Having a few lazy days in Montignac. We were planning to move on Sunday, but an empty fridge talked us into leaving on Monday as it craved some supermarket provisions. We should go and see the cave paintings at Lascaux, but we will leave that for another visit as we will almost certainly be back here. The caves look like a tourist nightmare, to be avoided at weekends and school holidays.

We tried and failed to find the Saturday market here, so went to the Spar shop instead,  which, while unassuming on the outside, turned out to be one of the best Spar shops ever with a great selection of local wines.  For future reference, the Saturday market appears to happen behind the church, by the river.

Wandered off for a twilight stroll around town:

Football match behind the campsite – here is the packed grandstand

Pleasant bar for an evening sip

Even the French don’t know who has right of way at this one, even though the French always have right of way

After spending hours behind the wheel yesterday we wanted a day with a bit less driving. Around fifty minutes took us to Montignac, out of Limousin and into Dordogne. The motorway took us over many high viaducts, up hills and back down again, causing the brakes to smell a bit by the time we got to the destination. Montignac has a good one-way system so if you miss the campsite it is easy to go back round again. There is also a new aire on the outskirts of town that looks worth stopping at.  However, the campsite has fast, free internet and a bar and a takeaway.

Road a little bit slow and bendy once off the motorway.  Planning three days here, enough to visit the local cave person art and Saturday market.

The ducks here are well fed but maybe have a slightly less charmed life than the ducks we know at home

Pretty houses in Montignac

This has been an epic trek. Considering the number of bus stops we passed by there must be a decent bus service covering the part of the Loire south of Nevers, so that is worthy of further investigation for future trips. The plan was to head for Limoges, while doing an overnight stop on the way if the three to four hour journey seemed too much. All plans went out the window when we put the wrong overnight stop in the sat-nav and found ourselves heading towards Lyon/Clermont-Ferand. We attempted a stop near Neuvic, where there are plenty of campsites, but the signage was rubbish for all of them, not helped by local lunatics trying to overtake even when you are signaling to turn left. A motorhome going into a cammpsite? Obviously beyond the comprehension of the locals.

Eventually ended at a lovely campsite near Donzenac which was impossible to book into due to lack of anybody manning reception, and nobody answering any of the telephone numbers. Some French camper chap let us in but his wife seemed less than impressed. They didn’t let the next British van in. Wife ended up hugging and kissing us, but sadly I stood on her foot. Maybe we made friends, but who knows. They seemed happy enough and eventually somebody turned up at reception so we could pay for the night.

We tried some beef kidney stew for dinner, which would have been tasty forty years ago, but it was very rich and seemed not suited to our sanitized British taste buds. Then we remembered how difficult it is to by things like liver and kidney in the UK these days, even living in farming country.  This is no doubt down to all the mad cow carry on from a few decades ago, so thanks to whoever produced this public service advertisement at the time:

Nevers is not a great place.  But it is not bad.  Same is true of the campsite.  We couldn’t summon up the energy to go into town so took a wander to the canal (latéral à la Loire again)  instead.  We are leaving here tomorrow, maybe in the direction of Limoges then Dordogne.

Some boats:

Looks like somebody lives in there

We’d rather live in one of these:

Barges at Nevers

No idea where to go next, so south sounds good, and, since we’ve never been to Nevers, Nevers sounds like a good destination.  This has to be the worst entrance to any campsite, ever, with only room for one smallish unit to park up on arrival and nowhere to queue.  A77 decent and not busy, but best to get off at junction 37 and approach campsite from the south rather than go on the inner ring road from the north.

Took a wander into town but somewhat underwhelmed so far. Here is a gargoyle on the cathedral – we like gargoyles:

Gargoyle at Nervers Cathedral

Briare is nice.  Campsite is nice (did we mention fast, free internet?), and the motorhome aire next door doesn’t look to shabby either.  Wandered into town today and found house prices are very reasonable.  We will be back here for sure.  Weather is looking great for the rest of the week so we’ll stick around in the area for a bit longer, before moving further south.

Briare – rather picturesque

Day two in Briare and we took a stroll along the river to visit the aqueduct that takes the Canal latéral à la Loire over the Loire on the way to the Seine.  Completed in the 1890s, it is an impressive struture.

Antique shop in Briare

Entrance to the aqueduct

A barge on the move

More boats in Briare

This looked like it would be a two and a half hour trek on the D956 through Auxerre.  Sat-nav had other ideas.  At least we went through some nice villages on the east of Auxerre side of the D956, including Chablis and Fleys.

We stopped to look at the vines:

Lovely vines – just ready for harvest

Chablis… yummy

Finally got to Briare after the epic detour and we will stay here for the weekend.  Fast free internet at the campsite and the town looks interesting.  Noticed that the Dampierre nuclear plant is still puffing away going up the A77, but unlike Gein the smoke is not visible from the campsite.

Canal at Briare

Lock at Briare

Weather looking grim and we are moving south-westerly.  Maybe we can pick up some of the places we have missed on the Loire over the years, then head for Limoges and Cahors, neither of which we have been to before.  Found our way to the municipal site at Châtillon-sur-Seine, a pleasant, basic site not far from town.  We will return here and visit the town another time but for now this is just an overnight stopover.

Near the campsite, overlooking the town

Got the train to Laon – 28 Euros for two each way but the guide books say it is nice.  The guide books also say that walking to the old town is a tough climb, but no matter because a cable car can ferry people up from the new part of town.  Incorrect – this is all that is left of the cable car:

This will not be taking any passengers anywhere – so it looks like the stairs

A scan of the local area reveals a bus stop that goes to the old city.  It is a little electric bus that runs in the mornings and afternoons but not over lunchtime.  There appears to be another bus that goes up there as well.

The old town is pleasant but not spectacular, and, unlike similar places, not too overrun by tourists.  Many have probably passed out on the climb.

There are a couple of streets with shops, galleries and bars.

Brollies to keep the rain off

The Cathédrale Notre-Dame is an impressive Gothic affair but not up with the best of them.

Cathédrale Notre-Dame

Fancy stained glass