france

La Roque-Gageac

Jenny Harlen

03 Apr 2025 — 2 min read

So I’m leaving my cute little village in the cliff, La Roque-Gageac, and have driven all of 10km to a new village with a castle, Montfort

I was planning to bike here yesterday but it was a rain day so I stayed in, used the washing machine and the wifi, and drove here instead. The countryside is lovely, it would have been a good ride

There’s a castle here with a story, if I have the right Montfort. Simon and his brother, the de Montforts, were all over the place in the early 1200s, crusading in the name of religion

But I just saw a cafe that is actually open, so that will be step one…

Chinon: so many stories!

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

The shopping street in a cave

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

Trogdo villages

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

Eleonore and co at Fontevraud

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.

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Chinon: so many stories!

The shopping street in a cave

Trogdo villages

Eleonore and co at Fontevraud