Castelnaud and we learn about navigating the countryside.

Have I mentioned the view from the kitchen and dining room windows? There was some morning mist. I took a couple of pictures of it.

Slightly different angle from the dining room. That's the Dordogne river in the
valley. On the far side of the river is an old village called Turnac. Gijs says it's
 all 400+ year old houses at the end of a dead end road. He has friends there. He
 says the novelty of walking into a 400 year old village and being greeted by
friends never wears off.

After our usual leisurely breakfast, chicken visit and so on, we fired up the Duster and headed for a village called Castelnaud-la-Chapelle where there is a fairly big restored castle.
Our adventures in criss crossing the French countryside is where where our love-hate relationship with Louise really came into its own. Louise is the GPS in the car. She sometimes gives ambiguous instructions that don't tell you what you really need to know when faced with odd shaped intersections. Other times she's chosen what looks like a track through 2 foot high weeds that appears barely passable by tractor. We assume she can't really mean it and so carry on only to be scolded by "RECALCULATING". Despite having set her up to take the fastest route, whcih we assumed meant focusing on major routes, I think she does her calculations using the 90km/h default speed limit for all roads outside commune limits. So if there is a cart track or boulder strewn mountain side path that is shorter than a main road, she'll choose that, assuming you will do the speed limit.

Like this! It was steep and paved with loose fist-sized rocks such that if we'd
stopped I'm not sure we'd have had enough traction to get moving uphill again.

We had a fairly detailed map of the local area. In the days before GPS I suppose one would look it over carefully and makes notes of where to turn and so on. However we did find that even the map was missing some of the roads. So if you had decided to take the third left but there was an extra road in there... Anyway, it was all an adventure. I don't think Alex really liked the roads although I found them fun to drive. I often noticed her gripping the armrest with whitish knuckles.

You can bet if the French think it's a Traversée Dangereuse, it will be!

The shortcut (longcut?) up past the airfield. Many roads like this one. At least
here you can see other cars coming with enough time to react. 

Another thing about dear Louise is that she's picky about what she lets you search for. For example she shows Lieu-dit-Lagrenie (where we're staying) on her map as we approach, but a search for Lagrenie gives you nothing. We always had to navigate towards Groléjac, the nearest town. Then if we recognized one of the back roads on the way it was a little bonus.

Once you get closer to a village of pretty much any size, you start to see signs at intersections pointing the way. If there are no signs, it means you don't want that road. So we finally started to see signs for Castelnaud and arrived shortly after. The first part of the castle was built in the 12th century. From there it was added to, occupied by both French and English at various times,and then largely abandoned after the revolution. In rough shape during the 19th century, it deteriorated further while being used as a stone quarry by the locals. It has since been restored. More info here. There is a very good self guided tour through the castle and highlighting medieval warfare and weapons. Again, most of the plaques are in French but they lend you an English guide book to follow along with.

Chateau Castelnaud looking down over Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.

The Chateau from down in the village where the
commoners lived.

Tableau with creepy mannequin protecting the castle from the marauding
French. The walls in this tower were close to 2 metres thick and you can
see the little hole he had to shoot through. Looks to me like he had to
be quite accurate to not hit his own walls, let alone the enemy.

Crazy 12 barreled gun!

Also crazy, a giant crossbow. According to the plaque, at 200 metres it could
go through 3 people and still get stuck in a wooden door. 

Checking out the Dordogne river from the battlements.

The Dordogne looking off the other way. Lovely view, but have I mentioned
what we see out our kitchen window?

A trio of siege engines, all of the flinger variety but none operational.

We did get to a see a 1/3 scale trebuchet
being fired.

The children try to move the stone shot for the big trebuchet.

Medieval knights. Happy ones.

More medieval knights. Notice the scowl
as they prepare for attack.

After the castle, we made our way towards home, stopping in a village called La Roque-Gageac for dinner. La Roque-Gageac is a beautiful little village built on narrow strip between the cliffs and the Dordogne river. There are a series of caves up in the cliffs, some of which show evidence of prehistoric occupation. The first known occupation was the Normans around 850. From then on locals have used the cliff caves as living space and protection from invasions. Fortifications were built using the cliffs as well. Here and in other cliffs in the area, houses were built right into the cliff walls. It's pretty fascinating.

A house built into the cliff wall (not my picture).

La Roque-Gageac from the water (my picture but from a later adventure).
Notice the caves up behind the village and the rickety wooden staircase leading
up (click the picture to embiggen). I had thought we could come back to visit
the caves but apparently they closed them after a rock fall in 2003 or something.

The church looking up from the village. See the picture below for a closer view
of the walls built to enclose some of the caves, presumably to make them
more habitable. 

Above the church.

The village from the east end with a minor castle in the background. I looked
it up. Castle Martrie or something. Completed in 1920 but skillfully made
to look old. Enough said!