We had a quiet night in the carpark with the young hippies which we were surprised about. For once we were the first to leave and they hadn’t even stirred out of their beds yet.
Monday 3 September
Our drive today is 2 hours south to Solutré-Pouilly. We’re going to climb to the top of Solutré Rock because we need some exercise.
The drive was lovely, the vineyards full of people and all manner of machinery on the roads to help with the grape harvest.
It’s quite hot today about 24 degrees. We park up in the free carpark and put our hiking boots on.
Solutré Rocque is a geological formation which is a coral, formed at the bottom of the sea 160 million years ago.
It wasn’t a bad climb with dedicated pathways, short or long way round. We chose the long way round which takes about 40 minutes to get to the summit with stops to admire the views. Once at the top we sat for an hour and could see for miles.
Back down we take a 30 minute drive to La Chapelle de Guinchay and park on a free Aire on the edge of town. We walk into town which is nothing special and find the only place open, the bar, well this will have to do.
Tuesday 4 September
Another long drive today, 4 hours in total but most of this on the motorway which can be a bit boring.
We find a great free spot next to the lake at Mont Lucon. We couldn’t get into the Aire which was chockablock so we parked outside on the road. We walked an hour around the lake then met Jolinda and Mark from the Isle of Man who were on 2 weeks holiday in their Adria. We went over to check out their van and share travelling trips and drink all their beer and wine lol. Next morning Jolinda left us a gift of a Cooks candle because we were moaning about the cooking smells inside the van, thank you very much guys.
Wednesday 5 September
This morning we head towards the Dordogne. It’s a grey start to the day so we head to a Super U supermarket an spend 2 hours sat in the carpark waiting for our washing to wash and dry. Quite a few supermarkets in France have washing machines and dryers in the carpark so you can get the washing and shopping done at the same time.
Our stop for the night is an Aire in the village of Beilue De Dordogne, it’s 5 Euros to park overnight and 2 euros for water and waste which isn’t bad. Snooper had a little meltdown which resulted in Keith having very strong words with her after she tried to get us into an arch just big enough for a car, she can be such a bitch sometimes.
We take a walk around the village which is very small and takes us all of 30 minutes.
Thursday 6 September
It’s been raining most of the night and a little bit chilly, this morning, but Eugene still needs water and it’s my job to get out and get this sorted.
Today we’re heading to our housesit in the small village of Trémolat in the Dordogne. We’ve got 2 elderly dogs and 4 cats to look after for a week.
We’ve been to the Dordogne many times and love the area but there’s still so much more to explore.
How did we get our house sit. We registered online with Trusted House Sitters, set up our profile, went through the clearance checks and within the week we were applying for house sits. Initially we wanted sits in the south of Spain, because its warmer, but these seem few and far between. Our only requirement for house sitting, which we are doing for free, is that we need somewhere to park Eugene either on the property or within sight and this hasn’t proved to be an issue with any of the sits we have obtained in France.
We made our way to the village of Tremolat parked up and found our hosts Karen and Andrew and introduced to the animals. Karen and Andrew aren’t leaving until Saturday but have allowed us to stay with them in their house. For the first time since we left Guernsey we get to sleep in a real bed, luxury.
We’d made an Amazon order and were really excited that it had arrive 2 kilos of Peanut butter and 50 liquorice and peppermint tea pigs for me heaven in a box.
Karen and Andrew have a fish and chip van which they take around the villages during the week nights and Friday night they treated us to fish and chips wrapped up in paper, it was delicious.
Over the following week, we’ve been really busy, we’ve given Eugene a really good clean inside and out and fixed all those niggly things and now he looks gorgeous.
The village of Tremolat is great for a wander. There’s a beautiful 4 star luxury hotel in the village with beautiful gardens and a Michelin Star restaurant, obviously we won’t be eating here. There are 3 restaurants, a boulangerie and a tourist information office and that is it.
On the edge of village is a 12th century chapel, Saint Hilaire Chapel which has been renovated by the locals, it has the most amazing glass windows.
We’ve had a great time with the dogs, they only have a short 10 minute walk a day because they both suffer with arthritis, but they’ve been fun to be around. The cats turn up to be fed and leave again, so nice and easy.
Karen also left us her car to use which has been fantastic.
We been out and about to the other villages and been to a few markets.
Keith purchased himself a man bag!
Karen and Andrew have to Gites each having their own pool. The temperature has been up in the 30s for most of the week so it was great when the guests left on Monday so we’ve used the pool or both pools everyday, and Keith was back to his naked swimming lol.
In all we’ve had a very successful first housesit and we’re now ready to hit the road again.
a la perchoine
Shirena & Keith
xxxx
You seem to have had a great time in the Dordogne, but there again, you seem to make the most of where ever you go! Having had a taste of home comforts, (bed, bathroom and laundry facilities) it is probably best that you are doing the house sitting at the back end of your gap year and not the beginning! Keep up the interesting blogs, love xxx
Thanks Ali, it’s been lovely, 3 weeks until the next one
Sounds lovely (apart from dad being naked part)!
Lol every chance he gets. Just as well you don’t have a pool when we come to visit lol🤔😂😂