As we leave the aire traffic in the town is manic, gridlock on the mini roundabouts and every parking spot full. We take a pretty, winding route to Gourdon, crossing the river and climbing to rock heights then descending to the valley floor. At Gourdon we fnd the service point, which turns out to be about as awkward a it could be. The grey water is up over a raised drain, requiring a hose; the fresh water is an oval stub which won't take a hose so we have to ...

Every now and then as you shuffle through your alloted days in life, along comes what we call a golden day. Today as been one. We set off for the 5 minute walk to town just after the bells had chimed eleven eleventy. The old town is very compact and a bit cobbly, and although it looks every bit as old as Beaulieu, it is much tidier and carefully restored. Tiny terraces spill out into the pedestrianised streets and shafts of sunlight cast shadows all around. ...

At 09:00 there is a knock on the door. It's the parking officer and she says she doesn't know the rule about it being free in aires for blue badge holders and would we please buy a ticket for last night. At €5.50 it is not worth getting into a discussion, after all, free parking is a concessin, not a right. A few hundred yards along the river we enter the town through St Catherine's Gate. It all really is ancient here; timber doors studded and patched and ...

Dull, cool, fresh and quiet except for the horse whinnying and galloping about outside. We watch two of the vans leave and have a lazy morning, setting off around 11:30. As we are packing up we find one of our purpose made high quality Italian plastic ramps has cracked pushing itself into the hard packed earth. Yer man's brick and plywood don't look so funny now The track out to Lanteuil and the main road is shorter at 1.6 miles, but absolute single track w...

It's overcast this morning and thunder has been rumbling around since dawn, but by the time we leave the sun is shining and it's warming up. We are continuing the tourist route in the book, which takes us back to Arnac Pompadour, where we stop for a little look around. There is an impressive chateau and attractive square, and a big equestrian centre with a race course and eventing courses where we see a couple of horses practicing. The route winds up and down ...