markets, bikes & honey

Day 5  Friday 27th September

The weather is improving, the temperatures getting higher but that didn't mean there was no dew first thing.   Now that it felt like summer again, we decided to stop an extra night here at Brantome, a decision wisely taken as it was to prove.

Once we had demolished breakfast, we set off the 500m along cycle paths into the town.  Our bikes, mountain bikes, are of the classic era & in the 'olden days' we were keen mountain bikers on the North Yorkshire Moors, but after a few ski injuries involving cartilages & torn anterior crusciate ligaments, cycling has now become more of a holiday pursuit.  Anyway, the town itself is surrounded by rivers, making it l guess an island.   Crossing the footbridge over a clear river, pausing to watch visitors enjoying a boat trip, it became pretty clear that there was something on.  There were people everywhere.  'It's market day' l shouted.
 

Brantome is a truly beautiful town, so beloved by the English.  The cool creamy stone of the buildings, lush flowering baskets adorning windows & walls drew visitors to the market square.

Blue skies provided plenty of photo opportunities whilst the market was a cross between Farmers Market & Craft Fayre.   Stall tables groaned with Artisan breads, golden honeys, fresh fruit, jams, plants, fish & of course foie gras, the sounds & smells that us Brits so love!
 

This is a real foodie mecca & extremely busy, gosh there were so many English there, it was quiet funny really watching them stare at the Poissonier & his stall, or trying to sound knowledgeable about foie gras or talk very loudly how cruel it was to force feed the poor animals.

It pretty much goes without saying that we did purchase some goodies for lunch, some wonderful bread, creamy, golden honey, some rather smelly cheese & sun-ripened fruit all carried back in my new-for-2013 bicycle basket!

if you go down to the woods

Day 5 Thursday 26th September

A quick look outside this morning confirmed that there was to be yet another warm day on the horizon.  Is this normal weather for late September l ask myself?

We were last to leave this morning, the other 4 Dutch motorhomes had left a good hour before us, obviously they had deadlines to meet & places to visit, us, we're on holiday!

 

The sat-nav was set for Brantome, which, according to the guide books, is the Venice of the Dordogne.  The avoid motorways option was set as we trundled down the A1 equivalent, the fanatically straight N10 to Angouleme then the D939 to our destination.

The route took us through rolling countryside of woodland, arable & grassland with a slight detour to the small picturesque village of Edon for lunch, parking in a small square under plane trees.  The village also boasted a very early Romanesque church which warranted a closer look, though external views only as thechurch was closed.  Interestingly, the only cars that disturbed the peace were English ones.  So where were the locals then?

When travelling, we try to keep overnight stop options fairly open.  Another France Passion site was pencilled in, this time at Mareuil, a foie gras producer, but as we passed the farm gate early afternoon, we kept driving.  Whilst driving through woodland we noticed that there was a fair number of vans parked in gateways & rides, occasionally you caught sight of its owner, usually elderly & male clutching baskets & bags behaving in a somewhat furtive manner.  Staring hard at one such wizened old chap as we subtitly   slowed down revealed that he was clutching a basket full of an interesting looking variety of mushrooms.

Today's trip ended at the Camping Brantome Peyrelevade, & after a quick empty & fill up at an unusual find on a camping site with a water filling station you would normally find on an aires-de-campings-cars, parked amongst the trees on the banks of the river dronne.  

The temperature was around the 28C mark so after cracking open a couple of bottles of well chilled kronnenburg, we sat back & seriously chilled.  The only sound was that of a lesser spotted woodpecker banging the hell out of a tree & an English-owned dog woofing about in the river.  There were a few English here by the way.

The site itself was very pretty, set amongst the trees on the river bank, only a short walk or cycle ride from the town centre.  The site not only catered for camping & motorhomes but also offered 'glamping' in large safari tents or log cabins for the less adventurous.  Extras here included a heated swimming pool & small sandy beach [man made], whilst the owners were very pleasant & helpful.

Before tea, salmon with fennel sauce, stephen nipped into town & returned a short while later with tales of bridges, caves & abbeys.

Today's Milage:  114miles