Sadly we bid Mike and Sheila farewell in the late morning and headed off on our 2 day drive to Paris. There had been a big thunderstorm with torrential rain overnight but it had stopped by the time we left and the weather cleared and gave us a lovely driving day.

We kept to the back roads all day today en route to our destination: Chalus, a very small town, just to the south of Limoges. We’d booked into a Chambres d’hotes called Au fil du temps, a b&b in British terms. It was a really nice trip, lovely scenery all the way. A lot of the journey was spent going through the massive vineyards of the armagnac area just north of Mike and Sheila. So many chateaux and vineyards, the vines black with grapes ready for the harvest.

There were lots of villages en route. You don’t see a lot of life in them. No one on the streets or in the fields and not many cars. Shops seemed closed. Many houses boarded or shuttered. I suppose many are holiday homes these days.

We got to our b&b at 430. A lovely lovely old house. Decorated beautifully and comfortably. Madame welcomed us in and made us a dinner reservation at a nearby Relais. Our room is really nice. We have a little sitting room as well as a large bedroom and bathroom. All decorated in a grey and white toile. There’s a swimming pool in the garden but we didn’t have time for that. The room and breakfast for two is £64 which seems reasonable for such a lovely place. https://www.gites-de-france.com/fr/nouvelle-aquitaine/haute-vienne/au-fil-du-temps-87g7707 We would definitely stay again.

Tonight we drove about 7 minutes to a relais restaurant in the hills above chalus called Relais de la Tour. https://relais-de-la-tour-champsac.fr/ We had wanted to eat a a restaurant in Chalus proper called La Comptoire de Cecile but it is not open for dinner on a Thursday. Anyway, the relais was really good. Not posh at all, a very workmanlike French restaurant, family run and catering to locals. They offered menus of different prices and we went with their menu of the day special. It was astonishing value. For 18 euro each, we got a starter plate of smoked fish and potato salad, then roast chicken with ratatouille and chips, a huge plate of cheese to help ourselves from, then dessert and coffee. I had white cheese with summer fruits for dessert and it was great. Included was also a large carafe of wine. Honestly we were stuffed. When the cheese plate came around, we got it first and there were great hunks of cheese on it. You helped yourself and eventually they took it and gave it to another table…. hmmmm I’m afraid their hunks had greatly reduced. LOL.

Anyway, a very nice day ending with a lovely meal.