{"id":4212,"date":"2023-06-13T08:33:20","date_gmt":"2023-06-13T08:33:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4212"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:28:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:28:03","slug":"8-we-like-the-lot-a-lot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=4212","title":{"rendered":"8. WE LIKE THE LOT A LOT."},"content":{"rendered":"

We might even get there now!<\/p>\n

OK, first we engage the sat nav.\u00a0 The BMW system is rubbish.\u00a0 Very unreliable.\u00a0 She’s even programmed to say “I’m sorry, I must try harder!” when we start shouting at her and telling her she’s useless!\u00a0 BMW have admitted defeat and all cars six months or more newer than ours have got Android for Autos and\/or Google systems installed.\u00a0 Glenda always asks me to check her proposed route before we set off.\u00a0 This I duly did and her route looked fairly sensible.\u00a0 However in “dynamic” mode she can change her mind mid-trip…\u00a0 So, just before Agen, we got diverted off the “green” road and directed right through the city centre.\u00a0 I think, to be fair, the centre is fairly hard to avoid which ever route you take.\u00a0 However, on the road out of town – the one we were directed onto, there is a short tunnel.\u00a0 More of a bridge in a lowered section of road.\u00a0 2.6 m headroom!\u00a0 And how tall is our caravan?\u00a0 Yep, it’s 2.6 m tall.\u00a0 We had to make an mergency slip off to the right onto a minute road which instantly transmogrified into a cycle route.\u00a0 Our only route out was a 180 degree left turn amongst parked cars which took a 26 point turn with traffic stacked up behind.\u00a0 Back onto the road going the wrong way until we re-located our “green” road.<\/p>\n

Three things to remember about this:\u00a0 1 The height of your caravan;\u00a0 2\u00a0 The last time (20 years ago – deja vu!) when we found the same tunnel while towing a different caravan;\u00a0 3\u00a0 To read road signs which warn of low bridges;\u00a0 4\u00a0 To ignore BMW sat nav instructions!<\/p>\n

OK, that’s four things to remember!<\/p>\n

Once back in open country, the critique of my route gradually diminished.\u00a0 I say “gradually” but maybe I missed a word or two.\u00a0 “Very” and “extremely” spring to mind – possibly both together!<\/p>\n

About 30 kms from our destination we found a rather seedy looking caf\u00e9\/bar in Lacardayre.\u00a0 A late coffee stop – or lunch?\u00a0 We chose the latter and were somewhat ripped off with a salad (nice), duck confit (also very nice) and icecream (hard to to be not nice) for \u20ac20 each.<\/p>\n

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Still, Glenda gets her first duck!<\/p>\n

Arriving at Camping Base Nautique Le Floiras, we were offered pitch 4 or 9.\u00a0 Us NOT occupying the latter was the cause of a “little friction” last time we were here.\u00a0 This resulted in us being summoned to the bureau to be castigated by the owners for moving to pitch 8 without their permission.\u00a0 But that’s another story – and best left in the past.\u00a0 So pitch 9 it was.<\/p>\n

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The first thing we heard was that the Terrace restaurant in Grezels is no more.\u00a0 So that’s our favourite Sunday lunch venue out of the picture!\u00a0 Then we find that the Auberge de Delice’s de la Th\u00e8ze (AKA The Duck Farm) is not answering the phone – quelle domage!\u00a0 Now, I would hate to give you the impression that we are just lurching from one gastronomic event to another… but we do have to eat!\u00a0 It’s important!<\/p>\n

It gets quite warm here during the day, so walking is best done before breakfast.\u00a0 Although that’s a very sensible plan, it’s a bit unrealistic!\u00a0 However, we did make a lovely early-ish walk through the local vineyards from the campsite.<\/p>\n

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We disturbed the first rabbits we’ve seen in France.\u00a0 About 20 tiddlers.\u00a0 All French wildlife is super-timid and beetles off PDQ when they hear us coming.\u00a0 I guess its a lot to do with the French cultural habit of shooting anything bigger than a mouse.\u00a0 And then eating it.\u00a0 I suppose that’s the terrestrial version of “peche-\u00e0-pied”.<\/p>\n

Talking of beetles, as I was just now, our site seems to attract hundreds of shiny blue jobs in the late afternoons.\u00a0 At first I thought they were blue flowers, but no – definitely beetles.<\/p>\n

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Well, I would certainly like to see a local shoot one of them.\u00a0 And they’d need dozens of the blighters to make an “amuse bouche”!<\/p>\n

One of the first things I did on site was to send messages to three Dutch friends we had met here over the years.\u00a0 Hetty, Angelique and Ingrid.\u00a0 Hetty answered almost immediately to say she was far too busy with her house in The Netherlands to be doing frivolous things like camping holidays!\u00a0 Angelique and Ingrid, on the other hand, replied with a cryptic message about being camped four km north of us!\u00a0 What?\u00a0 There’s no campsite in that region!. It transpired that they were living in their caravan as they re-modelled their recently purchased house on a hill overlooking Prayssac.<\/p>\n

Words like house re-design, re-modelling and renovating get Glenda all excited!\u00a0 Twitching, even!\u00a0 In the words of one of my erstwhile managerial colleagues, they are like “Red rags to a cow”!\u00a0 Well, he was German!\u00a0 Clearly, I’m not likening my wife to a cow (you can easily tell that because this episode would already have ended!\u00a0 Probably with me in hospital.)\u00a0 Rather, I’m referring to the Germanic confusion of sexes of bovines.<\/p>\n

“So, how soon can we go visit the new house four kms north of here?”\u00a0 “How about tomorrow morning?”\u00a0 “OK, can we skip breakfast?”<\/p>\n

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After hours of discussion of RAL numbers, tile sizes, electrical outlet position, plasterboarding developments, bathroom layouts, cupboard and door locations and potential furniture layouts, it was time for a snack on the covered deck area.\u00a0 I’m exhausted just thinking about it all.<\/p>\n

Their house is going to be fabulous.\u00a0 It has a great location close to Prayssac.\u00a0 It has a superb view.\u00a0 And Angelique is controlling the builders very “closely” in order to get what they want.\u00a0 We can’t wait to see the finished product<\/p>\n

Puy l’\u00c9v\u00eaque is the next main town down the Lot valley from Preyssac.\u00a0 The name means “Bishops’ Hill”.\u00a0 It’s a rather impressive town built on the high northern side of the river.\u00a0 It developed as an important port with the local sailing barges, or gabarres, trading goods up and down the river.<\/p>\n

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This is one of the last remaining “genuine” gabarres (not my photo).\u00a0 Traditionally these flat-bottomed scows had a crew of three, often a family team.\u00a0 They would move cargoes of wine, charcoal, grain, or indeed anything that needed moving up or down the river.\u00a0 It must have been particularly difficult sailing in the section of river.near here.\u00a0 It winds and meanders in massive loops between almost continuous massive trees.\u00a0 Not easy sailing!<\/p>\n

We decided to go for a walk on the bank of the river near Puy l’\u00c9v\u00eaque.\u00a0 As we approached the port area, a tourist (non-genuine) electric “gabarre” was just about to depart on an hour’s excursion.\u00a0 \u00a0So, obviously, we jumped on.\u00a0 Easier than walking!\u00a0 We and four locals had 60 plus minutes of continuous commentary in French.\u00a0 Very illuminating, I think.<\/p>\n

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We do like a nice river trip.\u00a0 A calming experience.\u00a0 Even if we can only understand one word in 50!<\/p>\n

But now it’s time to finish this episode.\u00a0 I’ll come back to the closed duck farm restaurant next time!<\/p>\n

Oh, and by the way, a FIFTH thing to remember about navigation with a caravan in tow is to listen to your wife!<\/p>\n

(Did I just say that?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

We might even get there now! OK, first we engage the sat nav.\u00a0 The BMW system is rubbish.\u00a0 Very unreliable.\u00a0 She’s even programmed to say “I’m sorry, I must try harder!” when we start shouting at her and telling her… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-and-france"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4212"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4231,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4212\/revisions\/4231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}