Perigueux and Thiviers
Today, Kevin and Moya headed off to Perigueux (approximately 1 hour south of the Farmhouse) for the day (Sue currently in Paris…back tomorrow). The temperatures have dropped dramatically here in France….they were approximately 22 degrees on average, and are now down to 10 degrees today. Perigueux was even colder at 9 degrees…..back to wearing our winter woollies!! We parked the car and found a cafe in order to get our bearings and warm ourselves up before our jaunt into the old historical area of Perigueux, which was originally taken over by the Romans. Like a lot of these towns in our area the history is full of various conquerings by Visigoths, Franks and Norsemen. There were Religious wars between Catholics and Protestants and conquests by England either through marriage or invasions. The Perigueux area is no different. The area is just lovely, with the quaint little streets and very old buildings dominated by the cathedral dedicated to St Front. It was originally built in the 6th century and has had various reconstructions since with the facade dating back to the 11th century. It was all so very enchanting. We would have loved to have wandered for a lot longer and to sit in one of the Places (Squares) and watch the world go by whilst enjoying a beverage of choice….however, the weather began to get worse, so we headed back to the parking building to collect the car and move on to another village/town we were interested in checking out….that of Brive La Gaillarde. Once finding our way back onto the motorway, we realised that this village was another hour and half on, and then about 3 hours or more return to home….so revised our plans and decided to travel back via Thiviers….a lovely, lively little village (on the route to Limoges). It was raining ice and blowing a gale (not unlike that of Wellington winter days), so our venture out of the car to check out the village was short-lived…..back to the warmth of the car….and homeward bound – however, we had a lovely day out, even though the weather was against us.