Girls' Road Trip - Bergerac, France 12th-27th of June, 2026

To the north!

We were both up, showered, dressed and ready to go by 7:45am this morning, and before taking to the road, we deposited all of the recycling in the bins opposite the school. Our route back to Caen would be slightly different to the route down; I wasn't keen on the long drive on the A10 or the roads around Bordeaux, Nantes and Rennes. Instead, we used the D709 (our road!) and then the D708 from Riberac. We would then follow a succession of D roads to Angoulême before joining the N10 to Poitiers. From Poitiers, we would take the A10 for a short while to Tours and then the A28, passing Le Mans, followed by the A88 and the N158 up to Caen, where we were staying overnight. We estimated it would take us about eight hours, factoring in stops on the way.

The road from Mussidan to Riberac was quiet, but I had a "Convoi Exceptionnel" lorry in front of us. He was travelling at a fair pace, though, so there was no need to try and overtake! We lost him in the small town of Riberac, and from then onwards, almost to Angoulême, we had the road to ourselves. It truly was French driving at its very best, with long straight roads, which cut through fields of sunflowers, and quiet little villages. At one point, we could see for a fair few miles in the distance, and there was nothing on the road at all!

We'd decided to stop for coffee and pastries once we'd driven past Angoulême, and we pulled off at a Village Étape called Mansle. First of all, we missed the signs for parking as I spotted a squirrel crossing the road using a pedestrian crossing, and was quite understandably distracted! Sophie was not amused!

We retraced our route and ended up parking outside an Aldi, where we had a much-needed coffee and ate the two pastries we'd cooked last night. There were no toilets in Aldi, so we had to use the satnav to find public toilets. I was directed off the main road in Mansle onto a tiny residential street where the local cats thought it was a good idea to sit in front of the car and not move...!

We abandoned finding the toilets, and we both vowed never to use the Village Étapes again, as they are just villages and the search for parking, toilets and cafés is solely down to the driver and passengers. The locals seem to think it's fun to hide all the important signs, and they are definitely not clearly marked! We rejoined the N10 and stopped to use the loos at the next aire, which was a much better decision!

Pushing our luck?

As we neared Tours, a little idea popped into my mind... Amboise was close by. Why not make a detour and have a drink in the town? I suggested this to Sophie as going straight to Caen would see us arriving at about 2:00pm. She agreed (although to this day I don't think she was really into it) and put in directions for Amboise.

As we approached the town, we could see huge thunder clouds in the distance, and we saw lightning several times. I imagined arriving in Amboise in the middle of a violent thunderstorm! It was about 32c now and not as cool as we'd hoped, despite being further north.

The route into the town was not an easy one. We had to navigate several sections of the road where oncoming traffic had the right of way, and I managed to severely annoy a convoy of French cars when I abruptly stopped just as the road narrowed. I was going to go, but then I saw a car approach, so I stopped. Talk about being dramatic! Grown men (for they were all men) gingerly inched past me as if they were driving juggernauts instead of normal cars, and the only driver who had any sense was a woman who waved me into a driveway to ease the congestion. It was not pleasant!

We parked on the outskirts of the town and had a hot walk to the centre, where we'd had a drink in previous years. We sat at the first restaurant we came to, which we initially thought was just a bar. It was an Italian restaurant, and when we asked for just drinks, the waitress snatched the cutlery and napkins off the table in a huff! Whose idea was it to visit the town? Was the grumpiness due to the heat?

We ordered a glass of wine each and didn't specify which one, so we ended up with two unpleasant drinks that cost us 14 euros. We couldn't wait to finish them and go!

Very nice in Vouvray

Before walking back to the car, we popped into a Carrefour City, and I bought two bottles of sparkling Montlouis wine - the wine that Keith and I had at our wedding. I've never seen it in the UK, so the French must keep it all to themselves! How we had it 34 years ago is beyond me!

I said to Sophie that we'd stop in Vouvray before heading back on the road, as I wanted to try and squeeze some enjoyment out of our impromptu stop! We pulled into the car park of the wine merchant we'd stopped at in 2023 when it was closed, but it was very much open today. Hooray!

I suddenly thought about buying a Vouvray from 1996, so I asked the very helpful man serving if he had one. He had a good look, but no, he had no wine from that vintage. He was lovely and chatty and spoke excellent English, so we were able to explain why we loved the wine, and we tasted two bottles, both on the sweeter side. I told him about the 1970 and 1971 Vouvrays that Keith and I had bought in the 1990s, before the children came along. 

We had a wonderful chat with the man who looked like Jamali Maddix, so this was another man for Sophie to flirt with over wine! He mentioned that the locals in Amboise hate tourists, so this might have explained the hostility we encountered. I think it'll be a long time before we go back! We tore ourselves away after buying two bottles (24 euros) and joined the A10 north of Tours for a couple of miles, before taking the A28.

The A28 was beautifully quiet, and we made good progress up to Le Mans, stopping at a baking hot aire to eat our sandwiches, drink lots of water and use the loos, which Sophie said were disgusting. From the A28, we took the A88 towards Caen, following the N158 for the last part of our journey.

Hot and bothered!

I had been dreading the last section of our journey to the Airbnb on the outskirts of Caen, but it was surprisingly easy, and Sophie expertly navigated me to the house on a quiet residential street. Our host had insisted on meeting us, which we hate, as the last thing we want to do after a day's travelling is try to make small talk (in French) with our host while they show us where the spoons are and how the light switches work.

Florence met us, spoke French rapidly to us as we followed her around the tiny Airbnb and made no mention of fans to alleviate the heat in the house. I had expected this, but the reality was terrible. The house was baking, so once Florence had gone, we threw open all the windows to try and cool the rooms down a little.

I managed to bring the car around to the front door of the house so we could unpack what we needed. By now, we were hot and sweating and not looking forward to a night in the house! To make it worse, there were still furry throws on the beds, and an itchy blanket on the sofa. Ugh!

The first of the three ejections... read Saturday's entry for the third!

As we were putting things away, Sophie screamed and then managed to trap a huge spider which had been lurking in her bedroom! The open windows then attracted a monster cricket, which seemed intent on staying in the house despite my efforts to eject it! I had no idea they were so huge!

No, this isn't AI-generated!

As the days led up to our stay in this Airbnb, we had toyed with the idea of going to one of our favourite towns on the Normandy coast for dinner. We hadn't shopped for anything to eat tonight, and the prospect of staying in the swelteringly hot house did not appeal in the slightest! We decided to head for Houlgate, perhaps our favourite town of all (and where we're staying next January) and have dinner there. There were two problems: it was June, not January, and we were fully expecting to find it difficult to park and get a table.

We both had cool showers, and I ironed a pair of light trousers and Sophie's dress. We then shut the windows and, before going to the car, had a look at the other three little houses next to us, as it was obvious that they too were Airbnbs owned by Florence and George. There was a lock on the entrance gate, and we wondered if we'd have any neighbours when we returned.

To get to Houlgate, I had to briefly use the hated péripherique but then we joined the A13 to the coast, reminding ourselves to pay the Sanef free-flow toll tomorrow when we arrived home. We stopped for petrol in Dives-sur-Mer, and then carried on along the coast to Houlgate. It was certainly different from the freezing cold days of January, but there were still parking spaces along the coast road.

Once in Houlgate, though, the spaces were all taken along the road, but we found a large car park near a beautiful church. We made a note of this for January! We took a short walk to the town centre and chose the first restaurant we came to, an Italian called La Dolce Vita. 

They were happy to welcome us and sat us on the terrace overlooking the street, where we could watch a continuous procession of people looking for somewhere to eat, or going back to their accommodation after time spent on the beach.

Tonight, for some reason, I felt homesick. Whether it was because I was tired and hot, I don't know. We ordered a bottle of Sicilian Nero D'Avola, a large bottle of water and a platter of meats and cheeses for a starter. I followed Sophie's lead, and we both chose pasta carbonara for a main course.

The restaurant was pleasantly busy, and the staff were lovely. The food was delicious, and the carbonara was just as it should be, with the egg making the sauce lovely and creamy. We managed to find room for dessert and ordered panna cotta topped with a red fruit coulis, which I think took us over the edge! Phew! It was certainly cooler here, though, with a lovely breeze blowing.

We paid the bill - 96 euros, the most expensive of the holiday - and set off for the car. On the way back to Caen, we parked at our usual little car park so Sophie could dip her toes in the sea. A lot of people were still on the beach, playing ball games or just soaking up the cool night air. It was still light, as the sun wasn't due to set until after 10:00pm. In the distance, dark storm clouds had gathered, and we saw several lightning flashes.

Beautiful church 

Storm clouds gather

It took us less than half an hour to get back to Caen, and the roads were very quiet. We parked right outside the house again, and the heat inside took our breath away. I had a feeling we were in for a bad night...

To be continued!

Girls' Road Trip - Bergerac, France 12th-27th of June, 2026

Exploring Issigeac

We left the house at 9:00am this morning and drove to the beautiful, medieval village of Issigeac, a short drive from Bergerac. Need I say it was hot and sunny again? This heatwave shows no sign of letting up, and I think we're going to face high temperatures when we arrive back in the UK on Saturday.

We parked in a small square opposite the church (a very friendly French gentleman helped me to back the car into a space!), and we called Keith for his daily check-in. Opposite was a café with a pretty vine-covered terrace called La P'tite Treille, with people already sitting and enjoying a coffee, so we took our seats and ordered two cafés au lait.

It was lovely to sit and sip our coffees and contemplate a couple of hours of exploring this beautiful French village. As I said previously, we had changed our minds about Périgueux, which looked far bigger than we had realised. Issigeac was perfect as it wasn't far from the house and accessible along lovely D roads.

I paid the bill and was charmed by the friendliness of the proprietor, who wished me a happy holiday after I'd said "Bonne journée". The French are exceedingly polite, and everyone says "Bonjour" to you when you enter a shop, café or restaurant. It's also very acceptable to wish everyone a good day, and this is met with a response and a big smile.

We set off to explore Issigeac, going into a gorgeous shop first, which sold clothes and pretty knick-knacks. The owner was absent, but the woman helping out spoke perfect English; in fact, she may have been English!

We visited another couple of shops with Sophie looking for an anklet and me a straw hat for our day at Wimbledon next month. One owner appeared a little snooty (she didn't say hello), and we found the prices in these shops on the high side! We did stumble upon a wine shop, though, run by a woman for a change (hooray!) and we bought two bottles of wine.

Around every corner was a pretty view of the ancient timbered houses and narrow streets, with flowers spilling over from window boxes and tubs. 

I was also on the hunt for authentic French bed linen, and we did find a shop selling bedding, but the prices! A set of two pillowcases for 110 euros and a single tea towel for 23 euros! Blimey! We made a swift exit!

Issigeac was very pretty and a gorgeous place for wandering the streets, but the prices in the shops had put us off a little, and the one promising restaurant we found for lunch was closed on Thursdays. We did stumble upon a little place selling painted glass jewellery and ornaments, and Sophie bought two pairs of earrings.

We also found a small pottery workshop, and the prices were reasonable, so we bought two pretty bowls to take home. The owner had put up notices about the pottery and how it was made, and there was a potter's wheel in the centre of the workshop.

As we'd wandered about, we had discussed visiting the Chateau de Monbazillac, and I asked Sophie if there was a restaurant there. There was! Perfect! The different tours were a little confusing, so we decided to drive there and see what they offered. I did say to Sophie that the wines of Monbazillac were mainly sweet, but she said she didn't mind.

Another day, another chateau!

We returned to the car and put in directions for the chateau. On the way, we stopped and took photos of the vines stretching away into the distance. It was baking hot, and the grass looked very dry and straw-like.

At the chateau, we were able to park in the shade, and we walked the short distance to the entrance. A normal visit, including a tasting, was 12 euros each, which we thought was a bargain. First up was a large room explaining about the wines, the processes, and the noble rot that affects the grapes. It was all very interesting.

We learned that the Chateau de Monbazillac was owned by a cooperative of wine growers in the area, and we heard the testimonies from some of them. We were the only visitors in this lovely air-conditioned room, and we thought this alone was worth the entrance fee!

There were some very old bottles on display, and the wine looked brown and a bit murky! I'm not sure I would have wanted to sample it! Back outside in the midday heat, we walked up to the chateau past rows of vines.

 

We decided to have lunch first and took seats in the shade. Opposite was a large terrace with views over the valley. It was a gorgeous setting. On each table was a large bottle of still water, which we drank greedily. We were so hot!

We had a look at the menu and ordered a bottle of Euphonie rosé to go with our choices - duck for Sophie and a Nordic salad for me, which was strips of salmon served with assorted lettuce leaves, radish, pickled red onions and popcorn! Sophie's duck was served with seasonal vegetables and gnocchi.

There was a lovely, relaxed atmosphere in the restaurant with quite a few Brits arriving to eat. We were given the wrong meals at first, and the waiter apologised. When we first arrived, two staff members were serving, but after this, just one man was hurrying around, and he never stopped! Had he sent the young girl home? How he coped with the heat, we'll never know!

The food was delicious, and my salad was huge! Sophie's duck looked lovely, and I had a bit of food envy! I think from now on, I'm going to order what my daughter chooses!

As we were eating, we heard the roar of car engines, and sporty Porsches started arriving. They were taking part in the Routes du Périgord rally, and although the initial cars were Porsches, other cars, including an Aston Martin, also arrived. They all parked outside the chateau - what a spectacle!

https://www.rallyepassion.com/ (I later found out that of the four stages, three were places we had visited! I'm not sure our basic VW would have competed with the supercars, though!)

We had room for dessert - a creme brulée for Sophie and a raspberry tart for me. I encouraged Sophie to try a Monbazillac dessert wine, which she loved. It had been a truly relaxing and indulgent lunch, and we had lingered at the table for over two hours, enjoying the shade and watching the comings and goings of visitors to the chateau.

We paid the bill (79 euros) and wandered over to the chateau itself, which was built between 1550 and 1582. This was nothing like Hautforte (which is lived in by the present family), but quite basic. There were a lot of information boards about the Wars of Religion, between the Catholics and Protestants, which we didn't read, due to the heat!

There was some furniture in the chateau and a bed, but the interior looked like it hadn't changed at all over the centuries.

We didn't linger for long, as we were both hot and dreading the (very) short walk to the shop! Amazingly, even the shortest of walks in 40c heat was intimidating! We made it, though, and dived into the shop, which was wonderfully cool and quiet.

We were entitled to a tasting each, and we chose two wines from the list, both of which were delicious. The man serving the wines was lovely and happily chatted to us in perfect English, explaining about the wine and the chateau. We decided to buy a bottle of each and then wandered around looking at the other wines available. 

In all, we picked out five wines to take home with us, and as we'd chosen a bottle of the Château de Monbazillac sweet wine, we were given a tasting! It was gorgeous!

The man serving the wines really made our experience special, and he was lovely. What a job! As well as the wines, we bought four glasses to take home, and they'll be a wonderful reminder of our visit.

Although we'd parked the car in the shade, I was astonished to see the temperature - 44c! Hotter than last year in Banyuls-sur-Mer (funnily enough, another sweet wine area!).

Before we could return to the cool of the house, though, we had to go shopping. We found a Carrefour on the outskirts of Bergerac and did our shopping - lots of wine to take home, something for a snack later on and more water and milk. To our dismay, we also saw a large stand full of sunscreen... grrr! We should have stuck with Carrefour and not the Super U!

Opposite the supermarket was a petrol station, so we also filled up with petrol, ready for the trip to Caen tomorrow. It was bliss to get back to the house where we floated about in the pool for ages! It certainly wasn't as refreshing as it used to be, though!

The early evening was spent packing up the car, and when I got in to move it back into the shade, it was registering 48c! Blimey! Sophie cooked off pastries to have for breakfast tomorrow and made sandwiches to eat on the journey.

We enjoyed pasta salads for dinner with the rest of the cold meat, and then watched a new documentary on Netflix called "The Billionaire, The Butler, and the Boyfriend". There were several episodes, so we'll have to continue watching at home!

Girls' Road Trip - Bergerac, France 12th-27th of June, 2026

We escape!

We were up, showered, dressed and ready to leave the house by 8:00am this morning, in an attempt to beat a little of the forecast heat! To be on the safe side, we packed a large bottle of water, hats, and sunscreen. When we set off, the temperature was about 23 °C, but it soon climbed... and climbed!

We took the A89 towards Périgueux, and it was an easy journey. Around Périgueux itself, it became quite busy with commuter traffic, and we revised our plan to go there, as it looked a lot bigger than we had thought. It had three junctions on the autoroute! Large towns and heat do not suit us!

We turned off the A89 at junction 17 and stopped in the beautiful village of Saint-Rabier for a coffee we'd made earlier, and a bowl of granola and yoghurt. We parked overlooking fields, and we heard the constant mooing of cows. It sounded like they were being kept inside because of the heat, and I don't think they were happy about it!

From Saint-Rabier, it was a pleasant nine-mile drive to Chateau Hautefort along empty roads and through pretty villages with some gorgeous houses. As we neared our destination, we spotted the chateau perched on its promontory. It looked stunning!

The chateau opens at 9:30am, so we were right on time. We parked in the shade of a row of trees and took a photograph before walking up to the ticket office.

It cost us 13 euros to enter the castle and the gardens, which I thought was a bargain. We walked up a long gravelled drive to the gardens, which we had been advised to visit first. There was a lot of topiary in the formal part of the gardens, with fantastic views of the Périgord countryside.

The village of Hautefort below us

By now, it was already very hot, and the sun beat down on us relentlessly. We walked around the grounds and then back to the front of the chateau, where we entered via the portcullis. 

The tour started on the left-hand side of the building, with information boards on the chateau's history. We called Keith while we were here, and he was fine, albeit a little hot, like us!

We then walked down the long covered part of the courtyard and went up to the first floor via a set of wide, shallow stone steps. From here, we had access to several beautiful rooms, including the former bedrooms, a gorgeous sitting room, bathrooms and an area for making tisanes.

One of two walnut fireplaces, each weighing four tonnes!

I loved this fireplace!

The tour looped around the rooms, and we found ourselves back in the long hall. We saw that a presentation was underway, so we waited until it finished. When we went into the cinema room, it was beautifully cool! This was the immersive experience about the terrible fire that had swept through Chateau Hautefort in 1968, when a cigarette was carelessly discarded in the attic rooms. We learned about what had happened and heard first-hand accounts from the inhabitants of the village and the Baroness de Bastard, who had spent the last forty years restoring the chateau. She had been entertaining guests who had wanted to see the attic rooms, and this is where the fire started. After the fire, she set about restoring it to how it had been, with generous donations.

This room was used for the shooting of the film, The Death of Louis XIV

When we went into the next room, we were astounded to discover that one of Sophie's favourite films, Ever After, was filmed at the chateau as well! In fact, there have been numerous films using the chateau as a location, including Plenty, starring Meryl Streep and Eye of the Devil, starring Sharon Tate in 1966.

We descended the stairs to the kitchens, where "staff " were working.

The holograms were great!

After the visit, we walked to the gift shop and bought a soap (of course!), a Christmas decoration for our Scandi tree, a postcard and two bottles of water.

We drank all the water (it was scorching hot by now) and then decided to do a tour of the rooms again! We had enjoyed walking around so much, and we both wanted to go into the cinema room again and be cool for a few minutes!

By now, the restaurant was open, and although we had talked about eating at an auberge in the village, we decided to eat at the chateau. The restaurant was called Le Dix-Sept, and we took a table under an umbrella overlooking the courtyard.

We ordered chicken fillets coated in crispy cornflakes in a Romesco sauce, served with potato wedges. A large bottle of water and a pichet of rosé accompanied the meal. Of course, as soon as we sat down, others followed, including a family group of ten who had three young children with them.

The food was very good, and we were given a basket of bread to eat with the meal. It was lovely sitting and gazing out over the views and enjoying our lunch. We managed to find room for dessert and ordered two Périgord traditional desserts - Cajasse and Cambedouilles. We loved the Cajasse; it was like a Yorkshire pudding stuffed with walnuts and apples and served with ice cream. Delicious! The  Cambedouilles were long fried doughnuts topped with icing sugar and drizzled with chocolate sauce. We had never heard of them before!

Insane heat!

We were now stuffed, so we paid the bill, a reasonable 66 euros, and staggered back to the car. It was now insanely hot, and on the way across the main apron of the chateau and along the winding drive, we tried to conjure up winter scenes to keep cool! I then realised in six months it would be Christmas Eve!

Luckily, the car felt cool as it had been parked under the trees, and we set off for the village and a brocante shop that Sophie had spotted. We parked a short distance from the shop and saw another one, but this was closed.

We walked back to the one we'd seen and went inside, where it seemed to be even hotter, if that was possible! The shop was full of secondhand clothes and shoes, but Sophie found three lovely vintage glasses that she bought for 5 euros.

By now, I was beginning to feel overheated, and I really don't think our meal was helping! It wasn't a long walk back to the car, but both of us now felt very uncomfortable. As soon as we got in the car, we turned the aircon on and sorted out the directions back to the A89. The route took us back on the lovely D704, which was even quieter. The sunbaked fields shimmered in the afternoon heat, and nothing moved, with the houses shuttered up against the sun.

On the A89, I realised that there was no shade at all, and I was hugely relieved when the journey was over. I have never felt this way about the heat at all, but the strength of the sun and the 42c temperatures really did bring it home to me how dangerous this was.

Back at the house, we changed into our swimsuits and gratefully sank into the pool, which now felt like a bath! I remember at the start of the holiday we had to really steel ourselves to get into it as it was so cold!

The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent relaxing in the house, and we decided to watch What Women Want on Netflix. Halfway through, we cooked a box of chicken nuggets to eat with some bread and butter. We sat outside for a little while before bed. I will never get tired of the view from the terrace!