France, Dordogne
And because the world is pretty damn shit, I’m going up this hill to see this château. There’s a siege I want to know about, 1213. Cathars, templar knights, popes, counts, crossbows, kings, traitors and heresy
Everything except a group chat
Did the good guys win? Not sure which were the good guys in this case. And sometimes its a case of losing the battle and winning the war. Or vice versa
I biked up to Chinon in the sun, stopped for a quiet café on the square, parked up Selma the bike by the drawbridge, and strolled on in. Meh…not such a grand chateau as the others here on the Loire, I thought, just a few crumbled towers on a
This came as a complete surprise, Selma the e-bike and I were just biking along the river back to the van and took a back way because the road along the Loire was a bit narrow. And suddenly found ourselves ducking through arches and tunnels, our path took us through
Selma and I are out exploring, and look what we found! Lots of these houses, shops, garages dug into the cliffside. They call them trogdolyte dwellings, for some reason that makes me think of Shrek. Actually it just means houses in caves. We’ve just stopped at a troglodyte cafe
Mission accomplished! I found the three powerbrokers of the 12th century! Eleonore, Henry, Richard. Plus a daughter-in-law, the wife of John. Eleonore of Aquitaine was one hell of a woman, she was married to two kings, father of three kings, and her daughters were married into crowns of their own.