Travel Day: Cressensac to Rochefort and Gite Nature

 Travel Day

Not much in the way of pictures. Marie took two pictures of the goats as we left the Farmhouse. Margot, our host's daughter is an artisan cheese producer. The Farmhouse that Mary-Line (pronounced Maryilyn) runs is truly a working farm.

These two were near the driveway;

50 or so others were being coy.

The building across this field is directly in

front of the Farmhouse and is where 

Margot produces her artisan cheese. 

And after arriving in Rochefort late in the afternoon (because GPS took us on a wild goose chase for 30 minutes) I took one picture of the Corderie Royale. This building has to be at least a half mile long. It's the home to the International Sea Centre, a vast museum space that is part of the Arsenal de Rochefort (Grand Arsenal) in Rochefort and the city's historic, cultural, and tourist landmark. You can read about it here.

The Corderie Royale is over 1100
feet long. For 200 years this place
provided the rigging for the French
Navy until 1867.

We are looking forward to a shorter drive to Nantes Friday and are excited about meeting up with Gabriel and his family, but Marie is battling some kind of infection again. 

We'll start with a pharmacist and then figure out next steps in the morning.

Rochefort to Gite Nature at Le Cellier (May 26-30, 2023)

Well, it's the next day, and as our GPS often says, "Rerouting." That's what we'll be doing the next 4-5 days. We both tested positive for COVID this morning. Marie has been hit pretty hard with head and chest congestion, coughing, a fever, and fatigue. I have no symptoms. The pharmacist this morning was really helpful. With the aid of Google Translate she recommended over the counter remedies for us.

Our GPS routed us away from the A10 toll way
due to construction delays. Within minutes of 
departing Rochefort, we were surrounded by
wheat fields. Wheat everywhere we scanned.

And then there was a village and I kept thinking
maybe GPS was messing with us. We pulled over
once to examine the route with our Michelin road
map and were headed in the right direction. We 
were rerouted once before to nowhere, so this time
I had my trusty Michelin road map to cross check
the newer technology with an older one.

Fields and fields of peas also surrounded one of
the many villages we drove through as we made
our way in the direction of Nantes.

Does this look like we're about to merge onto a
major toll road going somewhere?

And how about this?

Or this? Turns out that's exactly what happened—
as predicted by GPS and Michelin. 

We'll be in isolation at this remote place outside Le Cellier village. I found Gite Nature on AirBNB a few months ago. My thinking was that we might want a kind of vacation from our travels at this point. Turns out the natural setting in the countryside near the Loire River was a prescient decision. Who knew we'd both test positive for Covid and need to isolate a bit?

Entrance to the property is under the railway bridge.

Contact info if you're interested in renting this.

Our studio is a 19th century stone cottage in a 

protected natural preserve bordering the Loire

River. The grounds are spectacular and the studio

is comfortable in a minimalist way.

There's something for every age at Gite Nature.

This is our front door and the living space window.

Stone house close up. We have this whole building.

Another view of the house.

Even more land. This is a different section.

"Outbuildings" are used; they just look questionable.

This trail runs east and west for hundreds of miles.

Bikers, walkers, and runners make good
use of the trail.

Gabriel Heusse dropped by for a visit to make plans
for the day and evening. He biked over on the trail,
because he lives in a village 3 kilometers east of us.

Outdoor courtyard and games room.

The weather is unusually warm this time of year and we're thankful that our stone home has the typical three foot thick walls. It stays cool inside when it's 80 outside.

The Dordogne—May 24th

(Surprisingly, it was warm, ranging from 75-87F.)

Today was our day to "get lost" in the Dordogne region and that's what we did. Our plan was to make a loop from the Farmhouse in Cressensac, Rocamador, St-Cirq Lapopie, Gramat, Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne and back. Basically, our goal was to get lost in the Dordogne region and that's what happened. We ended up driving along country lanes hoping we were going in a direction we intended. That turned out to be mostly true. The really funny part was that GPS took us to Pech Merle, the caves I tried to get tickets for but never got confirmed. 

I joked with Marie as we drove along country roads that seemed to direct us toward the caves that maybe all roads, according to GPS, lead to Pech Merle. And wouldn't you know it, this turned out to be the case. ;-)

I never did find out if I secured tickets to the caves where we might view original artwork dating back 27,000 years. We did, however, enjoy the information timeline outside the museum. The pictures and videos later in this blog provide some background. Remember, you can pause the video and enlarge the screen to read text. And that goes for any of the pictures as well.

But before I take you on our roadtrip, take a look at these pictures depicting the size of the fireplace in the Farmhouse and the thickness of the walls. Stunning!

Check out the depth of the window well on the far
side of the breakfast room.

Standing in the window well, Marie
provides a sense of proportion.

Our first stop while getting lost.

This cafe did NOT look open. Nothing
in this minuscule village looked open,
the baker next door assured us it was.

And the coffee was delicious. A note: Everywhere
we are in Europe, American rock-n-roll or easy
listening 80's music is playing in elevators, cafes,
and restaurants. This cafe in the middle of nowhere
seemed to specialize in Motown tunes.

On the road again. Much of what we enjoyed
today was this kind of pastural landscape.

Landscapes like this.

Pulled over to take the above picture and then
turned around to prove we were really driving.

Ya, ya more pastoral views and winding roads. 

Really? GPS brought us here?

This visual of timeline of human habitants in
Europe gives you a sense of scale. 

Enlarge to read text on all the timeline pictures.

This zeroes in on when humans first mastered fire.

This video takes you on a walk along the European timeline beginning in 1950 and 

ending about 150,000 years later.

Entering  Espedaillac.

This solar array just appears as we round a bend
leaving the tiny village of  Espedaillac.

We just liked the look of this house in
Beaulieau-sur-Dordogne.

Noticed this side street and walked
down it after lunch.

Marie awaiting lunch.

This cafe was still serving lunch by
2:30PM and we were grateful.

Happy to be served lunch.

We shared a ham and cheese panini 
with grilled red and yellow peppers
and apple slices. It was DE-LISH!

After lunch we wandered the medieval

town center of Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.

St. Pierre Abby Church (1135).

Note the beams above the entrance.

I took pictures of three doors in a row.

Door 2.

Door 3.

Exiting the medieval section of 

Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.

A section of the Dordogne River is
diverted from the main to create a
quiet watery park for campers.

When we arrived back at the Farmhouse, the dogs
greeted us and then flopped onto the cool grass.

Today we were on the road for nearly six hours. Our intention was to "get lost" and enjoy the scenery the Dordogne region offers. We did exactly that, driving in and through tiny villages via narrow lanes and occasionally getting out to stretch our legs. Something that cracked us up was that our GPS decided we wanted to go to the Pech Merle caves to see 27,000 year old paintings even though we requested a different destination.

A month before making this trip I tried to reserve tickets for a guided tour of the caves. I was unsuccessful. And then after arriving in Paris I tried again, but only seemed to secure tickets, because two, and then four days after I purchased tickets, they didn't arrive in my email. Imagine my surprise when GPS decided to direct us to Pech Merle anyway. Crazy! All the same, we enjoyed walking along and reading the European human history timeline.