Need for speed!

Up early for Paul. Sneaking down the loft ladder, then creeping out the very creaky door, I followed ours host's tips to get to neighbouring Rocamadour. Once I left the quaint stone village or Rignac, it was all narrow lanes, lined with tumbling rock walls through rolling hills and greenery. A few cars to duck off the road for, but unlike Australia, you arent seen as a target..... The rain sprinkled until I got the the end of the road and was welcomed at the next town with a majestic view over the valley to Rocamadour. One of those crazy places built right into a steep rocky hill, with the church/fort built at the top. Postcard heaven!! Toook a few snaps then turned back so I wasn't late for breakfast. Along the way came across a massive French snail making a 'dash' across the road. That thing was huge!!!!

Countryside is mostly rolling hills, occasional patched of forect and very occasional farmhouse or mansion. Middle of nowhere kind of feel... then you come back into the very small village and back to our overnighter. A quick shower, then up to the main house to be welcomed by Maude and Jean Luc. We were ushered into the adjoining sunroom that looks out over the back yard (And the workmen building the stone extension. Lots of what we saw generally was traditional building... by the local 'atrisans' as they called them. The table was set with a huge spread of food - from freshly baked bread just out of the oven, to all sorts of local treats including chocolates, jams etc etc. Absolutely delicious!

Jean Luc came and sat with us to talk of the local area (They had only moved there later in life), his grown up family (Working for Airbus and Swatch) and the goings on of the local town (The ex-mayor managing to bypass the local building rules..) and on to education (Former teacher) etc etc. Would loved to have stayed for longer...but we had some travelling to do, and sights to see... One of which had suddenly become the Airbus factory where his daughter worked (As an engineer) which was in the next major city - Toulouse. We reluctantly packed our bags and took a few quick pics of the amazing building and surrounds, then drove 100m into the heart of the village to plan our day. First stop - Rocamadour - the hillside city I had run up to. Acting like the local tour guide along the way, Yvonne got to find out about all the snails, rocks, fenceposts and hidden secrets I had discovered hours before. Highlight of her day!!

The view overlooking Rocamadour is just stunning. There are parking bays all along the top, and we found ourselves jumping in the car...stopping to take some more....jumping in the car....stopping... Eventually we decided to head left and down the impressive looking zig zag, which came back on itself to almost bump into Rocamadour itself. One of the hairpin bends was impressive (Rock walls all around) and it was hard enough in a small car - Later in the morning we watched a tour bus do a 50 point turn to get around it....

We explored up and down through the tourist shop lined cobbled street, then up heaps of steps into the church and forts towards the top. For 1 euro you could go out onto the ramparts and look down over the town. Surprisingly scary.... Yvonne lasted about 3 seconds. A few hours of exploring that small town later, we grabbed a quick bite then headed back down to the car parked in the forest. Passed through a massive school group that were preparing to head up, so we were glad to be going the other way...

Lots of windy, narrow, zig zag rods until Broccoli got us to the Tollway. Zipping along at 130 you dont absorb much, but there was only green to be seen anyway. Target was the Aero Museum. Its rioght next door to the Airbus Factory, but we tried too late for that. Booked weeks in advance. The Aero museum looked good anyway - One Concorde parked outside, and we knew one was inside we could clamber through. The museum was very impressive - highlights being wandering through an airbus 330 that was set up as a private jet (we wish!!), le Concorde, and quite a few other exhibits. We had hoped to get to the plane junkyard museum next door, but stayed too long at the Aero one. We had a deadline for the accommodation (Meeting the owner outside) so scooted to the other side of Toulouse through the peak hour traffic....which was fine with a SatNav (heaps of one way, narrow, cobbled streets....)...only to be thwarted by yet another instant police roadblock just in front of us. We took randon streets with lots of others in the general direction we wanted to go, and din't do too bad a job of it. Arrived at the apartment a few minutes early and sat down outside..... and sat down.... and waited... and waited..... No phone to call, so I left Yvonne there and wandered down into town to find free weefee.... Managed at least to get a text off, the host guessed what we'd done. We were sitting at 29bis, but she was 29. Next door. 29bis is 29B.

Anyway - once inside the small apartment we were in heaven. Every amenity, including washing machine/dryer, so we thanked our host, loaded the washer, then took off into the town for supplies. Carrefour supermarket had all we needed, including the cheap port we'd found, and a bunch of cheese, baguette, fruit and desert, we turned the unti into a drying room for a few loads of washing. Cranked up the heat, and Yvonne wrote notes, Paul watched the movie Twister - totally in French. At least I knew the plot....

The apartment was great - all the right gear at just the right time (We'd almost run out of clothes, and wanted to be ready for the upcoming cruise). The town looked nice and the area we were in was well serviced (Trams, tubes, shops, restaurants and heaps of people...but we were plain tired...) Sleep!