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UK & Ireland S2000 CommunityDiscussions related to the S2000, its ownership and enthusiasm for it in the UK and Ireland. Including FAQs, and technical questions.
Originally Posted by Mattyboyz,Jul 25 2010, 03:12 AM
More pics please
Right, everyone, we're back in good ol' Blighty!
We arrived back at Poole at 00:30 this morning, and crawled into bed at 03:30, so we're both a bit shattered at the moment.
We have had the most amazing holiday, with everything falling in to place and no mishaps. The worse part about starting a post like this is if you have to say, "We had a good holiday, but . . . !"
Some of the pictures to come are, even if I say so myself, absolutely stunning. So hang in here if you want a picture fest.
As a quick sop for Mattyboyz this is one of the obligatory Provence poses!
Our mascot Snoopy got all excited and asked, "Are they all supporting cancer Charities?"
Hopefully, I will pick up the story again this evening.
DAY FOUR Tuesday 20th July: La Rochelle to Sarlat-le-Caneda.
Right, here we go again. This is the post that I spent over an hour on, (on that day) only to lose the broadband connection before I was able to press the ‘reply’ button!
As I had mentioned previously, this was a holiday. I’m always slightly amused when members post their holiday intentions, which revolve around driving (what to me are) absurd distances each day. So our plan was two one night stops to get us fairly quickly to where we wanted to tour, then four two night stops in the areas we wished to explore, followed by two further one night stops back to the ferry at St Malo.
As a result, our touring holiday proper would not start until we reached Sarlat-le-Caneda, so today’s journey was longer than most, with just a visit to Oradour-sur-Glane planned, and then to approach Sarlat via the Vezere Valley.
Firstly, a quick stop to fuel up, and to replenish our stock of water and orange juice. As you can see, the 98 octane was 1.43 Euros per litre.
By 11-30am the heat, in the mid 30s, was overpowering, so I’m afraid it was hood up and air conditioning on again. I’m sure it is this type of weather that prevents more convertibles being sold in continental Europe.
At the ferry terminal they had put a bright ST MALO sticker on the windscreen (which I assumed was to avoid us being thrown off at the Channel Isles!). The sticker was marked ‘glass removable adhesive’. I can confirm that these stickers remove themselves at exactly 100kph!
I have the original H&P alarm system and have never had any problems with it, but after a couple of hours on a toll road at 130kph (the speed limit – well, OK. A little bit more, Oh, OK. A lot more!) we slowed down to navigate the roundabouts circling Cognac, and the panic alarm activated. Fortunately, if the ignition is on, it does not cut it, but I had to drive the rest of the way to Oradour pushing the button regularly, The temperature under the bonnet was so intense you could not touch anything, and this appeared to be the problem, as it did not occur again.
The next strange thing was at the unmanned toll booth my Caxton fx card would not be accepted, but my Barclays Goldfish was OK. I’m puzzled as I had already used the card for hotels, food and petrol.
As p800bry posted recently, Oradour is a very sobering sight. MQ has drawn attention to my lack of youth, and it is true that I was aware of many of these wartime atrocities at the time they happened. But my memory of what occurred on 10th June 1944 in Oradour had, unfortunately, faded with time.
Known as the German Massacre Village, or the Martyr’s Village, on that day 200 Waffen SS troops surrounded the village and massacred the entire population of over 600 men, women and children, and then destroyed all the buildings. Since the end of the war, the village has remained unchanged as a permanent memorial to those who lost their lives. The following pictures say more than words can express. ‘Lest we forget’.
As an aside, my brother fought in the last war, and his unit was one of the first to free a concentration camp. He was never able to talk about what he saw. Understandably, Jean & I were very pensive as we got back into the car to continue our journey.
However, our spirits were lifted, once in the Vezere Valley, as this town was ‘en fete’. The time and effort which must have gone into this stunning display (and it went on for mile after mile!) must have been enormous.
We try to book hotels in rural locations, which have individual character. We’ve come up trumps here as Le Relais de Moussidiere oozes character and is immaculately presented. This is a three star hotel, and we have stayed in five star hotels that do not come up to this standard.
After a very hot day it was a relief to jump into the swimming pool!
Sarlat is a medieval walled city, and wonderful to explore amongst the bustling crowds. We had an excellent meal, and then perambulated, to watch the buskers, singers and acrobats.
The final picture is of a group of contortionists that made my eyes water just to watch them!
As I said, when I originally tried to post this entry, If I can keep this up, I have a special treat for MQ tomorrow! That promise still stands MQ!
Oradour. My sister is married to a Frenchman and his family come from near there. She said her visit with our father was almost unbearably moving.
The town 'en fete' those decorations are amazing.
".... so I’m afraid it was hood up and air conditioning on again. I’m sure it is this type of weather that prevents more convertibles being sold in continental Europe." I agree, when I mentioned doing this on a particularly hot day here recently it was met with some derision.
Looking forward to my special treat. Sweet dreams Dennis.
Oradour certainly is an umissable place to visit and I will never forget my visit there. Looking at your photo's makes me want to go and do it all again, especially the photo's with the sunflowers in as I'd forgotten about those. Look forward to seeing the monte carlo pics as that place is truly stunning. I must say that I also absolutely loved Paris too (not sure if you went there)in fact I think we should swap countries with France
DAY FIVE Wednesday 21st July: Touring near Sarlat-le-Caneda.
One of the frustrating things about visiting France is that as soon as you enter a hotel they start speaking to you in perfect English. How do they know? My wife suggested that the knotted handkerchief on my head was a bit of a give-away, but I’m not taking that off for anyone as it keeps my head cool! However, at this hotel, their English was limited, so it was an opportunity to practise my French.
Another irritation, when in continental Europe, is that even the best hotels rarely have any English TV programmes. Occasionally you find CNN, but you can’t call that English!! It’s not that we want to watch TV, but it is nice to be able to keep abreast of the news and weather. Whilst watching the news in French we were shocked to see that almost three quarters of the regions in France had fires of varying severity, although we had not seen any so far during our trip.
Once again the weather was perfect and we had breakfast on the terrace near the pool.
These pictures show the slightly 'quirky' character of the hotel. We would highly recommend it, if you intend to visit that area.
The Vezere Valley is beautiful, with a number of pretty villages, many Troglodyte caves and dwellings, and several grottos. If these were your particular interests you could easily spend a week exploring the area.
The principal sites we visited were Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil, La Roque St-Christophe and La Grotte du Grand Roc. Not far away was Le Gouffre de Padriac (the largest chasm in Europe), which we were looking forward to, but we did not have enough time to visit there as well, as we had other places to see.
Some of the Troglodyte scenes:
Then, after a snack half way up the cliff face:
We went into the grotto. Unfortunately, the pictures do not do it justice as flash photography was not allowed!
Then we drove a short way south to Castelnaud-la-Chapelle, which sits on a cliff overlooking the Dordogne River.
At this point we weren’t going anywhere, as two lorries were jammed together in the narrow road ahead!
Both Jean & I have a love of nature, flora & fauna, old buildings, etc. etc. It has been wonderful so far in our trip watching such things as the changes in agriculture and architecture as we have driven through France. One definite visit planned during our trip was a visit to the famous Jardins Suspendus de Marqueyssac. (Sit up MQ!) Listed by the French as a National Historical Monument, the gardens are quite unique, and sit on a plateau almost 200 metres above the Dordogne River giving a panoramic view of the whole valley.
The first picture shows Castelnaud across the valley from the gardens.
A quite memorable Visit. Then back to our comfy hotel for a snack and a good night's rest, before our jouney tomorrow to the Tarn Gorges.
WOW lovely pics, and I agree on the staying a few nights on en route. We are planning a similar style of travel for the upcoming Italy hoon. Having been fortunate enough to drive the Mille Miliga and spent 10 days doing it you tend to get the best of both worlds then.
Lloyd and I recently spent a week in the Dordogne with his parents, and the villages en fete are truely awe inspiring. We didn't get to spend a lot of time in the caves, but you can see from the environment why this part of France was such a Resistance stronghold!
On a similar vein, last year on the way back from Euromeet the French Way Down stopped and spent a day in Dachau, for similar reasons I suspect. The French Martyres Village is somewhere I have wanted to see, but I want to do it justice, as you rightly say "lest we forget".
Originally Posted by Mistress Quickly,Aug 1 2010, 12:51 PM
Fascinated by that one in the grotto with the triangular features. Wonder what phenomenom that is?
Hi MQ,
It is something to do with the way the water precipitates and then evaporates. Apparently, a pyramidical crystaline structure would normally be formed, so those triangles are unique to this grotto. We have been in grottos before, but never seen anything quite like that. That is why we were sad not to have the time to visit Le Gouffre de Padriac, where you descend by lift over 1000 metres into the chasm, and they them take you around the underground galleries on a boat.
I have been trying to keep a balance between 'picture overload' and giving a good idea of what is out there to see. Unfortunately (if that is the right choice of word), the pictures just get better and better. The Tarn Gorges were . . . . and then the Verdon Gorges . . . . and then the Alps . . . !
I have a difficult task ahead, but I will keep trying!!
07-31-2010, 02:55 AM
My sister is married to a Frenchman and his family come from near there. She said her visit with our father was almost unbearably moving.
Sweet dreams Dennis.
some great pics there and some good inspiration