Onward to Sarlat

Saturday August 23^rd

At the van we sat and had lunch outside as the rain had stopped and it had become very warm – however, the sky began to darken again, and we managed to pack away just as the rain started again. We decided to head for Sarlat, and a camp site that I had chosen. The journey took a couple of hours, and as we approached Sarlat we noticed an aire on the right of the road. I pulled into it and found the one remaining space. We discovered that the aire was only about ten minutes walk from the centre of town, so decided to stay there for the night. It cost seven Euros for the night – but as the next day was Sunday it cleared us until Monday at about 4.40pm, so we could stay two nights if we wished. OK – it was just a car park, and very near the main road, but very convenient for town.

We locked up and walked into town. It was warm and sunny now. Being Saturday, there was a giant street market on, and the place was swarming with people. We found our way to a central area and bought some drinks whilst sitting watching the people and the street performers. I had a Stella, and K had a cocktail named ‘Mea Culpa’ – which had a strange anaesthetising effect on the mouth. It was nice sitting there in the sun, and the drinks went down well. The person selling balloons from which they made hats, swords, shields and a multitude of other objects was doing a great trade with the younger clientele, and the white ‘Living Statue’ would perform whenever a coin was dropped in his box. He reminded me of a negative version of Charlie Chaplin – complete with cane and small moustache. After a while we walked back up to the van, stopping to buy a bottle of fizzy and some saucisson on the way.

Spent the evening listening to an Inspector Morse mystery, and into bed by ten.

Sunday August 24^th

The road noise didn’t keep us awake. It was fairly quiet after about 11.00pm, and the fact that it was a Sunday meant that the road was not too busy. I managed a shower in the van – that felt better! After breakfast we walked back down into town, taking a different route. It seemed much emptier without all the market stalls, and there weren’t too many people around to begin with. It was sunny again and the old buildings made a great backdrop. K had copied a walking route out of our guidebook (which was too heavy to cart around with us), and we tried to find the starting point for that.

After a while walking down back allies along towering yellow sandstone coloured buildings we realised that the map we were following was upside down – but it didn’t really matter. We had decided that we would stay tonight on the aire – so we could view the town at leisure. Walking along and taking a few photos we passed a restaurant that was in the lower part of one of the old buildings – at first we passed it and found the Tourist Information Office – but then we realised that it was a bout one o’clock, and so decided to go back to the restaurant ‘LesDelices de Lauralice’ for some lunch.

Le Patron greeted us warmly, and led us to a table for two. We declined an aperitif, and perused the menu. Opting for the ‘Menu a 15.50’, I chose a Pate de Foie Gras starter, Cassoulet de Canard main and a Tarte au Peche pudding. K opted for Saumon Tartar, Confit au Canard, and Vanille Glace. We ordered a demi carafe of Bergerac White, and some still Evian.

The starters arrived with great rapidity, and were delicious – as was the rest of the meal. A small piece of drama occurred when one of the waitresses reacted very badly to a customer on the Terasse to one side of the restaurant. We couldn’t see what he did – but she took great offence, and, slamming down a menu on a stack of similar, retired shouting into the kitchens. Then a younger waitress shouted “Il a partir”, and several staff members rushed after the apparent miscreant who had scarpered out of the Terasse side door. We were not sure if they caught him or not, nor even really what he had done – but after a while calm ensued and we returned to our meal.

We were stuffed. Managing to ease ourselves back onto the pavement, we headed for the Cathedral and another bout of sightseeing. Later, we made our way back to the van where we sat about feeling bloated. Neither of us is used to eating quite so much at lunchtime – but we felt as though we had successfully sampled some of the local delicacies.

No evening meal today. We continued listening to Morse – in fact we finished it, though come the end we both wished that it could have come to a speedier conclusion. Off to bed. Moving on in the morning.