We just spent a few glorious weeks in France. We started and ended in Bordeaux, where we saw a rainbow and I tried escargot for the first time. Not bad. For the next two weeks, I ate so much duck, I may start quacking.

During the first week, we hiked through the rural Dordogne hilltops. Our walk began in the village of Meyssac, where we walked a roundabout loop in the hills, in the pouring rain, to the adjacent town of Colognes au Rouge.

Many of the towns we visited were considered “Les plus beaux villages de France”. The most beautiful French villages, which is an official status. It is a tourism scheme to attract visitors to what are some of the most beautiful villages I have ever seen. Some seem real. Others, not so much, more like Disneyland, according to my partner in crime, Tim. To qualify, towns must be rural, with less than 2000 inhabitants, have at least two historic sites, and agree to some marketing terms.

The buildings in the the Colognes au Rouge, are red, just like the name implies; built from the local red sandstone. We walked through an apple orchard, to get to it, which provided a tasty snack.

The fuzzy image is because we used a high tech baggie to keep the camera, which was also our GPS, dry. Remarkably, this was our only day it rained steadily our whole trip.

We were looking forward to lots of baguettes and pastries, but didn’t expect to find them Automat style, in a vending machine. We passed.

This was not the only food we found in vending machines. A few towns sold pizza this way. Again we passed.

Next we had a whirlwind ride to another Plus Beau Village, Curemont. We spent an hour walking around the town, where it seemed more inhabited and real. Then we headed off to Beaulieu sur Dordogne, beautiful place on the Dordogne River.

We followed a cattle drive for a small portion of our walk.

We arrived at the village from an old cobble path in the woods. I imagined a cobblestone street but it was now merely a rocky path.

We were excited to see there was a municipal pool along the river, but when we got there, we found it closed. C’est la vie. The river was lovely, people were fly fishing and we watched a swarm of something for a while. Made me think of home and hope that my bees did not swarm while we travelled.

Then we were off to Carennac, we walked through walnut and plum orchards on the way. Good snacking.

This was another beautiful village which felt lived in, there was an art exhibit, a lovely church and bridges over the town and river.

After a swim in the pool and a relaxing evening, we headed out to our final walking destination, Loubressac. It took us a while to adjust to store and restaurant hours in France and we had a few walks without lunch because we would arrive in a village at just the wrong time.

Tim was so dismayed when we found a 1950’s style expensive tourist trap for lunch, it brought a tear to his eyes. I didn’t care, I wasn’t missing another lunch on a long walk!

Loubressac may have been my favorite stop on the walk. It was a bustling old village. School was in session. In session may be used loosely. There is either no school or only half a day on Wednesdays and the kids always seemed to be in recess. I read that the cafeteria serves a three course hot lunch, just like many of the restaurants.

It was here Tim became a little obsessed with the architecture of rural french toilettes.

You can see why. It was also here we started to notice how people travel and transport their pets. We were in a 3 star hotel and each night a couple would walk in with their two dogs, armed also with dog beds and proceed to set them up for dinner, complete with scraps from the table. And they barked! We saw pets pushed in strollers, pulled behind bikes in crates and worn like backpacks. Hmmm.

I was drawn to this house because it looked like a face and then I saw the basketball hoop. While we were away, my bird camera caught subtle northern lights in the Adirondacks.

Subtle, but I confirmed it was pitch black on other nights at this time. We’re further south in France at 40 degrees latitude and haven’t been in the path of the light display.

All told we hiked about 44 miles through the hilltop villages of the Dordogne and a good time was had by all. Our bags were transferred every day and we only had to carry a day pack. The only way I will go these days. Then we had another whirlwind transfer from Loubressac to Souillac, where we picked up bikes and headed off for the next part of our adventure.

I’ll score this the way I do my golf game, which includes strokes, lost balls and broken tees. Mileage covered:45; injuries: none; lost items: 1 bra left draped over a lamp (merely to dry, not for ambience). Overall a great trip.