Yesterday turned into a bit of a driving day as we were unable to park in Poitiers as we had planned ..it seemed almost too cold to get out of the van anyway! We stayed overnight in the marketplace of the little town of Vivonne. It still had its Christmas lights up so looked quite pretty once it got dark. We forced ourselves to get out and walk by the river for an hour, so that we could drink wine and eat nuts. 🤣
Detoured today to a very sobering place called Oradour-sur-Glane. The village stands preserved as a memorial and is just as it was when left by the SS soldiers in 1944 after they massacred and burned its 642 inhabitants. So bizarre to wander through the streets with their burnt out cars and bicycles. The inside of the houses all seemed to have the remains of a sewing machine and the odd metal bedstead. With the freezing temperatures and snow flurries, it felt like there’d been a nuclear war!
As we were just west of Limoges, we carried on into the Dordogne as the scenery is a bit more exciting than the Angoulême region.
Parked up for free in Périgueux and it was slightly warmer, more rain than snow. Walked up into the town before it got dark, but it was all a bit deserted really. I think anyone with any sense had stayed at home tucked up in front of a roaring fire!
