Through France to the Tarn-et-Garonne region

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From Bourges, we took minor roads south, through Montlucon and Brive towards Cahors. En route, around 1pm, we parked in a village street and walked downhill in search of a café. A travelling funfair was setting up in a meadow by the roadside, but otherwise the place was quiet, the boulangerie and the insurance office closed for lunch. There seems to be an opportunity to buy insurance in every main street in France. Returning to the car, we followed a sign to an auberge on the edge of the village. The car park was full and vehicles were parked on the verge. The menu by the door reminded us how important lunch is in France: it offered a three-course set meal and a range of meat dishes. We decided to hold out for something lighter.

Eventually, our snack consisted of crispy bread, thick with butter, and jambon de pays, under an umbrella outside a village bar and restaurant. Our quest for citron pressé elicited another firm refusal from the elderly patronne, so we drank Perrier and Orangina. Later, in a cafe by la place Gambetta in Cahors, the waiter didn't demur: the lemon juice was freshly squeezed and iced, the jug of water ample.

From Lolmie, the narrow road wound uphill through trees, past a madonna statue and a windmill with no sails, till we saw the green postbox that Eva had told us to watch for.

In bright evening sunlight, in a garden overlooking a wooded valley and surrounded by oaks, Tim grilled duck on an iron barbecue.

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