Woke to a police woman collecting money for the aire, 5€ so
great value again although the toilet was awful with no seat etc. Left in the morning to go to Supermarket at
Sarlat-en-Caneda, a medieval town that the guide book says is great. It was heaving when we went through – the Sat
Nav has a dodgy lead so we ended up going through the centre and this was a mistake! We found a shop selling camping stuff – not a
great range still though, no idea where French people but their camping stuff
from. Chris got 2 folding chairs, probably
not going to be good enough but better than nothing as my chair also broke last
night!! Found a municipal campsite on
internet last night to stay at tonight so can shower again hopefully!
But before
we found this we chose to visit the Gouffre de Proumeyssac, the second biggest
underground chamber in the Perigord region.
Bought tickets and audio headsets for during the tour. We somehow managed to get on the wrong tour
but the nice guide sorted us out –could have been due to Seren wetting herself
in the queue and Chris having to taker her back to Flo to change!! We walked down a tunnel into the cave but it
wasn't lit so we didn't really know we’d arrived. They turned off all the lights then began by
lighting the ceiling shaft where the original explorers entered the cave. There was a new basket following the original route that you could pay to
go in – we didn’t fancy it!!! Music
played to build the atmosphere and gradually the whole cave lit up – it was amazing!! Water enters the cave in 4 places and where
it drips it has created 4 magnificent shaped calcium formations; they are named
Jellyfish, Waterfall, Octopus, and the Mermaid.
We then walked down some steps to the bottom of the cave, it is called
the crystal cathedral because the hundreds of stalactites and stalagmites that
look like a cathedral organ, the roof is a perfect dome just like a
church. Under the dripping water they
have put pottery and after a year they become covered in the crystallised
minerals from the water, very pretty!!
The water in the pools is surprisingly warm and said to be drinkable. Lastly we climbed into a tunnel behind the
main cavern and saw triangle shaped crystals forming in the pools – apparently
they need very specific conditions to form like this and are very rare. Kids really loved it – as did we.
Left after lunch to travel to campsite in
Cazoules. This site wasn’t great – it was on banks
of river Dordogne but was quite wooded so mosquitoes everywhere. Unhelpful, French woman on reception and no
English people on whole site! Not great facilities near us – Chris’ shower was
awful….But, there was a pool so I took
the kids in, Morgan’s first time in a pool I think! – got them all jumping in
and splashing confidently, they loved it. The boys also played table tennis which Evan loved. Millions of bites before bed so not going to
stay another night. Cost 19€.
Left after lunch to travel to campsite in
Cazoules. This site wasn’t great – it was on banks
of river Dordogne but was quite wooded so mosquitoes everywhere. Unhelpful, French woman on reception and no
English people on whole site! Not great facilities near us – Chris’ shower was
awful….But, there was a pool so I took
the kids in, Morgan’s first time in a pool I think! – got them all jumping in
and splashing confidently, they loved it. The boys also played table tennis which Evan loved. Millions of bites before bed so not going to
stay another night. Cost 19€.