Still in The Dordogne - Troglodytes and Stuff

Tuesday 26^th August

Woken up by rain drumming on the roof. That’s the story for the day. We decide to have a ‘day off’ and stay around the site. I find that I can pick up the free WiFi from where we are by using my big USB aerial stuck on the side of the van. K updates her blog. I do some washing. We put the awning out so that we can put up the portable washing line. It rains pretty much all day. We don’t get to use the bikes.

Lots of birds to watch when the rain does stop for a bit. They come out from the bushes and flit in and out of the trees. I even saw a Nuthatch climbing the tree closest to the van – just looked out the open door, and there it was.

We plan where we are going next. It seems that we are off to look at the caves at Lascaux II tomorrow, before heading south west.

Wednesday 27^th August

Grand sunny morning. Up and off after breakfast, heading for Lascaux II. Very windy road all the way to Montignac – passing a goose farm on the way. Arriving at Montignac the sat nav decided to be silly and direct us to a side street. We found our own way to Lascaux – only to find out that the only place that you can buy tickets is in the town centre!! Back to town and found the aire – which, I must say, is fab – complete with free electricity. We walked around – it was market day – and found the ticket place. Looked at the queues and thought ‘It’s only a replica’. Went back to the van and headed for ‘Le Thot’ – the companion to Lascaux.

We stopped off at a large Intermarche on the way and did a fairly large shop. Also filled up with diesel at their fairly cheap prices.

After snagging the bike cover on some barbed wire I parked at Le Thot and we gained entrance for the sum of seven seventy Euros each. Was it worth it? No. We walked around the animal part in about twenty minutes (going very slowly), and then sat and waited for the ‘animation’ at 4.30pm. The exhibition of primitive skills in stone and bone carving were interesting, and the guide showed us the many animals depicted on the exhibition walls through the use of UV light – when only a few seemed present in natural light.

Aurochs

An Extremely Sad looking Mammoth

We lost the crowd, and then realised that we were missing the augmented reality workshop. Following the sound of applause, K found a door and we entered to a large screen with a backwards facing camera and a projector which seemed to place prehistoric animals close to the audience, and some brave child volunteers. Interesting, but not that interesting, or long. We came in on the last animal of three that had been shown – a woolly rhino.

We left and headed for ‘St. Christopher’s Rock’. This is a natural limestone wall which has been occupied by humans for over 55,000 years. It has been a fort, and a city in the middle ages. We spent nearly an hour having a good look round, and then headed back.

We had promised ourselves a barbecue. I got the bucket out and started it up. We had ‘brochettes du porc’ and sausages, breast of lamb slices and with salad, I did a baguette some serious harm. We didn’t eat until quite late, but it was clear and warm and very nice.

Thursday 28^th August                                                    

The weather is still good. We  decided to stay one more night and visit some more things. We tried the Grotte de Gaume – but that had limited entry and all tickets had gone by the time that we got there. So on to the ‘Maison Fort de Reignac’ – a kind of cliff castle which still has all of its period furniture fixtures and fittings. It has been occupied for over 20,000 years.

We spent quite a while going around. It ends with a ‘Torture Exhibition’ which is internationally renowned, and which has toured Europe. It was horrific to see what torments we have devised for each other over the years – some of which are still carried out today.

Back to the van for lunch and then, after a quick stop at a goose farm, to the camp site to plan the trip down south tomorrow. I prepared a chicken dish for the evening meal, and it started raining again – (don’t think the two were connected).