Driving inland to the Dordogne and Vezere river valleys

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That’s it. We have left the coast firmly behind us and there will be no more ozone packed sea air for us to breath for a while.
We took the ring road (Rocade) out of Bordeaux to get us across the two rivers, before switching to a quieter A road. Quiet enough on the roads today though, as usual for France on a Sunday when trucks are banned from all the roads, even motorways.
I just looked that up as, today, we did see half a dozen Spanish trucks on the motorway near Bordeaux which surprised us. It seems that transport of livestock and frozen / perishable food is allowed).

Drive today was just over 100 miles and pretty well due East. We quickly picked up the Dordogne river valley and followed it most of the way through the vineyards of the Bordeaux region with more fantastic chateaus just glimpsed through the trees. We criss-crossed the river in several places especially when we drove through rather than round Bergerac, just as it is such an attractive town. We didn’t stop anywhere until we passed a goose-breeding farm where the adults were marching along as if they couldn’t wait to be ‘stuffed’ as it were and the young geese were fluffing themselves getting ready to be Foie Gras as soon as they were big enough. Really don’t like the thought of how foie gras is made but all the same we enjoyed our view of the cackling goose farm.
We crossed the Vezere at one point, Le Buisson, and I think I have at last recognized the spot where we swam from the shingle river bank in 1979 when Paula was 3 and Jenny 2. My photo shows them both happy and naked.
The last 10 miles to the campsite were on more winding roads than we have been accustomed to as we travelled along the Vezere beneath the overhanging cliffs. This is an area of prehistoric cave dwellings and we will check some out while we are here.
A shame that there was rather a grey sky today as a blue sky would have made everything prettier especially our first sightings of the rich sandy Dordogne stone buildings. Tomorrow the sun is due out again so all will be well.

Our campsite, Le Paradis, at Le Moustier near Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere, is absolutely superb. It has a 4**** rating but it is so good we wonder what on earth a campsite needs to do to get 5 as we cannot fault this one. We had planned 2 days here and 2 days further along the valley but may stay the 4 here. Wifi is also excellent !

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