Monday 10th December 2007

We had identified a campsite half way between Cahors and Brive but we had a wine-tasting stop planned for late morning and an early-ish start was required.
The weather had continued to be poor over night rising early was not a problem due to the hailstorm at approximately 06:30. Rain always sounds loud in the motorhome due to the thin roof and the plastic Heikis (fanlights). However, a hailstorm is deafening especially when it is as heavy as it was last night. We both woke up and then only dozed until we gave up and I put the water on for the tea. We knew that we needed to get some more gas as we had been using a lot due to the weather and the fact that we had often stayed in camperstops without electricity. We had already planned to fill up today but we were just too late – it ran out. We therefore got up had cold washes and breakfasted without a hot drink but it did mean that we were on the road at the almost unheard of time of 08:30.
Ever since I bought some wine from a small company in the very small Somerset village of Wanstrow near Frome, I have been hooked on Fronton wine. I have never seen it in England but have always searched for it when visiting France. Invariably when I have found it, it has been very cheap, often under €1.50 a bottle. Although this was surprisingly good, I wanted to try some better Fronton wines. We plotted a route through Fronton town and at the far side we found 'Cave de Fronton' a cooperative cave. Here we were able to try a number of rose and red wines including ones from Thomas Castigniede, the famous and very talented French Rugby player. We decided that we preferred watching his rugby to drinking his wine – it was not very good! The other wines were very good, especially the strongly flavoured oak aged 'Comte de Negret' 2004, which was my favourite. We less than we would have liked, but it had to fit somewhere in Henrietta.
Due to our exceptionally early start, we decided to push on past our intended stop and over the Dordogne to the Lac du Causse, a short distance south west of Brive. The journey was fascinating and very varied, the first part rather flat and uninteresting but after Montauban (another good rugby centre), the scenery became more rounded. The N20 (not the motorway) from south of Payrac through to the crossing of the Dordogne is high, often on a ridge with wonderful views left and right.
We arrived at the campsite ('La Prairie') just before half past three to discover that reception was closed until five o'clock. Still that gave us time to check out the site, ensure that it was open and identify a suitable pitch. There was a little colour in the sky when the sun set – a hopeful sign?
Photos: View of the Dordogne from a viewpoint on the N20.