The drive down was spot on, the beginnings of a heat wave (which lasted the entire time); blue skies and warm winds, no traffic and an increasing hilly landscape all set the tone for a more enjoyable section of our trip.

We ended up staying in a Formula 1 hotel , which even though lacks any sort of character was the cheapest option at just 28 euro which left us with 2 euro to spend on food and activities…according to our original budget. We have had days where we have spent 10 times that.

Cahors was to be our base for Emilia’s 5th Birthday (and my 28th…I have the privilege of sharing that with her too.)Cahors is a must on anyone’s itinerary. It’s nestled on a bend in the river Lot and is surrounded by world renowned caves. The wine here isn’t too bad either, and there is plenty to do.

The highlight was our birthday trip to Grotte de Peche Merle, a spectacular1200m long cave 30kms away from Cahors. It’s a natural wonder, with thousands of stalactites and stalagmites and dozens of painting dating back to 20 000 years and thoroughly trippy.

In the afternoon we took Emilia to a fairground. She was pleased to know that the whole town had turned out just for her birthday party! We stuffed her with sugary candy floss and fizzy drinks and strapped her into a bumper car and let her loose for 30 minutes. Then we had pizza for dinner and let her watch T.V till Ten… that coupled with cool present comprising of a bag of puree juice , sticky tape, a chalk board and a book mad for “ the best birthday ever”
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After spending some time soaking up the rain in Normandy and with things not looking like changing we decided to get the show on the road and head south toward Tours , a good starting point for the famed Loire Valley and the hunt for Sleeping Beauty’s Castle.

The region has its pretty areas , but in by humble opinion is overrated, and I guess my “ once you’ve seen one chateau you’ve seen them all! “ attitude and the fact that the entrance fee doesn’t come with accommodation, even though they charge you for it,validates my thinking.

The Chateau in all respects was grand , the Sleeping Beauty thing, more a devious marketing ploy, as only a few rooms in the tower had some sad manikin’s in drag which even the vivid imagination of a 5 year old had problems working out the sleeping beauty link. We left.

We explored some of the small towns and eventually stopped by the river Loire. Memories of Maria moaning about my ‘fricken fly fishing rod ‘ taking up space came to mind and I decided to shut her up once and for all by fishing illegally along the banks of the river. It wasn’t long before I proved my skills and landed a massive fish of some sort, but I drew a crowd so decided to jump back into the car and speed off.

Tours is a bit like Paris, the hotel we stayed in and the first decent meal we had in a while left me liking the place, but the rate at which we are spending money here has prompted me to speed up this entire trip in a big way, get things done and get to a cheaper continent. So we headed south again…aiming for Cahours.

Where are the French People?…The roads are great here, dead as road kill. Infact the first couple of french people we met were the ones in little booths that kept asking for 6 euro every couple of km,s. No wonder there,s no traffic on the roads, they can,t afford it.

We spent the first 2 nights freezing under canvas near the D Day landing beaches in Normandy. I swear i saw some caravans float past our tent as someone decided to dump half the atlantic on our campsite, much to maria,s delight.So to hell with this and camping our way south.

We spent the last 2 days in st Malo on the coast - which has a kick arse old city and some serious scenery.

Mont st Michel deserves an honorary mention as well, its hard not to be impressed.

Right now , we are in Tours , and hopefully we may find Sleeping Beauty,s castle tommorrow; but at 10 euro each to get in , maybe we won,t. ITS Dang expensive here, and the weather has been smashing, with only the odd hour of sun, although its warmer now and i feel we may get a beter run in the next couple of weeks.

Right now, I,m starting to get into the swing of things. France has its charms and i,m looking forward to the Liore Valley tommorrow

Comments: 

David Says:
October 24th, 2005 at 5:32 pm
Hola muchachos!!!! me encanta la idea que han tenido, espero que el viento les de de popa y que todo les salga bien…Ustedes le dan un nuevo significado a la expreción española que dice: ¨a vivir que son dos días!!!!¨
que tengan suerte, que manden fotos y que sean felices….

David
PS: porque no proponen a la BBC un programa de viajes por el mundo en familia..sería un exito, porque enseñarían a personas que tienen familia a viajar tipo Backpak….a lo mejor los padres defamilia no lo hacen por miedo y ustedes pueden enseñar que no es tan dificil…ahí les dejo la idea..

Beatriz Elena Says:
November 3rd, 2005 at 3:42 pm
Hijos…..que alegria saber que estan realizando sus suenos….siempre estan en mi pensamiento….los amo