Limousin Region

31 July – 3 August
Internet access is not always available when I want it and so I will write up blog posts in Word and then add them as I am able to.
We have had a wonderful 4 nights in the Limousin region – after the flat, brown landscape of Northern France it was great to get into the hilly green country of this region. There are still many maize fields but also lots of trees and the gorgeous red Limousin cattle.
We have been staying at a great campsite near the small village of La Chalard. It is run by an English couple who have been here for 20 years and so it is nice to be able to converse in English and know that our communication is being understood correctly! There is also a pool which we have been enjoying as two of the days were around 33 degrees. One thing which we love about camping in France is the fresh bread which is delivered in the morning for breakfast, we also usually have a treat of pain au choclat! The baguettes are lovely and crusty on the outside but soft on the inside and we have just discovered a cereal loaf which is quite grainy.
Lionel & I went to the nearby village of Jumillihac for the Sunday morning marche (farmers market). It was held in a spectacular spot – the town square in front of a huge chateau. There were a variety of stalls and we bought some of the lovely fresh vegetable – tomatoes, courgettes, peppers and mushrooms. We looked at the chutney and jam but on our limited budget we decided it was a luxury we could pass by (we went to Intermarche and bought cheap supermarket jam). Lionel did some wine tasting and we bought a bottle of red which we shared with some campsite friends, with some crackers and cheese, later in the evening.
We have enjoyed the friendliness of this campsite and have spent some time with an English couple whose two young girls followed Rebecca around. Rebecca & Josh also played in the pool with a French family – they had very limited English and we had very limited French but swimming races and diving for the ring are universal games!
We packed up from here on Tuesday for a 4 hour drive south to Carcasonne....but that’s a story for next time!