Thursday, June 28, 2012

Settling in to summer

The Dordogne reminds us of what an English summer can be, and occasionally is: lots of sun and temperatures on the correct side of 30.
Yesterday we visited Piégut-Pluviers, a village transformed into flowers as it's their turn this year to celebrate all things Occidental. Here are some pictures from this attractive village, and from our campsite.

Alex and Nigel at the charming flower village of Piégut
Alex et Clare admirent les fleurs
This is the Queen of Ice-Creams
La Tour a Piégut
Clare in the heat
Our two tents
The Restaurant

Clare smiling through her bites
Today we visited another local market town where the waiter, inferring instantly we were hapless brits, had some fun by throwing incomprehensible French at us ("Am I the first person to be serving you or are you already being addressed?") and then being careless with our drinks order (Ou es la caraffe de l'eau?). Charming he was, and in his fifties, but with a brittle Gallic superiority.

We didn't know that here in La France profonde they keep the habits of fifties England. It's Wednesday so all the restaurants were shut this evening - a fact we verified by driving quite a few kilometres.

All but one: the one with the bright-as-a-button waiter. We gave it a miss and dined on our emergency rations next to our tent. Petty? Of course!
PS: as I write in the gathering gloom, the bats have come out and are circling above our heads between the conifers.