Day 30 - castles and canoes

Third time lucky we find canoes on the riverbank at a small town called St Leon sur Vezere. We choose the three person model and after being driven a few kms up river we are soon paddling our way down the peaceful waterway.

Autumn leaves drift down from the beautiful trees lining the riverbank. Just when we are thinking 'Had enough trees' a chateau comes into view built into the rocks above, hanging precariously. Further down we encounter another chateau and a few rapids for a bit of canoeing excitement.


We are hungry when we arrive in Les Eyzies, famous for being the centre of cro-magnum man. All the restaurants have finished lunch but we manage to find a snack – sandwiches, pizza and omelettes.


Back home at around 6.30 pm we cobble together dinner supplemented by Larry's 'ribs' and his company for an hour or so.

Day 25 – Hautefort farmhouse, Perigord



Our car and accommodation at Hautefort

Alan is very stressed as we drive the hire car, with Sue now on board, out of Bordeaux airport and around and around a few toute directions until we finally get heading in the right direction. We can't chat much about the news from home because Alan needs us all concentrating on navigating …
We relax though when we hit the country roads and pull in at St Emilion about an hour later. The picturesque stone town seems devoted to selling the local wine, which we taste and it's wonderful. We have lunch in the square below the church tower and toast the three of us finally being here in south west France – a dream we've had for 13 plus years.

After lunch and a spot of shopping we head towards our farmhouse. We get lost a few times, which adds to the anticipation. When we finally get here, Les gites fleuris is everything and more than we had imagined it would be.


Our building is a couple of hundred years old and has a big open fireplace in the lounge room. There are rickety steps going up to the bedrooms on the top floor where you have to dip your head at the top.


The gardens and view are lovely – overgrown flower gardens, vegie gardens, barns, pool, jacuzzi. Our hosts Renata and Larry are a fabulous and very hospitable couple originally from America. They bring us over some of their home-made walnut wine to have before dinner. That plus a bottle of excellent Bordeaux claret, some foie de canard, cheese and bread, plus a meal we cobble together from the local supermarchet, then a nightcap of limonchello sees us all sleeping soundly be 9.30pm.

Our lunch spot at St Emilion

.