Tim, Sue & Teddie's New

We arrive at Tim & Sue's in the rain as predicted but soon are off to a flying start as the first of several bottles are uncorked

Why Tim?

With the Wine Festival starting tomorrow it all looks grim on the sunshine front but we have our fingers crossed..

We are greeted by this cute Mutt, Teddie who soon installs himself as the feature attraction

Poppy is quite content to let her new playmate tire himself out on her all day

Top cute puppy

'give me a break will you'

Ask questions….

Tim's wine cellar is raided on numerous occasions and we can't fault the guy's hospitality 

This example went down very nicely thank you 

We visit the wine festival and buy a couple of bottles ourselves after having lunch in a nearby village then settle down to a weekend of chat and merriment..

Boys get bored soon so its time to strip down Tim's toilet cassette, because we can….

Another fine example to wash down Nina & Sue's culinary offerings which were superb

All the weekend activity leaves Teddie gone to the world, its a hard life for a much loved puppy!

Perigueux & Brantôme

Time to move on and visit Perigueux and we enter the Aire centrally located to find we are overlooked by a 9 storey block of flats, real sexy...

It proved to be a wise move as overnight it was really quiet and a good place to relax in the evening by the van while it cooled down

The Cathedral dominating the north bank of the Isle river

We strolled the town for several hours giving Nina some retail therapy then wandered home...

Next day we make the short trip to Brantôme and really enjoy our walk and long country ride around the town

Chocolate box scenery and so pretty

Our new thirst quenching drink, this time in grenadine & framboise flavours

No change here since we visited on the big Honda back in 2002

Its been forecasted for a while and here it comes…

The evening sun gives way to storm clouds and an expected 5 days of thunderstorms. Right on cue for visiting chums Tim & Sue near Limoges

When it rains it will be a welcome relief to the heat of late….

Bergerac & Villamblard

Moving slowly northwards in some really great sunshine we spend a night next to the Dordogne river at Sainte Foy La Grande

From the bridge we look down in to the mass of flowering river fauna 

Its a very hot day and we have to wait until late evening to eat one of Nina's new productions, avocado, prawn and mango salad...

Next day we locate to a super Aire 5km from Bergerac at Lembras and stay for 2 nights as its just too hot to risk not being able to sit outside the van in the shade

Stupidity soon kicks in and we are off on the bikes in to Bergerac for our lunch next day

Early McLaren buggy...

Our chosen restaurant location where we sat between two big fans so as not to overheat

The guy with the big snorker...

A big ride out from Lembras one morning in to the hills north of Bergerac sees us discovering a real gem of a campsite at Villamblard. So we relocate here next morning for a really nice weekend and have the site to ourselves

The site is quite simple but has a superb pool as its feature attraction and proves just the tonic after we try to kill ourselves again in the heat and the local hills on the bikes

Steady rides of 45km are fine on the flat but its not that here and there are some demanding hills to be conquered. To boot its 30 degs plus every day and soon we are quite done in..

No worries for these cute ones..

Possibly the grandest house we see that day on our ride

Like the campsite, this public pool has no visitors as its not the main season yet

The halfway town of Saint Astier also has a gem at its heart..

A great Pizza house for weary bikers to have their lunch

These are part of Villamblard's history. The village's distillery makes, amongst the stronger stuff, these syrups that are just great when mixed sparingly with ice cold Perrier water

The sun goes down and so does a few verres du vin rouges

We finally get to light our Phoenix camp torch given to us very kindly by a German neighbour in Cascais, Portugal

A moment's silence please for the huge moth that, after many attempts, incinerated itself in the flame

Its better to burn out than fade away……...