... last days in the Dordogne ...

Day 28, 29 - Dordogne region

We drove to the river. We took a van to the drop off place. We had to paddle 15 km. I was in the canoe with Grace and Daddy. I mostly did all the work. Mummy wasn't doing much work and neither was Grace. We stopped for lunch. We had a walnut pie- it was yummy. It had caramel under the walnuts. When we were just going to go we saw a water snake. 

Yesterday we went to Castelnaud. The catapaults were very big except one that was small. We had to play a game about rescuing a prisoner. Lily and Grace lost a life but I didn't. I got a poster of the castle. 

Jack

For the past few days we have been very busy. On Wednesday we had three icecreams!! The first one we had at Sarlat. We got to choose two different flavours. I chose raspberry and chocolate. It was yummy! 

Then we drove to Castelnaud. It was really fun looking at all the weapons and armour. We had a look at a video that showed you how to use the catapaults. One thing I learnt from it is that they could only fire two shots every hour! In one of the rooms the was a game and you had to rescue a person to win a prize. We had three lives and Grace and I lost ours but Jack won(with my help). He won a poster which had the castle on it. When we got back to the square where we were staying we went to have an ice cream. I had salted caramel. It was yummy! 

For dinner we went to Galerie M. I had pasta it was really yummy. For dessert we had icecream. I had chocolate. 

On Thursday we drove down to the river to get a van to where the boats were. Mummy and I were in a boat and the other three were in another. We had to paddle 15km. A bit after halfway we stopped to have a late lunch. The bread, tapenade, tomato dip, avocado and cheese were yummy but the yummiest thing was the walnut pie. It was delicious!!! It had caramel down the bottom and walnuts up the top.

Just before we left a group of paddlers came in and just as they were about to land some kind of water snake came up and all the girls on the canoes screamed. It was freaky and funny at the same time. As we left we raced each other to the end. Everyone sort of agreed that Mummy and I won except for Jack. When we got back to the place where we were staying we sat down on the chairs and either read, played on devices or something else. A bit later we all went out for ice cream. I had salted caramel again. I just love it!!!

Lily

Today we drove to Port D'Enveaux to hire some canoes. We took a bus to our starting point. Daddy, Jack and I were in one canoe. Mummy and Lily were in the other one. The canoe trip was 15km. My favourite part was lying down and watching while Daddy and Jack paddled.

We stopped just near a bridge for lunch. We had bread, cheese, avocado and tapenades. Then when we finished we had a walnut pie. It had caramel all through it and walnuts- it was delicious. 

When we were getting back in the canoes I spotted a sea snake. I was a bit scared to get back in the canoe in case there was another one. 

Yesterday we went to Castelnaud. It's an old castle and is really big. We got to see lots of the weapons they used to use to defend it from attackers. Lily, Jack and I played a computer game where you had to rescue someone. We had 3 lives. Lily went first and died. I did the same. Then Jack was the last one and he won a prize. He had to remember a password to tell the lady at the ticket office to get the prize. The password was Alix de Turenne. The prize was a poster of the castle. 

Grace

As someone who, according to Jack, didn't do much paddling today, I'm wondering why my shoulders are so very achy already ... lucky the current actually did most of the hard yards!! I'm hoping the sparkling rose we're having with dinner tonight (escalopes de poulet avec creme et fungi...as I know you're all only reading to find out about the food!) will ease the aches. 

The river was beautiful today...we floated down the river past deep green forests, tiny towns and huge chateaux sitting atop rocky outcrops. We actually paddled right past the places we visited yesterday. 

I'm very grateful to my Instagram friends who recommended the Jardins de Marqueyssac (top photo) ... the topiary was crazy beautiful ... all done with hand shears as the electric ones are too harsh on the leaves apparently. 

We leave for Spain tomorrow morning. So far David had driven 1261 km to my none...I'm fairly sure the odds won't be improving tomorrow (the shoulders!). He's called our GPS Margaret and is bring very careful to do everything she says!!

Alison

My children make me laugh. I did not call the GPS Margaret, I wanted to call it Gwendoline.

David

... catching up with Mrs Woody ...

Day 24 ... Around Monpazier 

Our holidays plans are already in disarray; Lily has run out of reading material (suggestions anyone?), Grace has declared museums are boring and only for really old (like 60000 years old) people and Jack continues to hold a very long standing grudge against markets ...sigh!

But yesterday we had a plan to suit everyone...a catch up with one of the teachers from school and her family who are cycling through France (and have less luggage in their panniers than in one of our red bags!!!!).  We even managed a trip to the Sarlat markets to find provisions for our picnic lunch. None of us were brave enough to try foie gras though...maybe next time?

....

On Saturday it took over one hour to get to the camp ground. Then we went to the market. At the market the girls got lost. Then I got to have a piggy back ride. 

Jack

Today we drove to Sarlat to see Mrs Woody and her daughter Josie.  It took about an hour to get to the camp site.  One minute after we arrived we all walked down to the market.  It was really crowded.  We looked at lots of different stalls.  Lily, Josie and I wanted to get a friendship bracelet but we didn't.  After that we went to a park for lunch.  Lily, Jack Josie and I played chasings.  When we had finished we walked back to the camp ground to have a swim.  At first we were jumping in and splashing the parents and then we played Marco Polo.

Grace 

On Saturday we drove for an hour to Sarlat to see Mrs Woody and and her daughter Josie. They are cycling around France. 

Just after we got there we walked down to the markets to get stuff for a picnic. We looked at lots of different stalls and Grace, Josie and I looked in a lot of different toy shops. We saw some cute bracelets and we almost bought them but we didn't. After that we slowly walked up to the park. 

The fourth picture is of us riding on Mrs Woody's bike. It was fun but a bit unstable. When we got to the park we all played chasings. Then we had to try and guess how much money a bag of dried fruit was. The only clue we got was that it was very expensive. I guessed $34 but it was $51!!!!! That's very expensive for dried fruit. 

When we had eaten too much( not much of the fruit) we walked up to there camp ground, got our bathers, got changed and hopped into the swimming pool. When the grown ups came we played who can get the parents wet. They didn't like it much. Then the grown ups left and Mrs Woody hopped in and we played Marco Polo for ages. When they came back they said they could hear us shouting from where they were. It was awesome!! 

When we said goodbye we were planning to meet up again at EuroDisney. Everyone sort of agreed because Josie's dad Rhys said mummy and daddy could rest and he and Mrs Woody would take us. Yay!!!!:):):)

Lily

I have started workbook 2 on counting and am progressing well. The trip to Sarlat created no roundabout issues and there are no motorway tolls in this part of The Dordogne. Policeman Jack was much happier!

Monpazier can be walked around on 15 minutes with stops. My type of town.

David