Day 62 – On to Astafort – just outside Agen

Today is Saturday 31st July. It’s exactly 2 months since I set off from England. I think my mission here is pretty much over here as far as the reccy goes. I’ve seen most of the places I want to see, I’ve seen what your money can buy you, seen how the climate can change within such a small area, learnt a bit about French culture, and the French language and had a bit of a holiday into the bargain. It’s not over yet by any means. My plan was to stay for 3 months and I still intend too. Thanks to the efforts of a good friend back home my house is finally getting rented out (soon) which means it will be in use when I return home so there is no point in returning early. However I do think it’s time I drew a line under the blog. I really enjoyed writing it and gave me something else to do other than go out and spend money. It is taking up too much of my time though and I’m running seriously short of time (and money) to get my real work done.

The ‘Marie’s’ (mayor’s) office is often quite a fancy building. This one in Agen is typical

Heading homeward

Today I turned around and headed in the direction of the Dordogne. First to Tarbes, where I stopped for coffee and a look around the market. Then onto to Auche. They have a small campsite here on a tiny island in the middle of the river and its only 4 euros something to stay! 4 euros!! There wasn’t much in the way of shade though, so after a quick drive around the historic city centre I headed out on the road to Agen. I am looking for something quite specific; a nice quiet spot, by a river, with lots of shade. Just like that very first night I spent in Chateau Gontier. I only ever intend to stay one night in any place, but some places just make you want to stay another night... then another...

Found it

All in all I drove about 200Km today and I’ve stopped at every campsite for the last 80Km. One of them wanted 48 euros for 1 night!!!. About 10Km south of Agen I approached a bridge with a sign on the right saying ‘municipal campsite’ pointing left. As I drove over the bridge I looked left and saw a lovely grassy spot on the bank of the river in the shade of four huge willow trees. The bridge itself was a stone arched bridge and the river had a large wier which when seen from the bank gives the impression that the river just stops... in mid air so to speak. It is picture postcard. I turned around. Its Saturday night... boogie night... I’m just 10 Km from a happening spot but what I want is right here.


The tiny office on site doubles as the village tourist office and the girl working there seems bored. She babbles on for ages about stuff knowing I don’t understand a word. It doesn’t seem to bother her though. Me neither. She says she caught too much soliel today. Effected her mouth I think!

Midget warrior hedgehogs

I think she’s talking about a time once when she got really bored and was lured into cyberspace by a band of midget warrior hedgehogs from a time far in the future. A time when hedgehog-kind had supplanted humans as the dominate intelligence on the planet and they needed a leader to help take back the solar system from a race of giant space spiders that have made their webs out amongst the moons of Jupiter. However they suspected the spiders had picked up their radio traffic on their webs and were preparing a counter attack......... I could be wrong though... I only caught a couple of words.

Now the lovely shady spot I’ve got by the river doesn’t have electric. So I’ll either stay just one or two nights (however long my batteries last), or relocate to a less idyllic spot where there is electric. Where I’ll stop at next is anyones guess, but it will be in the direction of Bergerac for sure. ‘Castelmoron’ sounds like an interesting place! I wonder how it got its name? Maybe I’ll find out if I go there?

Now I am about 10 feet from the bank. I’m expecting a lot of mosquitos tonight. I’ve run out of insect repellent so this could be a real problem. When I’m sleeping I can zip up my inner tent so no mosquitos can get in but it gets really hot in there especially now I’m out of the mountains.

A taste of things to come... this is the dinner of the future. 6 days into the future to be precise! I wonder what it’s gonna taste like?

Rummaging around in my toiletries bag I find a small jar of tiger balm I bought in Malaysia. This is supposed to help with the itch once you’ve been bitten. However it’s pretty potent stuff. I makes my eyes water just opening the jar, imagine what it must do to a tiny insect. I reckon a light smearing of this on my exposed regions should keep any mostique well away. It’s worth a try. And theres always the ‘vin rouge’. Jacey used to swear by it!

So it is then, that I’m sat here on the bank, in this idyllic spot, just like when I first started, only this time, stinking to high heaven of petroleum jelly. I’m sat at my little table with my bottle of red wine and an empty plate which just a few minutes ago contained last of the Sausage Bolognese Curry. It is still light but the sun is low in the sky. A van drives over the bridge, the very same bridge that I did only a few hours before. A guy in the passenger seat, a young bloke with a gotae and shades spies the exact same spot that I did only a few hours before... only this time, with me in it! The view only lasts a fraction of a second, but it was enough time for him to yell out the open window “BON APETITE!” which trailed off as he went. “MERCI!” I shouted back. I had already finished my dinner, so I wondered; maybe the ‘appetite’ which is referred to is altogether a broader one than for food alone.

FIN