Thursday 23 May 2019
Clairac looked attractive as we crossed the River Lot so we decided to explore. We were serenaded by commedia del arte characters in the middle of the road and we realised that there was an Italian market in town. We bought a jar of artichokes in olive oil and after a coffee explored the half-timbered houses in the town, finishing with an ice cream in a quiet square.
Italian market. Clairac.
Half-timbered house. Clairac.
Half-timbered house. Clairac.
Half-timbered house. Clairac.
Half-timbered house. Clairac.
Church. Clairac.
In Marmande we parked by the cemetery and walked in to the town which we were curious to see being the area where our trusty standy-by, "Vieille Eglise" wine, originates. The helpful tourist office gave us details of campsites and a trail round the old town which we dutifully followed.
There was a good selection of posters for the European elections here, so we have gathered together at this point various fringe examples of the 34 parties on the French list for European elections. Among them was the Union Populaire Republicaine, the Frexit party, wanting to leave the EU, the Euro and NATO. There is no mention of the Council of Europe which has also been ignored in the Brexit negotiations in Britain, although it also has a considerable influence on local legislation.
Union Populaire Republicaine. European election poster. Lourdes.
Union Populaire Republicaine. European election poster. [also in Lourdes] Marmande.
Parti Animaliste. European election poster. Marmande.
Europe Democratie esperanto. European election poster. Marmande.
Alliance Jaune. European election poster. Marmande.
Union de la Droite et du Centre. European election poster. Marmande.
Alliance Ecologique Independante. European election poster. Marmande.
Europe et Rien. European election poster. Monségur.
Urgence ecologie. European election poster. Monségur.
We visited the Tour du Passeur, built in the 14th century and modified on into the 18th. It was perched on the town walls, below which we explored the secluded Jardin des Sources with its fountain and lavoir.
Tour du Passeur. Marmande.
Jardin des sources. Marmande.
The Rue Labat was the oldest street in town, lined with half-timbered houses. The Neuf Fontaines, arranged in a crescent, reminded us of the Hétforrás (Seven Springs) near Koszeg - a spring with seven spouts, bearing the names of the seven Hungarian chieftains from the age of conquest in the 9th century.
Rue Labat. Marmande.
Neuf Fontaines. Marmande.
We ended our tour in the peaceful cloister gardens of the church of Notre-Dame which has been officially designated a "jardin remarquable".
Notre-Dame Cloister garden. Marmande.
Notre-Dame Cloister garden. Marmande.
Camping au Jardin this evening cost only 12 Euros but was one of the best campsites so far. We had a beer in the bar by the canal, and took a walk along the canal. The crews of two English boats joined up for a barbecue and everything looked very congenial.
Canal de Garonne. Canal port. Meilhan-sur-Garonne.
Canal de Garonne. Canal port. Meilhan-sur-Garonne.
River Garonne (left), towpath and canal (right). Meilhan-sur-Garonne.
Friday 24 May 2019
The church at Couthures-sur-Garonne was swept away twice by floods and rebuilt, most recently in neo-romanesque style in the early 19th century, advised by the ubiquitous Viollet Le Duc.
Church. Couthures-sur-Garonne.
Church. Couthures-sur-Garonne.
The flood markers at Couthures-sur-Garonne stood outside Les Gens de Garonne, an ambitious interpretation centre in the little village with a shop, displays, cafe, video presentations - more than a million Euros had been spent jointly by the commune, department and region. It was open today but unused.
Flood markers. Couthures-sur-Garonne.
We had a quiche for lunch in a busy PMU cafe in Duras with several English customers and a waitress who spoke five languages. We explored the ancient town before heading to Jessica, the next friend on our itinerary.
Castle. Duras
Gateway. Duras.
Gateway. Duras.
Saturday 25 May 2019
Jessica prefers Monségur to Duras which she says is moribund. We find it an attractive bastide town with grassy ramparts overlooking the plains and a market square completely filled with a building by Eiffel festooned with more silly election posters. Jessica pointed out many shops that had changed hands and closed over the 40 years she has lived here. Useful shops like butchers and ironmongers have gone, replaced by hypermarkets on the outskirts of town, conveniently located by road junctions to serve the surrounding communes. She told us that many of the large timber barns with slatted walls were sechoirs - drying-sheds for tobacco - now no longer used as the tobacco crop had ceased to be of any importance.
Market. By Eiffel. Monségur.
Half-timbered houses. Monségur.
Tower. Monségur.
We needed to drive on to Duras to find somewhere for lunch and ended up at the PMU cafe we had frequented the day before.
Sunday 26 May 2019
We left Jessica and Taillecavat next morning, (Thank you so much for your hospitality Jess, it was wonderful to take a reality check with a friend from home!) We travelled westward to meet the Gironde Estuary at Vitrezey. At St Thomas de Conac we found a pretentious campsite with kitsch statues, columns and fountains for the night.
Monday 27 May 2019
We headed along the coast to the peaceful little harbour at Port-Maubert with wide views across the largest estuary in Europe. There we watched a school class having sailing lessons.
Harbour. Port-Maubert.
Harbour. Port-Maubert.
Ian had been reading Sabine Baring-Gould's book Cliff castles and cave dwellings of Europe, which had unearthed many examples of troglodyte dwellings in France, so we screeched to a halt when he realised that we were passing the Ermitage Monolithe St-Martial, a troglodyte hermitage. It proved not to be open and on private property and it seems to be one that SBG had missed in his travels.
Ermitage Monolithe St-Martial. Troglodyte dwellings. Mortagne-sur-Gironde.
The little port of Mortagne-sur-Gironde was quiet and deserted in the rain but we were amused by the internet cafe named Les Globe-Flotteurs with its flamboyant ceramic decoration.
Globe-Flotteurs. Internet café. Mortagne-sur-Gironde.
We had lunch in Marennes, a little town of mainly white buildings. It was also very quiet on Monday so we made our way to Port-des-Barques where the shore in front of the Ile Madame was dotted with fishing platforms. There was also a monument to a local heroine, Jacqueline Augras-Maillot (1919-2009) a much decorated resistance worker. From 1941 under the code-name Viviane she was a leading resistance figure in the Rochfort area. She was a secretary employed in the arsenal at Rochefort during the German occupation and entered the intelligence service. Through Admiral Meyer she transmitted information of the highest importance concerning the arsenal to the Navarre network, including secret plans of the installations and details of enemy ship movements which enabled them to be attacked at sea. In 1942 at great personal risk she evaded the Gestapo and continued her clandestine messages, helping fighters who were being sought by the Gestapo to escape to Spain, hiding secret documents at her parents' house and taking part in actions against the authorities. In 1944 she played a leading role in the liberation of Rochefort.
Fishing platforms. Ile Madame behind. Port-des-Barques.
Fishing platforms. Ile Madame behind. Port-des-Barques.
The entrance to our campsite was just opposite the start of the causeway to the Ile-Madame. This is an island which, like Lindisfarne, is cut off at high tide. We had been there in Modestine but, as there was nothing to do on the island but follow the one-way road and return we contented ourselves with watching vehicles making the stony crossing and looking across the waters to Fouras.
Ile-Madame. Causeway. Port-des-Barques.
Ile-Madame. Causeway. Port-des-Barques.
Coastal view. From Port-des-Barques. Fouras.
There was also a pilgrimage site nearby, decorated with murals in memory of the priests who refused to take the oath to the civil constitution of the clergy voted by the National Assembly in 1792. No fewer than 829 priests, mainly from dioceses in northern France were imprisoned on two slave ships at Rochefort from April 1794. They were destined for Guyane (French Guiana) but in the crowded and unhealthy conditions a typhoid epidemic broke out. In August 1794 they were disembarked into a tented hospital on the Ile Madame where 254 priests died within two months. Of the survivors 310 were returned to the ships to spend the dreadful winter of 1794-1795. Transferred to Saintes in February 1795 they were finally freed and returned to their parishes, but not before 574 priests out of the original 829 had died.
Persecution of priests. 1794. Memorial. Port-des-Barques.
Persecution of priests. 1794. Memorial. Port-des-Barques.
Persecution of priests. 1794. Memorial. Port-des-Barques.
In the campsite at Port-des-Barques Ian went in quest of half hour free internet and moved a chair onto the grass close by the wifi point. There he was charged twice by a youth on a motor scooter, driving up and braking violently at the last moment. He noted his number-plate and chased him away. He reported it to the campsite who said they were sometimes troubled by gitanes but this was a local youth. He would report it to his policeman friend who would have a word with the parents.
