pinkbirdflies

Caught a train from Tours for an hour and a half and changed trains journeying through the french countryside for 3 hours to Aurrilac. We disembarked and, to quote our leader Jaime, “make a picnic “at the entrance to the station with goodies we bought together at a supermarket…baguettes, ham, pate, salad, cheese, fruit. Then we caught another train to a little village and had to wait for a bus to bring us to the gorgeous Sarlat. We opened a bottle of red wine on the platform…a unique experience! Sarlat is really lovely and very old…very french and a gourmets delight as it specialises in regional produce of Duck and Foie Gras. We wandered through the old quarter full of traditional buildings, stone streets and lovely shops full of Foie Gras, truffle oils, red wine and duck. We dined at a very nice French restaurant on Foie gras, duck breast with truffle perfume, goats cheese, Dordogne valley red wine and the local dessert speciality all for $30…

This was the day I wasn’t really excited about…but I managed to cycle 40km return trip through the Loire valley, following the river at times, from Tours to Chateau Villandry. It was magnificent..and so was the Chateau. Through rain, wind, sunshine then hail my little legs worked hard and although it was challenging I’m really glad I did it and made it!! The group is going well although Louise opted for a bus tour instead of the cycle. We lunched together at Villandry and tonight we have a bottle of French red wine to share before Jaime takes us to a good local restaurant for dinner.

In only 2 hours and 5 minutes I arrived vie the Eurostar train from Ebbsfleet to Gare Du Nord and ventured onto the streets of Paris. Taxi to my apartment at 2 Rue Du Petit Pont in the Latin quarter. It is right near the Seine and has a spectacular view of the Notre Dame Cathedral. It is a lively area full of shops, bars, bistros and interesting sights. The first glitch was the contact not showing to let me in, then losing my spare sim cards…oh well…the good thing was the happy faces of Floyd, Amy Snow and Ruth Hodge to meet me and stay for a few days. The apartment is petite, french and lovely! We explored the area and Amy played the piano in Shakespeare and Co the renowned bookstore just near my apartment. We had dinner in a tiny french bistro and drank a beautiful french Rose wine. Amy left us today to continue travelling and we made straight for the fresh food market for our supplies…berries, creme fraiche, ham, fresh crusty bread from the boulangerie and cheeses from the Fromagerie. Fois gras from the charcuterie and a bordeaux to wash it all down.

Visited Port Issac or more affectionately know by Doc Martin fans as “Port Wenn”. It is a pretty little harbour town unaffected by the ‘fame’. Saw the surgery, harbour and school and had a coffee in a nice little shop that was the only place to sell souvenirs and it was all cute and not overdone or too commercialised.