day 10 map

lunch stop Le Bourg Beauronne

lunch stop Le Bourg Beauronne

lunch at Le Bourg Beauronne

lunch at Le Bourg Beauronne

aire at Mauroux

aire at Mauroux

 Mauroux  aire toilet block

Mauroux aire toilet block

 Mauroux  aire kitchen facilities

Mauroux aire kitchen facilities

Voeuil-et-Giget to Mauroux


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Day 10

It is another clear blue sky when we wake here in Voeil et Giget on the aire behend the marie, we have breakfast and service the Hymer, but do not fill with water as we do not need 100 litres (what the €2 jeton delivers).

We leave this lovely Aire at Vœuill et Giget at about 10.20am, taking the D674 south and D19 to Montignac le Coq. This is a moderately good D-road taking us through rural France where, most notable is maize and sunflowers. Mostly the maize has been harvested but the sunflowers sit in large fields with their sad drooping heads. We pass a tipper truck, full to the brim with black seeds… sunflower seeds, so many!

From Montingnac the D709 to Riberac, a fairly large but very run-down town. Along the way we stop at a lay-by in Beauronne for lunch, but otherwise continue to Bergerac. At Bergerac we cross the Dordogne, but… we should have taken note of the sign that said no 3.5t sign that said no 3.5t vehicles as the route was just wide enough but tortuously narrow. Once over the river, the road improved as we take the N12, a good dual carriageway road all the way south through Castillonés to Villeneuvre sur Lot.

South of Bergerac we start to see fields of grapevines, our first this trip.  Villeneurve sur Lot, as always, is very busy, so we cross the old Roman bridge over the Lot and turn east on D661 away from Villeneuve along the Lot river to Penne d’Argenais. We see the eglise de Notre Dame shining at the top of the hill in the sunshine and stop at Lac du Ferrie but find the campsite that we stayed at in July 2016  closed and desolate. We have fond memories of this particular campsite, each pitch was separated by dense hedges that were carefully trimmed. All that remains are tree roots, it was very sad to see.

The playground, new in 2016, is still there but deserted now that there is no campsite open or children to play on it. We walk through the old campsite, the office and toilet/shower block all locked up and dilapidated, the lovely privet hedges that divided the pitches and gave us privacy and shade have been cut down, but the swimming pool is still here with water in it! We wander back to the camper and reconsider. We decide to look at the Aire at Fumel, about 15km away.

We are disappointed when we arrive to find the Aire in a back street that slopes (-4 degrees to the passenger side) and not very clean or tidy. It is free and there is water, disposal facilities and a toilet, but the environment is not very nice… ugly is how I would describe it. The other campers (French) stare at us… of course I stare back! It is also hot (31°C) and no shade. For an overnight stay if you needed to stop it would be fine, but not for sitting out and relaxing on your holiday!

We continue east along the Lot to Mauroux, up in the forest behind the sports centre, it is perfect. We park among the trees with three other campers. There are two toilets and kitchen facilities, water and electricity hookup and it is all free. We open wine and drink it with salmon rillette and slices of a French baguette. We sit at the picnic table under the trees, eat stir fry and finally relax, it seems to have been a long day. 

 

 

Summary of motorhome journey

Total
miles
mpg average
speed
mph
hours
driven
122.1 31.3 27 4:28

Totals for this journey

1079.0 29.6 32 33:06