Tapp's Travels

It transpires that we are camped less than 30 km from Oradour-sur-Glane.  The martyred village.  We’ve visited before, but it’s such a moving place, we want to go again.

In the morning of 10 June 1944, almost exactly 80 years ago, SS soldiers rounded up the entire population of the village In the market square.  Then they separated the villagers by gender.  The 197 men were taken to several barns on the edge of town and locked in.  240 women and 205 children were locked in the village church.  Then the SS men set fire to the barns and threw grenades through the windows of the church, shooting those who sought to escape the flames.

After 642 inhabitants were dead, the soldiers looted the empty dwellings and then burned the village to the ground.  At about 8 pm in the evening, the SS men withdrew from the smoking ruins.  Only seven villagers survived the massacre: six men and a woman, all of them more or less severely injured.  About fifteen other inhabitants of the village were able to escape the Germans before the massacre started or evade the roundup by hiding.

It’s a really spooky place.  An amazing memorial.  A tragic reminder of the atrocities of war.  A reminder that, sadly, seems to be being overlooked in many countries at present.

The authorities charged with maintaining the site are on the horns of a dilemma.  Leave well alone and risk the remaining walls collapsing.  Or try and stabilise.the stonework and lose the originality.  I have to say that some sections of “restored” walls looked really out of place.  Far too much pointing.  They need more sensitivity, but it’s a very delicate balance.   I wouldn’t fancy having to make the decisions.

Back to the present.  Almost!

Many years ago, and we can’t agree on how many, we bought a collection of porcelain plates and dishes.  A complete set of tableware.  We did this on one occasion as we drove through Limoges.  We need some replacements.  Of course, we have brought with us no information about the manufacturer, the retail outlet, etc.  Not even at good picture of the relief pattern!  We spent a happy few hours on a hot day in the city trying to trace the place we bought it from.  We tried the museum of porcelain below the cathedral.  We tried several retail outlets.  We tried a clearance depot.  We criss-crossed the outlying areas of town.  With no luck.  As a final shot, we parked back below the cathedral where we had been several hours before.  There is a shop in the city centre that sells a range of manufacturers’ products.  We have the address.  Google maps knows where it is.

We walk up through the gardens – Les Jardins Botaniques de l’Evéche – to the cathedral.

Why are so many of these magnificent buildings stuck on top of hills?

The Cathédral de St Etienne de Limoges.  Another one built off the standard cathedral plans – as discussed previously. And open for everyone to wander in.  And cool!  Did I mention that today was the hottest day we’ve had this trip?  Over 30°C.  An excellent day to trudge round a city!

In the pedestrian square outside the cathedral, there is a community centre run by volunteers.  They have a weaving display and an art exhibition.  But, MUCH more importantly, they serve tea.  In tea pots.  With boiling water!  At €1 a person it’s a real bargain.  Except we have no cash, just a credit card.  There is a minimum limit of €100.  So we bought a few packets of almond biscuits, a couple of paintings and a woven tie.  Less of a bargain, but a very welcome cup of tea (and almond biscuits) – and they had a loo!

Now to find this blessed porcelain shop.

The street cafés in shaded alleys were doing a roaring trade.

We found the porcelaine shop precisely where it was supposed to be.  But, in the end, we left it with exactly the same number of plates and bowls that they had when we arrived.  The rather snooty shop assistant lost interest in us when she heard the “extent” of the information we held on our plates (which we use every day!).  No name of manufacturer, no date of purchase, no name of design, no clear picture.  Not a lot really.  No help there!  “Please leave us alone!”  OK, time for home!

Restaurants around here are hand to find.  Hard to find, as in not abundant.  The Restaurant St Laurent (in St Laurent, obviously) comes highly recommended, but it’s shut on Mondays (along with 95% of rural French eateries).  But the Auberge de la Vallée de la Gorre in Saint Auvent is open.  (Editor’s note: “Saint Auvent” translates to “Saint Awning” – awning, as to be found in our car and NOT on the side of our caravan.  You can see how far we are researching French saints!)

We had looked for this restaurant the other day, but failed to find it.  But we were on the wrong road in the wrong village at the time – which might explain that.  This time, we checked the map and found it no problem.  Excellent.  Run by an English couple.  They do a superb roast Sunday lunch with all the trimmings.  But it’s not Sunday!

The following day was Glenda’s birthday, so I booked the Saint Laurent using their answerphone (which, to be honest, is a skill which I haven’t totally mastered).  Only to find, when we arrived, that it was “Exceptionally closed that day”.  A collection of frustrated, would-be French diners lurking outside the place gave me some comfort!  A quick dash back to St Awning to get one of their last available tables!  It still wasn’t Sunday, but the menu of the day – French food with an English influence – was excellent.  So Glenda putting on one of her posh frocks got her birthday lunch (complete with bougie in her dessert) after all.  That was a narrow squeak!

And after lunch a little sit down was required in the shade beside a lake on the edge of town …

… before a gentle stoll along the edge of the water.

Anyway, it’s time to relocate further North.  We are heading to a field in the middle of nowhere more or less equidistant from Cholet, Doué la Fontaine and Bressuire.  And, as it will turn out, lovely, but “equi-long-distant” from all three!  Camping Le Serpolin.