I was just kidding. Found wifi in the old Pelerin Hotel.
Camped last night in St Foy de Grand. Beautiful town. Larger than what I am used to but again very disappointed in that the only restaurent open was a pizza place. I do not want to keep going on about this but one of the things I was really excited about and looking forward to with this walk is good, rich French cooking and fine French wine. Alors not to be. Over the past 30 days I have only had 3 meals in the French way and a little wine. Why? Nothing open on any day at any time. Oh well, the walk, the people here and the people I have met more than make this worthwhile. I can always have French Fries and a nice glass of Bordeaux “fanta.”
Church at St Foy.
Dordogne River, St Foy.
Weird but the whole campsite was filled with Brits. At first I couldn,t understand a word they said as I have been listening to and trying to speak Frecnh for the past 30 days. And while it is still very warm during the day it is now unbearably cool in a tent. I was very cold last night..I don,t want to camp anymore. I hate camping. Why? Other campers and what would normaly take a few ninutes at home to do takes 1/2 hour in a tent. My wife used to say: “ I have such a nice kitchen at home, a nice washing machine and drier and such a nice bed, bath and shower. So what on earth am I doing here?” You know, I can’t argue with that.
On my way at 0615. Dark and cool. It stayed that way until about 1030 and then it got hot. Up to 30 today. I was able to cover off about 28 kilometers. Not bad but glad to reach my destination of St Ferme. St Ferme has an Abby that goes back to the 12th century. Unbelievable.
The landscape today was covered by dark purple grapes. To me they looked like Concord but I know the French would cringe if they heard me say that. Here is a picture. See how happy I am here:
Not at me but what,s behind me. Contented. And there were fields and fields of them. It would be as if the entire wheatfield of Saskatchewan was covered by grapes…beautiful, beautiful grapes, mmmm, mmmm good. Thirsty?
By the way. I am out of the Perigord region but I forgot to tell you that the Perigord is separated into 4 regions. Perigord Verte or green on account of the colour of the rivers and streams in this area. Then Perigord Blanc on account of the white limestone they use for many of the buildings and churches / abbeys you see here. Beautiful. Perigord Noir due to the darkness of their forests and then Perigord Rouge for the wine. The area I am going through now is not Perigord but Gironde. Beautiful, not Perigord, but I thought I would pass that on as part of this travelogue.
This song was written by Badfinger. Harry Niilson and Mariah Cary covered it and made big hits out of it but Peter Hamm of Badfinger wrote it with Evans. It is raw and basic and I like this version the best.
https://youtu.be/PPco24LS31A