Pulling into the parking lot of the Chateau, it began to dawn on us that Chenonceau was on a much larger scale than any of the other places we’d visited. D estimated there to be a good 300 cars parked, having arriving from all over France, as well as Great Britain, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Switzerland at the very least. Slightly daunted, we had a little picnic of cheese and bread along the moat before entering the madness.

We lazily lingered over our bread before heading back into the house and readying ourselves for the day. Today, we would hit our first chateau of the Loire, the Chateau de Villandry, known for its ornate gardens. We set out on our drive; it was only about 20 minutes or so away, so we were able to amble and enjoy the drive along the river.

On the docket for the day was Rocamadour, apparently the second-most visited site in France after Mont St-Michel (which we visited on our last trip to France). Traffic was relatively light, probably because it was Sunday, so we whizzed through increasingly winding roads, with more than a few hairpins, much to David’s delight. We kept driving up and up, and the drop offs next to the road kept increasing, until we were driving along the top of a ridge.

As it was David’s birthday, we planned to stay in town and, as he gracefully put it, “eat our faces off”. First things first, we went off in search of coffee, and we actually came across a little café that looked eerily like a few coffee shops back home (something like a Blenz).

Making our way out of town was only partially impeded by some road works that were rather obnoxiously holding up traffic. We made the fairly short drive to La Roque-Gageac, a picturesque town wedged between an imposing cliff and the Dordogne river. We stopped for a few refreshments before hopping on a gabarre (essentially a replica of an 18th century river barge) for a tour up the river.

We took some small, meandering country roads southeast, in the general direction of Perigueux. As always, the endless miles of green fields and clusters of old farmhouses made for a picturesque drive. It wasn’t long before we were entering the outskirts of Perigueux.

We planned our modest route for the day, which started off with finding the duck farm that we purchased our little can of foie gras from at the market in Tocane-St-Apre on Monday. The lady had given us a little flier with a map on it, so we thought we’d swing by to pick up some more. We opted to take a road we hadn’t yet travelled, and it turned out to be yet another picturesque road, with plentiful vistas of farmsteads and rolling hills.

Perhaps one of the most enjoyable things about being in France is the plentiful and cheap access to bread and cheese. We snacked on fresh fruit and cheese while we readied ourselves for the day. It was going to be a fairly quiet day, as we only planned on going to Brantôme (“the Venice of the Perigord”).

We awoke to the quiet of being in the middle of the countryside. We shuffled downstairs and decided on foregoing getting ready for the day and just heading out to the market to stock up on our fresh produce and meat for the evening’s meal. The area’s daily market was held in Tocane-St-Apre, just 15 minutes to the south.

We toured through the narrow, picturesque roads, northeast towards Perigueux, stopping by the side of the road occasionally to take pictures of the landscape. Perigueux was a larger town, and we wandered around looking for a parking spot nearer to the centre. We parked for free, likely because it was Sunday, and walked towards the main cathedral. It was an imposing structure, with large domed spires, that had similar leanings as Sacre Coeur in Paris (same architect).

David was simply overjoyed to be driving again, particularly in a manual little diesel car. We headed eastward towards the town of Bergerac, admiring the vineyards and rolling hills along with the gorgeous sunshine. Bergerac is situated right on the Dordogne river, and it is a darling town full of half-timbered houses and of course several statues of the infamous Cyrano de Bergerac.