My first job this morning was to make use of the shower, so freshly washed and shaved I felt prepared for the 2 and a half hour drive that would see me leaving the midi-Pyrenees and firmly entering the Limousin region of France and a picturesque little town called Uzerche, a medieval town with many complete buildings at the heart of the community. I took some photos while trying my hardest not to look too much like a stereotypical tourist and I set out exploring the old train line, the Aire as per yesterday is the car park of the old train station although not quite as pretty it did have a toilet block ! Running close with Biarritz this is the busiest Aire I have stayed at to date, by the evening it was full with over 30 motor homes. Anyway the disused railway track had been converted to a cycle way not dissimilar to the Tarka trail and ran parallel with the river, there was a handy 25km circuit that proved to be very scenic as well as allowing me to watch some kayakers/canoeists to navigate a slalom course close to a weare.
By the time I had got back to the van it had been flanked by two Dutch vans, I seem to be seeing a lot of Dutch people and I have to say that the more I see the more convinced I am that they are the friendliest nationality on the planet.
As the evening drew on I headed in to the town centre, there was live music at one bar so I stopped, as I did so did they, although only for a break. Unusually for me I was wearing a rugby shirt this evening, an Exeter Chiefs one to be precise and the bar owner struck up conversation with me, it appears that there are three things that the people of Uzerche are fiercely proud of, in ascending order.....their lovely medieval town, their heavy involvement in the French resistance and during WW2 and most of all their 101 year old rugby club, who I'm told famously in the 1970's beat Clermont in a cup game. I explained that Llanelli Scarlets, the team I support, beat the All Blacks 50 years ago and it is still commemorated with a regional holiday in West Wales. The bar owner was convinced his story was better, as he had bought the beer I didn't want to contest it too much !
I got back to the van quite early this evening as I have something quite important to do tomorrow, I was advised to visit my next stop by my boss although at the time of writing this he is now my former boss, I'm heading to Oradour -sur-glane the site of a WW2 atrocity and I want to to be fully focussed and prepared for what lays ahead.
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