Stephen Brading

Up at 7.45am and washed the in bath with a hand rose. Richard went to the patisserie and purchased croissants which we ate with breakfast 8.30am. Foggy morning. We left Cottage du Capiol en Perigord, Le Capiol, Cenac-et-Saint-Julien in the Dordogne French region and walked towards the Dordogne River around 10.30am. We then followed a riverside path beside the Dordogne river downstream to the village of La Roque-Gageac in the Dordogone French region. We purchased a salad lunch at a large open air restaurant around 12.30pm in the village of La Roque-Gageac and then walked back to our accommodation at Cottage du Capiol en Perigord, Le Capiol, Cenac-et-Saint-Julien in the Dordogne French region. On the way I photographed the town entry sign which had the name in two languages, French and Occitan. Occitan dialects are a result of the Latin influence on the language of the southern Gauls, whereas French has stronger Frankish influences. Of the 14 million inhabitants of the Occitan region, it is estimated that 600,000 people are fluent, whilst 1,600,000 individuals are occasional speakers. Occitan is spoken primarily in rural areas of Southern France, Monaco, the Val d'Aran region in Spain, and the Occitan Valleys in Italy. We arrived at Cottage du Capiol en Perigord,Le Capiol, Cenac-et-Saint-Julien in the Dordogne French region around 2.30pm. We then left about fifteen minutes later to drive to a winery co-operative. We tasted wine at Vin de Domme. Reds were the specialty and the quality was as good as Australia. The winery employee was patient and helpful considering our poor French and his limited English. Back at Cenac-et-Saint-Julien in the Dordogne French region around 4.15pm to buy groceries for dinner. We ate pasta with wine in our accommodation for dinner.Read more