The morning was dry again, and a lot of racket with a big
display of WWII vehicles being set up below us. We avoided them and parked down
by the river to have a wander around the old quarter of Bergerac. Next major
stop was the very attractive limestone town of St Emilion. All the towns here
are of gorgeous warm limestone, and there are wine baron chateaus everywhere
you look. The Dordogne was behind us, and the landscape had smoothed out a lot
as we neared the coast. St Emillion was well worth the visit. More attractive we
felt than Sarlat, and somehow felt less touristy though there were hundreds
about. We came across a sale at a white-only clothes outlet and did a little
damage, then onwards to Rochefort by 3pm through the grapes, sunflowers and
corn fields.
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| St Emillion |
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| Rochefort Corderie |
Rochefort is where the ship Compte
de Paris left from for Akaroa, so Karen wanted to look at the city and
check out the museums. The National Maritime Museum was a bit of a fizzer, in
fact the whole place wasn’t much chop. Rather disappointing. We left at 5:30 heading up through the Loire
to Paris.
Finally we managed to arrive somewhere at a sensible hour so
we could settle in and have a beer in the sun. Parthenay was the chosen spot,
mainly because it was where we were at 8pm! It turned out to be very nice. We
had a French menu du jour at a restaurant just below us. The waitress was an
absolute pleasure – bright and cheery – and made the meal very enjoyable.
