| Day 1 - Basel -> Vichy | Day 2 - Vichy | Day 3 - Thiézac | Day 4 - Sarlat-la-Canéda | Day 5 - La Grande Côte (Coast) |
| Day 6 - Rigny-Ussé | Day 7 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire | Day 8 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire | Day 9 - Riel-les-Eaux | Day 10 - Montbéliard |
Wednesday
Sarlat-la-Canéda -> La Grande Côte
Map Link
While we could have stayed in the mountains for a week, enjoying the scenery and the quiet and hopefully better restaurants, we had a minor goal: The Atlantic coast.
When Dan first brought up the idea of a “motorcycle ride through France”, it started with wanting to go to La Rochelle. Why there? No real good reason, more like “just because”. Then the region morphed into “the Bordeaux area” and then “the coast”. But it was that last one that was really calling to him, so we left the mountains behind and headed for our next destination.
But before we left Sarlat-la-Canéda, I wanted to see what it was like without people. Not that it was really crowded yesterday, but I like old cities in the morning light, empty passageways darting off into the shadows. And while I did find this, I also found the industrious merchants already setting up their stalls and tents in the church square at 6:30 in the morning. The work day was already starting!
From Sarlat we follwed La Petite Beune, a small river the cut through some amazing rock formations. In fact, this watershed represents the largest concentration in the world of decorated caves from the Paleolithic period. There were signs all morning for various caves that were open to the public, offering tours to see the cave paintings, and stalactites and stalagmites. The road bent along the river, which stayed out of sight for the most part, hidden behind a thick forest. Also hidden by the thick forest were a few chateaus, steeply peaked roofs giving away their presence as we flitted by.
We took at break in the parking lot of Grand Cave La Roc. It was obviously early in the season, as there were less than a handful of vehicles in the lot, and half of those were overnight campers.
We left the Dordogne and Perigord region behind and hit Wine Country. It started slowly, but the landscape was soon covered in vinyards to the horizon. The weather was good: overcast, slightly chilly, but dry. At one point we stopped at a little parking area on the side of the road. It was a good place for a break: trees for shade, a couple of benches, and a view that went on for miles. How many miles? Apparently at least two! While we sat in the shade and stretched a bit, I noticed a massive “something” out near the horizon. What was it? I couldn’t tell – even my Super Zoom camera didn’t bring enough details. I was guessing a cathedral, but it could have also just been a big grain silo. I had to know.
I left Dan behind and hopped back on the bike. I took a few wrong turns, but eventually entered the village of Lonzac, population 243 and home of a medival church. The Church of Sainte-Marie was commissioned and financed by Jacques Galiot de Genouillac between 1520 and 1530 to house the tomb of his first wife, Catherine d’Archiac, Lady of Lonzac. Most people are lucky to get a headstone! It had been 3 kilometers as the crow flies from our rest stop, but it was definitely a worthy detour.
The scenery and roads from here to the coast were not that interesting. The best part about this region was seeing the town names, which previously I’d only see in the liquor section of my local shop. Cognac, Bordeaux, Chambord, Chardonnay, Chenin, Bergerac…all names I’d seen on labels, but never on road signs.
We reached the coast and made our way to a campground that we had scoped out online. It had really good reviews and seemed to be in a good location. This would be our first time camping in a real European campground and the process was fascinating to me.
We were given a tent space number, although she said that if any other spaces looked better, we could switch. We borrowed an electric cable converter so that we could use the power supplied to the space, and we paid the 1€ (each!) for wi-fi for the night, and found our spot. It was just fine for us, and we had to laugh that our camper neighbors were from Switzerland. Small world, indeed. The campground itself was clean and tidy and was well set up: many sinks for washing dishes or laundry, good toilets and showers, and clean grounds. We could also sign up for a breakfast pastry
Dan and I got busy setting up the tent and filling it with our sleeping gear. Once we had that done, and had put on some comfy clothes and went for a walk.
There was once again a massive amount of construction to improve the street and sidewalks. It was early in the season but the area was comfortably lively. Dan was disappointed that there wasn’t an easy way to walk along the beach short of walking in the sand. I think that he assumed that there would be a boardwalk of some kind. Instead, we turned around and walked towards the town and enjoyed the rocky shores of the Atlantic Coast.
Our walk was nice and the coast was pleasant to see. Dan was happy that we got to the ocean, even if he couldn’t walk along a boardwalk. Our walk was long enough for us to pass the time for the restaurants to open – again, not until 7pm. Dinner was good but we had more time to kill before it was really time to crawl into the tent. I thought that I’d sit outside and read for a bit, but the sight of the first mosquito pressured me into the tent early. I did not sleep well that night, although I finally found a comfortable position around 3 am. The next morning came early, to say the least.