Sunday 27th September 2015 – Lectoure, France

A long drive today and the journey went well so we pressed on a little further than intended unusually using toll motorway for the final stretch east from Bordeaux. Driving along the smaller French roads is a delight and, if we have time, we try to avoid motorways which are usually devoid of interest. We were hoping to see a Roman Aqueduct north of Saintes and a Gallo-Roman theatre south of it but neither were signed off the main road and we didn’t have time to search for them. Saintes looks as though it might be an interesting place with lots of archaeology and we have noted it for a visit at some point in the future.

We were firmly in wine-producing lands on this journey, passing through Cognac, Bordeaux, Graves, Sauternes, Bergerac, Duras and Buzet and probably other regions that we didn’t spot. We were still in the Buzet area when we stopped at Lectoure, a lovely walled, Mediaeval, hilltop town. The aire here is delightful with great views from the site and just a short walk into the town. It was quite late so we just went for a short walk in the town, admiring the extensive views from the bastion and taking a look in the large church with its unusual tower. We noted that the archaeological museum opened at 10:00 tomorrow so we planned a visit before we set off.

Lectoure is on the Puy to Santiago de Compostella pilgrim route and, when we returned to the aire we met a couple of pilgrims. The young German man and his French girlfriend were walking with their Romanian rescue dog – a truly international group! Unfortunately the dog was struggling to keep up with the pace even though the couple had deliberately set only a modest target for each day and had taken a number of days off. They had a tent and were camping every night and were concerned that, if they continued at an acceptable pace for the dog, they would end up crossing the Pyrenees in very poor and cold weather. They were seriously considering abandoning the walk.

Photos: The aire at Lectoure; An excellent model of Lectoure town in the room outside the closed museum; A sign pointing to an unfortunately named hotel in Lectoure. It was actually very smart – an historic monument, the 18^th century ‘Hotel de Castaing’ inherited by the Bastard family in 1821. It would be a lovely place to stay with excellent views and the restaurant menu looked very nice.