Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire and Bourg
Quiet night in the car park to say that we were in the middle of a city. Fun and games watching people trying to get out this morning though – the barrier just refused to go up for anyone. Glad we weren’t at the front of the queue or in a hurry. They must have somehow fixed it remotely by the time we went through as it worked perfectly! 🤣
Good duel carriageway all the way to the little town of Barbezieux. It had everything we needed; a Lidl, motorhome services, and an old town to walk around. The place was a bit dead though, I have to say. Walked up to the chateau at the top of the hill but not much else to see.
Further south, we’ve stopped for the night just outside the little town of Bourg which is on the banks of the Dordogne River where it meets the Garonne. The town was much more interesting – perched high above a cliff face which faces the river. It started out as a fortified villa built by the Roman prefect Pontius Paulinus in the fourth century. It’s full of ancient buildings including a wash house, medieval ramparts and many steps. We also managed to find some old concrete tanks hidden in the rock face that were used to store petrol during the war.
Find of the day though, was a huge beaver like creature down on the river bank . Thing is, it had a big rat like tail. After a bit of research, we’ve decided it was probably a coypu. Seems they’re not very popular as they aren’t native species and destroy all the vegetation. Fairly cute though (apart from the ratty tail)!
