery. Sometimes we were high along the plateau at the top of the banks, and sometimes in the valley. There were signs of camping, boating and fishing round here (we even saw a special place for people in wheelchairs to fish from!!

    We stopped at Éguzon for lunch - a small town but actually alive with a bar and a shop! We had our jamon sandwiches on a picnic table and went to the bar for coffee/chocolate- perfect, and knew we had about 8 kms to go. It was 9 by the time we got here, but it did seem to drag…the last few kms always seem endless when you are nearly there. But it was worth it…we passed the actual town of Crosant which is high above the lake and saw a sign to the Hotel du Lac down to the bridge, a little further on down the hill to the water. On sighting the hotel we hoped we weren’t mistaken as it looked so special - flags, kayaks, boats and people enjoying all this, and hiking…anyway, it was correct and we were expected and our bags were here! So good. We have a lovely room, looking out on the lake.

    Now have washed - ourselves and sweaty clothes - and had a beer. It is starting to rain, and the prediction is for rain on and off for the next week or so. Can’t really complain after 14 days of no rain walking. By the time we reach Limoges on Sunday we will be half way through our walk!!    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 48

    Now at La Souterraine

    September 15, 2021 in France ⋅ 🌧 21 °C

    A fairly easy walk today as we did another taxi deal! We were very happy to see that we had been organised to have a taxi ride from our beautiful hotel by the lake, as it was only uphill from there for quite a while. It poured with rain during the night, and we woke and decided to extend the taxi ride a little further…so we were left with 10 kms, which is manageable even if terrible weather! As it turned out, the dire predictions were as usual wrong, and it didn’t rain at all while we walked, or yet! It was cooler, and sometimes breezy, but still muggy when the sun tried to peep through.

    There were 6 walkers staying at the hotel, 3 couples all about 70, and they set off to do the whole walk before we left this morning. Tougher than us, but we have decided it’s not an endurance test, but fun and a holiday so we don’t feel at all bad about cutting our distances. I must say I will get more of a spring in my step if it cools down and autumn/winter sets in!
    Today we also met another pilgrim- a young German man who has been walking since June from northern Germany…we saw him on and off during the day, but he is staying further on so he will probably stay ahead of us. He was delighted to speak English as his French isn’t very good…The scenery today was just beautiful - lush open fields with cows, crops and woods which we also went through. Little villages, farms - the usual, but one of the best.

    Got to our hotel - the Porte St Jean (right by the old porte) at about 1.30 when they were flat out serving lunch…we finally got a key and our room and are happy to be left alone! We went looking for a dinner place, as dinner isn’t included today, and after walking the streets - this is a small town, but with shops, banks, etc.etc. - we had trouble finding anywhere open for dinner! One hope was a crêperie which sounded perfect, but closed Wednesday…so as a last resort asked out hotel people if the restaurant here is open tonight - and yes, so we are ending up here! Maybe they just don’t do a demi-pension deal.

    Anyway, will report on dinner tonight, it is bound to be good, even if the hotel staff are rather gruff! And I will include photos of dinner at Gargilesse in the lovely open courtyard, as yesterday there were too many beautiful walk photos, and also of last night’s dinner. Of course it was wonderful. The hotel (now the Crozant hotel) is run by a couple, who do everything it seems (probably more staff when things are booming)…so he had a menu, no choice, just what they had cooked today. And we sat by an open window by the lake, and watched a spectacular sunset….(even though it did rain!). A starter of grilled eggplant on a salad, with goat cheese and tomato, followed by a hotpot of fish (salmon and cod) in a lemon creamy sauce, with a little mould of rice with veg, a little frittata mould and a grilled half tomato…great presentation, and delicious!

    Tomorrow we walk about 20 kms again, to Bénévent L’Abbaye.    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 49

    Bénévent L’Abbaye - a gorgeous walk

    September 16, 2021 in France ⋅ 🌧 18 °C

    We walked 21 kms today and it was just beautiful….it is getting rather repetitive saying this every day, but the countryside is just so lovely. Rolling hills, dairy farms with brown cows, some corn, saw a field today with celery and onions, cabbages (or cabbage family). Very pretty farms and villages…usually not a sign of life, but obviously things do happen! There are tractors rolling around a bit.

    When we left La Souterraine this morning, it certainly was bustling for such a small place. And yet our hotel was the only place we could find to eat last night… It was deliciously cool when we left at 8.15 this morning, but soon we feared it was starting to get sticky…and it did for a short while, but miraculously it passed and remained comfortable for most of the day. All the predictions of rain for the week have not eventuated happily for us, though there are always clouds looming- and protecting us from the direct sun! Had breaks at 5 or 6 km intervals, found a bench with flower boxes at each end in a village overlooking the panorama for lunch, and arrived here at about 2.30. The town is perched quite high, and we were hot and thought we’d find a bar before checking into the hotel. But a walk into the centre showed no sign of bars - there were people, a bank and post office…and a beautiful church, but there were people waiting outside looking serious, and flowers at the door…we thought there was about to be a funeral, so didn’t barge on in, but must look later this afternoon, or tomorrow morning on the way out.

    So we came to the hotel - very nice and quite posh. Hotel des Remparts, but not an old building (ie ancient - and in fact no sign of ramparts that we can see!) but 2 guys seem to run it and we had a very welcome beer while they got organised. Then we discovered that our bags had not arrived. So the very helpful man rang last night’s hotel, yes they were still there, and he rang our Cécile from Chemins de France and all got organised and they arrived in about 45 minutes. Phew, we were very sweaty! Amr was smug, as he always carries a change of clothes in his pack and I never do…I have faith! I don’t know if the problem was the taxi or the hotel, as there was rarely a helpful person at reception…Meanwhile we were shown to our room, and it is amazing!! Light airy, leading on to a terrace, will put photo. So a good place to be stuck without clothes. We showered anyway, and before long our bags were here. All very quiet, not sure if other people are staying, but dinner at the hotel so we don’t have to go hunting!    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 50

    Châtelus-le-Marcheix - yet another gem

    September 17, 2021 in France ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

    It’s good that I write this every day, as I already find it hard to remember this morning!! The days would just merge together….

    We had a very good morning, quite cool - in fact I even got rather cold at some times…so good! And again it didn’t rain, but the cloud cover kept the coolness for most of the day. The countryside has now definitely changed…we are in a sort of mountainous area - not alps, but hilly and extremely pretty. We walked mostly through forests - largely oak and chestnut trees - in endless tree tunnels, just gorgeous. And the ups and downs were gentle - we climbed quite high (Amr said we had an altitude gain of 582 metres!) but not in drastically steep inclines, except one at the end which was gentlish but endless, and one other one which was a surprise! Another surprise today was seeing some donkeys in a field of cows…Also we met another lone pilgrim today - a man from Nantes who was pulling his large pack in a little cart behind him. So we are not entirely alone, just very few walkers visible.

    We were to walk 19.5 kms from Bénévent and all worked perfectly…we followed the directions and markings with few worries, and got to the sweet little town of Châtelus-Le-Marcheix at about 2.45, even feeling quite cool and refreshed, and ready to find our BandB. Well it turned out to be another of those occasions when our accommodation is not actually in the town, the only address was “lieu-dit la clupte “ which was vague and when we asked in the town they said..oh far away…so our hearts sank and Amr turned on his Google maps and it was about 5 kms away…more than on hour’s walk! Luckily this place, La Pissarelle, featured on Google maps and we followed the directions - and of course there is a happy ending, as there always has been, as this place is just lovely. Right up out of the valley (that was our surprise climb) but a charming place - we are the only guests and have our own petite maison and are actually in heaven. Annie and Wolfgang, the hosts, are delightful. He is German of course and they both speak perfect English so we can even communicate relaxedly. We are having dinner with them at 8pm and I think we will enjoy it. And another plus is that the extra kms didn’t exhaust us at all, but we plan in future to check the address of these guest houses (we have quite a few coming up) the night before so that we don’t have any more surprises. Tomorrow we officially get picked up by taxi (with bags) and get dropped off so that we only have 20 kms to walk to St Léonard de Noblat, which sounds an interesting larger town (surely we won’t be staying out in the countryside!) and from the map it looks as if we cross the Dordogne river, (no have relooked at the map and it isn’t the Dordogne, but a big one) and it should be a beautiful walk.    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 51

    St Léonard de Noblat - beautiful town

    September 18, 2021 in France ⋅ 🌧 13 °C

    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

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
    Day 52

    Limoges for 2 nights

    September 19, 2021 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    We have made it to Limoges, half way to the Pyrenees our book says! It was a 22.5 km walk, and a bit difficult entering the city, but not too bad, and here we are at a very beautiful and very well situated chambres d’hôtes, 5 minutes walk from the cathedral.

    But I haven’t done justice to St Léonard yesterday, as it is such a lovely and historic town. It rained yesterday afternoon and we didn’t see lots, except of course the enormous collégiale church….and didn’t take many photos. The collégiale bells chimed every quarter of an hour during the night Amr tells me, but for once I heard nothing and slept like a baby and he was the one disturbed!! A first I think. I did have the help of phenergan that I had taken for very itchy legs (not bedbugs! Think I brushed against some foliage or some insect nipped me…and I’d wake with itch in the night)…

    And I keep remembering small funny things that I meant to mention…during the animated conversation with Wolfgang he asked how we had enjoyed dinner at Les Remparts the night before. That was the hotel run by 2 gay guys with the 4 poster bed. We said it was fine, but not the usual French meal…and he laughed and told us that François and Daniel used to run a small eatery, quite popular for a cheap meal (and the spareribs was one of the specialties) and then bought the building in Bénévent, which used to be an old people’s home, for €1 as the government wanted to offload it, and turned it into a hotel! Fun to hear this background, and explains why they were a little disorganised!

    I also didn’t hear all the artists come back to the “hotel” last night after their night on the town! I say hotel because it essentially was - a beautiful old stone building - and we came and went, with a code for the front door - and it was extremely luxurious. Our breakfast this morning was a special table just for us, separate from the artistes who had not risen by 7.30, with beautiful setting and freshly squeezed orange juice!! One way to our hearts.

    We left at 8.30 and it wasn’t raining, though did look as if it could some time soon, and our ponchos were easy to reach in our packs. And it was cold!!! About 12° I think, and I wore a jacket walking all day! A week ago I was complaining of heat. But I’m not complaining now, it was perfect walking weather. And the rain held off for most of the walking time. We headed out along the Vienne river, very pretty with old timbered houses, then headed gently but steadily uphill until we were way up from the valley, and walked on well signed paths. Not many photos as the distance was mostly misty. Had lunch at a small village, and the mayor walked by, introduced himself and wished us bon appétit, and an elderly couple also talked to us and we had quite a conversation. They lived in a nearby village that we had to walk through and asked us to have coffee there with them, so nice, but we said we needed to walk on to Limoges. We were joined there by a Dutch woman who we had met last night. In fact we met a few people last night for a drink before dinner. We had run into Leon, the lone German, and arranged to meet him, and then other odd walkers arrived - it was probably the only bar open - and we had quite a social time. Anyway, we saw the Dutch woman on and off today as we found our way into the city.

    It was a lovely entry, after negotiating the outer suburbs and industrial area, over an old bridge over the Vienne which runs through the city, and leads straight up to the cathedral. Our accommodation is just near the bridge and cathedral, and we have a fabulous room - light, airy and colourful. The husband is an artist and there are artworks around done by him. A great place to be for 2 nights. Our hostess has taken a big bag of washing for us and things are good. Except since arriving it has been really raining. Not the odd drops we had while walking. So we went out for a small explore, went into the magnificent St Étienne cathedral where we lit a candle for Ira, and had a drink, but it wasn’t weather for enjoying a walk of discovery, so we came back to relax and will do our exploring tomorrow. Our hostess booked us into the Crêperie near the cathedral for dinner (we fend for ourselves here, but she recommended it).    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 53

    Quiet day in Limoges

    September 20, 2021 in France ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Started with a good breakfast at our interesting guest house. Two other couples - from Belgium and England. There are 3 guest rooms in this house, which now that we have studied it from various angles, is quite weird architecturally…the original old house has been added on, with an upstairs wooden structure where the rooms are, but nothing looking quite straight - rather like an illustration in a children’s book! (Not sure that it would pass council regulations in Oz!). But we think it’s probably a work of our hostess’s artist husband. When we first arrived yesterday she said something about he had “quitté” and we weren’t sure if he had left her, or died…or what details we may have missed. But his work is everywhere and I googled him and found that he was quite a well known artist and ceramicist and indeed did die fairly recently aged 74 (she is quite a lot younger I think), and she was his “last” wife, and he has 5 daughters and 2 sons, so maybe a couple of marriages before? So now we know the background - the article I read was in French and only got the basic facts.

    So after breakfast we set off exploring, with umbrellas, but it never rained, just cloudy, so hope it holds off tomorrow…it was meant to rain today, and clear up Tuesday. We walked along the river, under the new big bridge with roads, to another old stone bridge. Very pretty. Then walked into the old centre, wanted to go to the markets but of course closed Monday, so we went to a Carrefour to get supplies for lunch tomorrow…important as not all small towns have a supérette. Next we went to the Resistance Museum which was interesting and well presented. And after that we walked to the Art Deco railway station and rather hoped that there’d be a cafe there to snack for lunch, but nothing - only food out of machines.

    So we searched for a patisserie, or cafe and had trouble finding any…when you don’t need anything you seem to pass them all the time. Finally had success and found a restaurant, not too formal, that did lunch, and let us have just one course of their menu, very friendly waiter, and a perfect solution. We knew we were getting veal in some form, and it turned out to be slices of meat on a circle of mash with a yum gravy!

    This afternoon we went to the porcelain museum which was interesting with all the old equipment they used to use, and photos, and it is attached to a huge shop with plates, tea sets, everything you could imagine that you could buy. Sadly a Limoges tea set is not compatible with our walking programme, so we weren’t tempted!

    Now about to go for dinner, but just light having had our veal and mash at a late lunchtime…    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 54

    St Martin le Vieux

    September 21, 2021 in France ⋅ ⛅ 19 °C

    We left Limoges at about 8.30, and it took 2 hours (and 8 kms) to finally leave the outer suburbs and find ourselves in the countryside. Amr navigated us with map and instructions through the city, quite complicated crossing squares and up and down small streets. We discovered places that we hadn’t found yesterday en route, and a huge square full of bars and cafes that we’d love to have found at lunchtime yesterday! Also passed the market which was open and bustling today…Today we didn’t go through industrial areas to get out of the city, but in rather well to do suburbs, and in fact all day the area was more affluent it seemed - we didn’t see any crumbling buildings or farms.

    So we walked about 24 kms…meant to be 20, but add on the small distance from our accommodation at the beginning, and a bit to our (again) amazing accommodation tonight. It was a very peaceful and idyllic walk through the beautiful scenery. One larger town, Aixe-sur-Vienne, where we crossed the Vienne - quite a big river now - and where we stopped on a bench for lunch. One thing about crossing rivers is that you descend to them, then have to ascend up the other side, as most of the time we were in the higher country. We also crossed the Aixette, tributary of the Vienne, and followed alongside it for a while - truly beautiful, before coming up again - not steep climbs, just up!

    Passed a château, goose farm, lots of sheep, no vineyards and walked under oak trees, constantly crunching acorns. Arrived at this very small hamlet at about 3, and found that our place is out of the town a little, but along the camino, so we have even done a small bit of tomorrow’s distance! We knew we were staying at La Fromagerie which sounded lovely, but we were bowled over when we arrived. It is a very old stone building (will find out the actual date at dinner) but centuries old, and charmingly renovated inside to make a guesthouse. The hosts are delightful and greeted us and expected us and bags here…all perfect. Our hostess said she used to have goats and make cheese here, but she’s now given it up. They are probably in their 70s and we will have dinner tonight with them. Our room is of course delightful and we have showered and have plenty of time to relax and recover before dinner.

    I have sadly lost my hat…it disappeared somehow at last night’s place…I know I arrived with it and it was a bit wet, but leaving today it had disappeared…anyway, kind Amr has said I can use his. Not a crisis, but I was fond of that hat and it has done lots of our walks! And I like it as a hair controller! Maybe I can find one in Perigeux next weekend.    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 55

    Now at Châlus

    September 22, 2021 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

    A beautiful day’s walk, about 18 kms. But to finish yesterday, we had a lovely dinner with Martine and Alain. We agreed to speak French and they were very kind and spoke clearly and we had a good conversation! And good food - not gourmet, but very satisfying…(their daughter is a chef in Toulouse)…we had sausages made with the local beef, rice, salad, cheese and dessert…perfect, and by 8pm we were starving! They asked where we were staying tonight and when we named the hotel in Chalus they sort of smiled and raised their eyebrows…they wouldn’t exactly say anything, but we knew to expect something a little down market…or weird…

    So we set off about 9, and it was cool, about 12°, and a little foggy but clear sky. It was beautiful and rather mystical for the first half hour. It soon cleared into a cloudless day, but not too hot, just perfect. So we just walked on, through picture postcard countryside in every direction. We’d have gradual long ascents and gradual long descents in the rolling hills, mostly walking on minor country roads with barely a car or even a tractor. Passed through pretty small hamlets and towns, and we just saying it would be nice to walk off the road through trees and that is exactly what happened…we were taken up into the most beautiful forests, with enormous trees. I’ve never seen oaks so tall. It is obviously a timber land, and we heard a chainsaw in the distance…when we were in the high land we could see forever.

    Then after several kms of tree tunnels we came out into civilisation again and were almost at Chalus. Easily found the hotel, on a fairly main road, and sort of a highway diner. We thought maybe our hosts last night just thought it wasn’t very classy and kept an open mind, and the host here welcomed us and expected us and had the bags. We had a beer first, then came up to our room.

    So this is quite a contrast …! Rather a weird network of rooms, but we found no 3. It has a shower cubicle standing like a telephone booth in one corner, a basin beside it and no visible toilet. We had seen a door with a big WC at the end of the corridor and thought oh well…but upon investigation and opening the door in the feature photograph wall of a waterfall we found our own toilet! (I thought it was a cupboard with coat hangers as there isn’t one). Travel broadens the mind, but I may take the precaution of sleeping in my silk sheet just in case of bedbugs…probably perfectly fine, but I’d hate to itch for the rest of the walk! Dinner here tonight will be fine - probably pizza the best option! Tomorrow an easy less than 20 km walk to La Coquille where we stay in a hotel again, but part of a chain which we have found very good…

    I have to thank people for their kind comments about my hat. I am still grieving and mystified as it was somewhere in that house - I walked in wearing it! But Amr gallantly lent me his hat, and will get out his Borselino to wear, and I will look for a replacement in Périgueux, but am not all that confident, based on other towns, that they will have a shop that sells hiking hats…..    Read more

  • TravelerEscape to USA, France and UK
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    Day 56

    Idyllic walk to La Coquille

    September 23, 2021 in France ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    Today was maybe the most beautiful walk yet! We were glad to leave our weird and rather seedy hotel this morning….neither of us slept very well - I did sleep in my silk sheet which is never relaxing really, and we left the light on as bedbugs come out in the dark…there may have been none at all, but I wasn’t prepared to risk it!! Dinner last night was ok….not a normal (to us) French experience…but the food was fine. It was like we had another time, buffet entrées, buffet dessert, and you ordered your main. I had kidneys in a Madeira sauce, and Amr had sausages…the guy who runs the place is nice enough - a bit of a slob, but friendly - Amr asked him what his background was and it turns out his family was Jewish living in Spain originally. They left centuries ago when Spain banished the Jews and his family changed their name and went to Tunisia where he was born but he has now left as the Middle East not a Jew friendly place. The setup a little weird - he has a much younger wife and a small child - he is about Amr’s age Amr reckons. The hotel is really a truckie eatery, and was quite busy for dinner, but the hotel part is not his forte!

    So we set off quite early this morning in the very cool air - about 10°, and it remained comfortably cool most of the day. Another cloudless day. But we walked all day through the most gorgeous scenery. We are now in the green Périgord, and where we walked is a Parc Naturel - a huge area of park, with farms and little hamlets tucked in sometimes. We walked through countless tree tunnels, mostly chestnuts, between fields of sheep and cattle, and it was fairly level….no steep inclines, though we did come up to La Coquille. It was just pure beauty…

    And am happy to say that we are at a very nice hotel tonight!! Our bags arrived and we feel back to normal after last night, and should sleep well…dinner is here, so it is all easy. We have a nice room with a bathroom - not a room with the bathroom in the bedroom, and no silk sleeping sheet tonight.

    To continue the hat saga - I forgot to mention that the hat Amr is lending me is the Tilley hat that they (the Tilley people) replaced when he lost his hat in a train in Lyon 6 years ago! I remember that he got sympathy (especially from Simon and Peter) for that loss…and he has now unpacked his old Borsalino and wore it today - it looks rather battered and makes him look a bit like a hobo, but it protects his scalp - and I think it is straightening out!    Read more

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