Today we headed south to the Gironde. Breakfast in lovely St Georges de Didonne just outside Royan.
Pretty white buildings and jolly cafés, impeccable sandy bays and thirties style beach caff. What's not to like. Our bird count coming through the marshy reserves included herons, egrets, and A Crane...wow! It cruised to a landing right in front of us.
As we were gazing at the idyllic vista we saw the Verdon ferry speeding across and got a triple whammy of it, the St Georges light and Corduan in the distance. My photo is feeble but Adrian's will be a winner. Instead here is an arty farty of just St Georges.
We kept to the estuary as far as St Fort and then dived off through the bottom of Charente Maritime
in the direction of St Foy la Grande. And thence to rolling country beloved of expats. Confit farms to right and left. Cereal crops, vines, etc. Lunchtime saw us detour off to a hilltop village called
Sousmensac. Sweetly pretty with a walk round its summit giving great views. There was a grotto-like lavoir edged with willow and mown grass pathway humming with butterflies and moths and laden with the scent of lime blossom.
Back on the route into Villeneuve sur Lot where we stopped for a drink and wander round. Not a bad place.
Old squares with Roman brick buildings (the thin pamment style
bricks) and a vast church built in 1937 to replace the previous 13th century one.
Last time we were here many moons ago as we were driving through there was a definite stink of alcohol, in the car. Oh we said, there must be a distillery nearby, and thought no more of it. I should add here that there was a reason for this belief. This is prune country and they do make a mean prune liqueur. Today we found The Prune Shop with all things plummy!
To return to my tale, the whiff persisted so when we stopped an hour later for picnic lunch by the Dordogne we investigated the boot. An overfull
bidon of wine had been gently leaking during the journey and in the heat was converting the spillage to heady spirits!
We are now in Cahors.
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