Along the Vezere river to Les Eyzies, Reignac and St-Leon-sur-Vezere

---

Off to a reasonable start today as we wanted to get to the market in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac and French markets are, usually at least, strictly mornings only. Only 10 minutes along the winding road which follows the river gorge, to the town, which we found to be very busy as a few coachloads of ‘tourists’ were also there. The market was disappointing as it was not what we wanted / needed. Wanted fresh vegetables but on sale was wine, foie gras, walnuts, cheese and sausages, in fact all the local produce specific to this region. No help for us though who wanted simple things like lettuce and beans.
After a wander round and finding that the shops also only sold goose and vineyard related produce we went along to the Grottes de Font de Gaume on the outskirts of town to see the cave paintings. Not for us today. All tickets sold out. Instructed we needed to come back and join the queue at 9.30am tomorrow.
Decided to try another attraction so stopped at the Maison Forte de Reignac on the road back to the campsite. We have visited a similar prehistoric rock dwelling at La Roque Saint-Christophe on a previous trip but Reignac ‘Castle’ only opened to the public in 2006 so we’ve not seen it before. Well worth the €7 entrance fee. This is a “chateau falaise”, unique in France and built right into and under the rock face. All very well presented with appropriate furnishings and some excellent displays. What makes it so interesting though is the fact that there have been prehistoric dwellings here, built into the escarpment, for more than 20,000 years.
We then carried on, by scooter, past the campsite to Saint-Leon-sur-Vezere, designated one of the most beautiful villages in France. It is indeed a very attractive place with a lovely church, a chateau and buildings in the bright golden Dordogne stone and on the banks of the Vezere river. We had late lunch first of all and watched as a large coach gridlocked the tiny village while it dropped off its passengers. Later it barely made it across the narrow bridge over the Vezere without scratching the sides.
Back at the campsite and just nicely in time for a swim. A shame the sun never really made it out today as both the camera and I prefer blue sky for taking photos. Maybe tomorrow. We have decided to stay another day here as the campsite is so lovely and we will make a 2nd attempt to find some prehistoric cave paintings.

---