{"id":5237,"date":"2024-06-29T20:35:22","date_gmt":"2024-06-29T20:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5237"},"modified":"2025-12-24T22:26:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T22:26:46","slug":"10-time-to-move-on","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/?p=5237","title":{"rendered":"10. TIME TO MOVE ON?"},"content":{"rendered":"

But not yet!\u00a0 We haven’t eaten at the T\u00eate d’Ail in Roquecor yet.\u00a0 Nor have we visited Montcuq!\u00a0 The first was easily fixed.\u00a0 Glenda was sure they would be open on Thursday.\u00a0 Checking on their website – ferm\u00e9e, closed, shut, not open.\u00a0 “Rubbish!” said she who has to be obeyed (some of the time).\u00a0 They’ll be open.\u00a0 When we arrived, shortly after noon, the terrace was indeed full of diners dining away merrily.\u00a0 So ‘defo’ open then!\u00a0 Sam (possibly not his real name), the proprietor, has told Google to delete reference to his restaurant (good luck with that, Sam).\u00a0 He leaves the entry as “closed” to avoid getting too many customers!\u00a0 An interesting business strategy.\u00a0 But at least it is A strategy!\u00a0 But clearly worth ignoring Google once again!<\/p>\n

Rugby Steve has recommended we visit Pujols, near Villeneuve sur Lot.\u00a0 So we obey!\u00a0 Pujols is really two towns.\u00a0 Old Town and New Town.\u00a0 We followed signs for “Pujols” and ended up in deepest, darkest New Town.\u00a0 Soon rectified.\u00a0 We looked for the nearest hill and went up to the top.\u00a0 Surprise, surprise.\u00a0 Ancient French-folk clearly had a pathological hatred of river plains!.\u00a0 Access and parking at Pujols-le-Haut were easy, but I’m not sure I’d want to be here in the height of the Summer season – whenever that’s going to get here.<\/p>\n

Steve was right.\u00a0 It’s a very pretty place.\u00a0 Somewhat over-gentrified and clearly focused on being a tourist attraction.\u00a0 But very pretty.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Oh no, we’re on the Camino Trail again!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The main church in town was the Romanesque Saint Nicholas.\u00a0 It’s outer wall actually forms part of the town’s fortifications.\u00a0 We couldn’t enter as there was a funeral in progress, but I bet there was an enormous vaulted ceiling supported by massive pillars, tall stained glass windows and lots of chairs.\u00a0 Sadly, the chairs in use this time.\u00a0 There is a second smaller Chapel on the edge of town, the \u00c9glise Notre Dame de Pujols.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The view of what might have been the approaching, marauding English army (back in the day, of course!).\u00a0 Or rampant, Aussie rugby players, more recently!<\/p>\n

Does that bring back memories, Steve?<\/p>\n

We had been on site so long that thousands of ants found their way up our electrical cable, into the battery compartment and thence into our private living quarters!\u00a0 We must have killed THOUSANDS of the little b*****s.\u00a0 We used up all our anti-fourmis spray.\u00a0 Saskia and Reim arrived with two types of high-strength killer spray and ten kg of nuclear-sterngth ant powder.\u00a0 All our “bits” touching the ground were extensively sprayed and a powder barrier was established all round our residence.\u00a0 The cable was routed through a water filled plastic bottle (patent applied for) cutting off that route into the caravan.\u00a0 Very effective transit inhibition.\u00a0 But sadly that worked both ways.\u00a0 The blighters aboard were marooned aboard.<\/p>\n

It got so bad that evening when Saskia came back to check up on her senior campers she found the caravan in uproar.\u00a0 Every moveable item of furniture was pushed into a pile while ants were sqished.\u00a0 It was getting dark.\u00a0 She insisted that we decamp to one of her g\u00eetes for the night.\u00a0 I think it took Glenda about two seconds to see the benefits of this extremely kind offer and another two to pack the night-time essentials!<\/p>\n

The presence of ants in the caravan continued for weeks.\u00a0 I think today, as I write this two and a half weeks later, is the first completely ant-free day.\u00a0 And we’ve moved campsites three times since “A-day”.\u00a0 Anyway, that’s part of life’s rich pattern while on the road.\u00a0 Just not a good part!<\/p>\n

You will be able to see this for yourself when the film is released!<\/p>\n

Back to our sightseeing.\u00a0 Back to Montcuq.\u00a0 Yet another hill-top bastide.\u00a0 They really are two-a-penny around this part of France.\u00a0 They were, apparently, first built following the Treaty of Paris in 1229 at the end of the Cathar Crusade. The aim was to bring a sense of societal structure to south-west France, which had been largely destroyed by 20 years of fighting. A previously scattered population was invited to dwell in the town.\u00a0 The purpose being to make it is easier to rule over them.<\/p>\n

There are 300 – 500 bastides in existence, depending on who you believe.\u00a0 You’d really think a nation with access to Google Earth would have a better handle on such a statistic.\u00a0 There were possibly another 200 which have fallen into disrepair and “vanished”!<\/p>\n

Two factlets about bastides:\u00a0 1. The narrow streets that surround the central square of were designed for horse and cart traffic.\u00a0 They are still referred to as “carriageways”\u00a0 and 2. Original residents of a bastide (when first built) were called “poblans”.\u00a0 Just thought I’d mention that, but I don’t think many are still alive!\u00a0 Although the foul-mouthed resident of Moissaguel might be one.\u00a0 Now in his retirement accommodation!<\/p>\n

We ignored all the large parking area on the way (up) into town.\u00a0 We acted like we were residents and parked in the main square, which is really a very elongated rectangle.\u00a0 We wandered around a bit.\u00a0 We found the little boulanger at which we had coffees last time we visited.\u00a0 Shut in the afternoons.\u00a0 A discussion at the office de tourism with a very helpful English resident identified two places for a drink.\u00a0 We chose the Anglo-French bookshop and tea-room.\u00a0 They had a lovely garden …<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Which ends in a little balcony overlooking the square.\u00a0 From here we could keep an eye on a fairly serious-looking game of boules taking place rather close to our car!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And the tea was really excellent.\u00a0 Just like at home!<\/p>\n

Back at base, it was time for another table d’hote.\u00a0 Saskia and Riem do these twice a week. To our knowledge nobody on site (campers or g\u00eeters) ever missed one.\u00a0 They aren’t compulsory, just exceptionally good!\u00a0 We had three while in residence!\u00a0 Here is a selection of photos of the third evening.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Us sharing a good joke!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Reim in TOTAL control of the BBQ duck!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Salad dish.\u00a0 Sorry, no picture of the duck magret.\u00a0 Too busy eating it!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mother and son!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The inside table<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Father and son<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The outside tablers join the insiders – just because of a little rain.\u00a0 I ask you.\u00a0 No stamina!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hetty, Saskia and us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Leo and Ida after a few bottles of wine!<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Thank you Saskia and Reim.\u00a0 Absolutely fabulous week we had with you… apart from the small matter of the “Invasion of the Ants”.\u00a0 We have already sold the book and film rights.\u00a0 While La Brouqu\u00e8re may get the award for best chemical toilet emptying point, Le C\u00f4te du Fumel gets the hospitality award!<\/span><\/p>\n

Now it REALLY is time to move to pastures (and adventures) new!\u00a0 However, we really enjoyed our time at the C\u00f4te de Fumel.\u00a0 Thank you too, Hetty for introducing us to this lovely place and looking after us while we were there together.\u00a0 We really enjoyed our time with you sharing the occasional bottle of wine, lots of happy memories, some dodgy jokes and the lovely sunsets from the terrace.\u00a0 We had such a lot of fun together!\u00a0 Mini Magnums will always remind us of this part of our holiday.\u00a0 Better not wait another eight years for the next reunion!\u00a0 Obviously!!!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

But not yet!\u00a0 We haven’t eaten at the T\u00eate d’Ail in Roquecor yet.\u00a0 Nor have we visited Montcuq!\u00a0 The first was easily fixed.\u00a0 Glenda was sure they would be open on Thursday.\u00a0 Checking on their website – ferm\u00e9e, closed, shut,… <\/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":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain-and-france-2024"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237","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=5237"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5290,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5237\/revisions\/5290"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tappstravels.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}