Sunday June 29th

Heading NW towards the Dordogne valley, the first stop along the way was the imposing Chateau de Bonaguil, a relic of the 100 years war with the English. These days the British invasion is in the form of second homes in the Dordogne, being the most popular place to buy compared with elsewhere in France.

Chateau de Bonaguil

Our next and final stop for the day was Sarlat, the ‘grand central’ of the valley. If truffles, foie gras and tourists are your thing then this is the place to be.

Truffle Town

Couple of locals

Saturday 28th June

We wound our way north from Saint Antonin, following the Bonnette valley to the Lot valley.

Our first stop for the day was the picturesque town of Saint Cirq Lapopie perched on a cliff edge above the River Lot.

Saint Cirq Lapopie

Continuing along the Lot valley we made our way first to Cahors, the old provincial capital of Quercy. Its claims to fame are the remarkable medieval, fortified bridge Pont Valentre, the Cathedral, (which is a place of pilgrimage as it allegedly holds the Holy Coif, a cloth that covered Christ’s head in the tomb brought back from the Holy Land according to legend) and last but not least, the incredible Malbec wines of Cahors.

Pont Valentre

Cahors Cathedral

The incredible Cahors Malbec Wines

Puy-l'Eveque

Further on down the valley we made camp for the night at Puy-l’Eveque.

Friday 27th June

Last night we camped on the bank of the of the River L'Aveyron beneath the sheer cliffs of the Gorge and were treated to a campsite soiree of canapes and Leffe on tap.

Celebrations to thank local government funding

Today a short walk  took us into the local enchanting town of Saint Antonin Noble Val. It is a living museum of the most unusual medieval buildings.

Ratty takes an early morning swim

Veggies in a gorge

Riverside washing

Town tower

Messing about on the river

More messing about

Wednesday 25th June

Headed north via beautiful river Aude valley to medieval city of Carcassonne.

Turret town

Thursday 26th June

From Carcassonne we followed the Canal du Midi to Toulouse and and then on to the Gorges de L’Aveyron for the night.

Canal du Midi

Tracks along the canal

Tuesday 24th June

Just 26 km from the Spanish border where the Pyrenees mountains meet the Mediterranean sea lies the pretty Catalan harbour of Collioure. This place has been immortalized by many artists including Picasso, Matisse, Dufy and Chagall just to name a few.

Traditional lanteen rigged boats

Back alley

Balcony breeze

Castle on a rock

Harbour bathing

Monday 23rd June

More Dali, this time at the once quiet fishing village of Cadaques where he spent 50 years, now a full on tourist resort but seeing beyond the tat it still has the essence of a pretty town.

Cadaques harbourside

Dali statue

One of many pretty back alleys

So from here it’s goodbye Spain and Hello France goodbye sunshine hello rain.

Sunday 22nd June

Goodbye Antoni Gaudi, hello Salvador Dali via the winding coast road from Tossa de Mar to Figueres, Teatre Museu Dali.

Extra large Faberge eggs

Bubbles face

Stone figures

Cadillac broken window

That couch and nose

Thursday 19th June

Our next section of travel is along the Costa Brava coast.  It’s all about the beaches, once the preserve of fishing villages and artist colonies dubbed Blue Paradise by the painter Marc Chagall. The 1950’s saw the replacement of fishing for the better economic model of government sponsored mass tourism.  Our first destination along this stretch was Tossa de Mar where the once famous English breakfast menu has now been usurped by a Russian one for the latest tourism boom.

Tossa castle from the beach

Same beach looking in the other direction

Tossa de Mar Corpus Christi annual floral pavement art

Campsite beach #1

Campsite beach # 4 with cocktail bar

Our campsite has the most unusual luxury of having its own 4 separate beaches (coves) including one for the all over tan brigade and one with a bar for mojito lovers.

Wednesday 18th June

Day 2 in Barcelona was all about modernista architecture in the L’Eixample area and nearby “Gaudiland”, so if architecture is not your thing please look away now.

Modernista buildings along Passeig de Gracia

Gaudi's Casa Batllo

and Pedrera

Inside Palau Guell

and roof top ceramic chimneys

Gaudi also tried his hand at landscape design at Park Guell

Tuesday 17th June

A day out in Barcelona proved to be popular with crowds of culture vultures who flock from around the world to the land of Miro, Gaudi and Picasso et al.

No prizes for guessing where this is

Walking on a Miro mosaic

and in the back alleys

Cathedral crowds

Market Hall tapas

The queues go around the block to see his work