May 18, 2019
Les Eyzies-de-Tayac to Goujounac
The fast lane
The weather forecast for the day was cloudy, rainy and cool temperatures. Today's planning required that we would travel about 60 kms south toward the Lot River. We will be staying the evening in Goujounac - a very small village quite far off the beaten track. It does have a hotel but we planned to stay in a beautifully renovated mid 1800's house.
Today's big decision: Do we ride or take the taxi that we arranged yesterday. The weather forecast has not changed and although the weather was very cloudy in Les Eyzies-de-Tayac it was dry.....oh now it is raining. So it went, back and forth. We decided to pack up and move our bags to the lobby and go out and have breakfast.
We enjoyed our ham and cheese omelettes again today. We ate in the same restaurant as yesterday. Interesting that we think of omelettes as a tasty breakfast dish but here it is a lunch menu item and the chef specially prepared them just for us. The traditional breakfast is croissants, jams and coffee.
After our "brunch", the decision was made to stick with the preordered taxi ride. Scott thought the cycle ride would be fine but there was no doubt it would be rainy at times - we just did not know when or how wet. Yesterday was more than a passing shower. Short stints in the rain are okay but a 60km slog is not enjoyable. We took the risk adverse route and Pat was happy. There are fair weather skiers, of which we are not, but we must be included in the fair weather cycle tourers camp.
Back to the comfortable hotel lobby. It's cloudy, it's sunny, it's rainy. The weather guessing continued. Our taxi ride, who showed up promptly 15 minutes before departure time in a station wagon, easily accommodated our folded bikes and gear. We were off! There are many roads leaving from Les Eyzies-de-Tayac but we travelled back through the small village of Champagne on the same road we had come into town on.
The trip took a little less than an hour and was dry most of the way. I kidded with Pat that we should stop halfway and start riding but she was not convinced. We arrived at Goujounac and unloaded in the center of the village as we did not know exactly where our room for the night was located. Scott immediately made friends with a dog as Pat used Mapsme to locate the house where we were staying. Still a bit uncertain as to our direction, we walked along and Scott's new friend followed.
Goujounac has these beautiful handmade pottery street signs but they were not providing the information we needed. Pat stepped into a building where the door was open and asked for assistance from the people inside. A man came out and took us to the house where we were greeted by Steve, the owner. It was now raining quite hard and Pat was very pleased with her transportation decision.
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We stored the bikes and met Steve's friend Roger and his dog, who had popped in for a "cuppa" and we all sat down at the kitchen table where we were served the refreshment of our choice. What a great conversation we had as Steve and Roger are both retired and have moved to Goujounac from Britain. They both think it was the best decision and far better than they could have even imagined for a whole list of reasons. Summing it up as a wonderful life style full of friendly people and great weather not to mention a savings on their real estate transactions. In fact there are so many Brits in the area they jokingly refer to it as "Dordogneshire". Pat and I wondered, could we live in a small, almost micro village?
Pat and I headed out to explore Goujounac. It is a very pretty well kept charming village where the church dates back to the 1400's and many buildings to 1830+ time period. Scott's dog friend has been identified as Charlie, the village dog. He showed up here and there as we walked along, as did the rain.
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Steve told us that Goujounac had just one restaurant and that it was really very good. We headed off at 7 pm and after a very short walk arrived at the Hostellerie de Goujounac and as we opened the door, there was Charlie to greet us! It turned out that the restaurant is Charlie's actual home but really the village is Charlie's home. He wanders about and gets hand outs everywhere.
There was a massive fireplace in the restaurant with a fire burning and a table for two placed right in front. Perfect. We sat down and the chill began to leave our bones immediately. As usual, I wished I had not left the camera back in our room!
We were greeted by Sim, the restaurant owner who, with her husband John, had immigrated to France from South Africa. She also loves the village and purchased the restaurant and hotel about three years ago. We decided to order all three of the menu's entres as they all looked different and quite good. The first was a grilled artichoke and pomegranate salad, next was beef carpaccio with crunchy capers and roquefort cheese, followed by a dish of garlic prawns accompanied with a pickled fennel salad. Absolutely fabulous!! Dessert was a poached peach dish in a brandy sugar cup. Also delicious.
Charlie came over to sit and stare (beg?) several times during our meal. Strange for us to see a dog in a restaurant but he really was part of the show. All evening we were the only ones in the restaurant but Sim says this is early season and they will be chock a block full come June. It was a wonderful night out. Definitely the highlight of a day with no cycling!!
We wandered back home, opened the door and we both broke into hysterics. Charlie was already there in Steve and Jenny's house! It seems this is his second home. What funny dog. We are still trying to figure out how he beat us home!?!?
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Really enjoying your trip from my armchair. May weather has not been kind to most of the folks on the road now. But, onward!
5 years ago