Tremolat, Limeuil, Monpazier Dordogne France

Day 20 Travelled: 138km to Tremolat, Limeuil, along the Dordogne river then ro Monpazier (stayed in free parking area 45.6781, 0.8936)

We set off after our morning coffee and arrived about 50mins later in Tremolat, just in time for the footy. Along the way we passed some lovely scenery including poppies in the fields.

Whilst Mark watched the Bombers loose to Port, I wondered off to the lookout across the beautiful lush countryside and the meandering Dordogne River. 

After the game we stopped in the charming village and had a stroll around.

Our next stop was the classified ‘Beautiful Villages of France”, Limeuil, situated at the confluence of the Dordogne and Vezere Rivers. 

We made it up to the top of the village and then wound back down admiring the honey coloured houses and lovely roses.

We continued along the Dordogne River and drove past Beynac (visited in 2013) with its imposing castle poised over the village and the river. 

Another similar village further upstream was Castlenaud La Chapelle. We managed to find some parking and bought a plate at the brocante. 

We knew we were visiting the area on the busiest days of the week, Sunday, but never the less , we were taken back by the amount of people were at La Roque Gageac (also visited in 2013). So we did a drive by and skedaddled out of there.

We said good bye to the river and headed south west to Monpazier, another classified ’Most Beautiful Village of France”, in the heartland of the Bastides (a walled town designed in the 13th C with a center square and grid like street system). We were lucky to find a level spot and went to have a look. 

There were plenty of people enjoying the last day of an Arts fair in the magnificent arcaded square and it’s beautiful wooden covered market hall. 

Amazing wooden bath.

Fundraising for the church..buy a tack and hammer it in..

The products of the region

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We could resist ending our day with yummy cakes.. or as our friends Mike and Jan would say f.a.c (fat arse cakes! Haha)

Aubeterre and Old Mill, Dordogne France

Travelled:117km to Aubeterre sur Donne and to the Moulin de La Veyssierre Neuvic (free overnight parking 45.0934, 0.4485)

After our coffee we took off through the vineyards of Cognac to the next town to the service point and got some water and dumped our grey and black waters. 

We arrived in Aubeterre sur Donne around 10:30am. The village is  classified as a “Most Beautiful Village in France”. It is also on the pilgrims way to Santiago de Compostella in Spain. 

We parked on the high side of town next to the cemetery and wondered down through the narrow streets. 

The village square was comfortably shaded and well used by the restaurants.

The village also boasts the largest Troglodyte church in Europe. It was carved from the limestone cliffs during the 12th C. We paid €8pp which included an audio guide with the tour taking just over 30mins.

 The nave is an impressive 20m high. The hundreds of stone tombs bear witness to its importance as a sacred site. 

We returned our audio guides and walked back up to Bluey.

We pointed towards roads untraveled before and picked out an old mill Moulin de La Veyssiere, that is open to the public and offers motorhomes an overnight stay. 

We were given a short tour on the history of the mill and how they mill nuts to produce oils and flour from walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds and peanuts, all grown in France. The mill has been in the same family for generations. Having tasted them all we decided we liked the walnut oil the best.

The 500kg stone takes 1.5hours approx to grind the nuts into a paste.

After the paste is cooked for 45mins at 190°c the paste is pressed at 40 tins pressure. It takes about 2kg of nuts to extract 1litre of oil.

Then it was back to Bluey for a peaceful night.