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SEEING THE NEW YEAR IN WITH A DIFFERENCE
Anne and Adrian French travel to the Dordogne in winter
Every New Year we try to get away in our caravan. We used to go away with colleagues to various campsites and prepare excellent meals which we ate in the awning, heated of course. This tradition went on for many a year,
Gradually, for various reasons, the group diminished until the original tradition was no longer feasible. Since then we have done our own thing, in the caravan of course.
This year Caravan Safari Holidays, in conjunction with the Caravan Club, was running “A French Christmas to Remember" based at Les Tailladis, a pleasant campsite near the beautiful medieval city of Sarlat deep in the Dordogne area of France. The holiday ran from Monday 22nd December until Monday 5th January, but due to having a new grandchild we felt that we could not join them until 27 December.
This was discussed and agreed with Caravan Safari Holidays so we duly left our Warwickshire home at around 4 pm to travel to Portsmouth to catch the Brittany Ferries "MV Mont St Michel”, their latest ship to date. This ship, which was built in Holland, is a very pleasant, luxurious vessel and at 34/000 tons is a fair size.
The 'duty free' shop somewhat amazed us by its size, with a vast stock of virtually everything that you could want and at what seemed to be reasonable prices.
The food on Brittany Ferries is excellent, although having opted to eat breakfast in the restaurant we did have to wait rather a long time to be fed.
We were sailing to Caen this time, the first time we had tried this route, and found it very pleasant. The French Customs, however, were checking all passports so a large queue built up and we did not leave the dock area until 08.30.
As we were starting this holiday late, we decided not to take our own caravan but arrange to stay in one of the site's holiday caravans, which meant that with no caravan we could travel a tad faster.
Subaru had kindly loaned us the very latest Subaru Legacy 2.5 litre Outback. Surely a better car would be hard to find.
The flat boxer engines of the Subarus have not been renowned for their low fuel consumption but we were assured that the latest version of the engines marked a great step forward in economy.
Suffice to say that during the 470 miles of our outward journey, with a car laden to the gunwales and travelling at the French maximum, we achieved a very creditable 34.3 mpg. This was with an automatic gearbox and mixed motorway and N roads.
We arrived at Camping Les Tailladis near Marcillac-St Quentin at around 17.00 having had a totally uneventful journey although strangely the roads were a great deal busier than when we used them in the summer.
After a quick glass of wine we were taken to the holiday caravan that was to be our home for the next eight days. The site owners, anxious that we would not be cold, had provided extra heating so we were very comfortable. Let into the hillside above the touring pitches the water drained well and while we had relatively dry ground, it was not so good down below.
By the time we had unloaded the car and stacked everything away we were feeling somewhat peckish so we went down to the site's rather nice restaurant. Here we met up with our friends from Caravan Safari Holidays and caught up with what had occurred from the beginning of the Holiday.
Phillip, Gillian, Alan and Jane, the organisers had their work cut out as there was forty couples so as you can imagine, they took a fair bit of organising.
The programme laid on for the campers was quite full and on our first day there was a superb barbecue with whole lambs being roasted, accompanied by a vast array of salads, bowls of chips and, naturally plenty of wine. The weather on this occasion was very seasonal, snow gently falling and frost on the ground. Needless to say, we partook of our food inside the camp restaurant.
Next day, the agenda was an 'Off the Beaten Track7 exercise which if we followed our tulip diagrams correctly took us to the car park of Lascaux II. This is a replica of a cave first discovered in 1940, with an abundance of 17,000 year old paintings. Well worth a visit.
For lunch we had to find the rather nice eating establishment called 'Lou Cantou' where we were supplied with an excellent lunch leaving people with very little room to spare for any other snacks.
After lunch it was time to get the route books out again to find our way to ‘La Roque St Christophe’. This is the rather spectacular cliff dwellings, a veritable township dating back thousands of years where a whole population survived and survived well and safely.
Then back to the car and the route map. Another somewhat tortuous route took us back to the campsite and the welcoming restaurant.
New Year's Eve was a leisure day until the Gala Dinner. The coaches arrived for us at 19.00 and the restaurant from which you could see five chateaux, took about an hour to reach.
The meal started, after drinks and canapés, at about 21.00 and actually carried on until 02.30. We were eating our way through nine courses all this time, in typically relaxed French fashion.
There was a live band supplying music for dancing and a number of the party joined in with enthusiasm. We all had a cracker which contained a variety of items, the most popular of which was a pea shooter with soft bullets, giving everyone the chance to really get into the mood.
The New Year was seen in by the British at least twice, once at midnight French time and once at midnight English time. All in all it was an excellent night in very congenial surroundings.
Needless to say, New Year's Day was taken by most of the party to be a time for relaxing and sleeping off the excesses of the previous evening.
Friday was our wine tasting trip to a Chateau in the Lot region near Cahors, a coach trip lasting about two hours. The weather on this trip was a little damp and cold but the wines in general were well worth the cold feet!
We were then driven to a pre-booked hotel in Cahors for yet another very pleasant lunch.
To round off the day we visited a small brewery that made the equivalent of our real ales, and very nice they were too.
We arrived back at the campsite at around 18.30 tired but with another very pleasant day behind us.
Saturday 3rd January was basically a rest day until mid-afternoon when we all gathered at the campsite restaurant for, of all things, pancakes smothered in hot cherries and ice cream. This being France it was accompanied by a glass or two or three of wine. Not being of a sweet toothed nature this was more of a social occasion than a ‘foodie’ experience for us, but as a pleasant chatty afternoon it was excellent.
Our penultimate date, 4th January, was a leisure day until the evening, so we took the opportunity to have a last ride around the country side to savour the sights until the next time. We even saw a wild boar for the first time!
The farewell dinner was held on the campsite and as around 20 people had already left, the dining room was not quite so crowded. Plenty of food, plenty of wine, and lots of jokes ensure that this last get together was a great success in every way.
We had taken the opportunity to ask just about everyone what they thought of the holiday and whether they had or were enjoying themselves. The answers were all in the affirmative, and we heard no complaints at all.
Monday 5th January was officially the end of the holiday and the outfits departed to their various destinations, some back to England and some in fact, were going on to Spain to spend the winter there, lucky people.
We also left the Dordogne early that morning to travel back to Caen for the night ferry. We did, in fact want to get to the 'Normandy Wine Warehouse' so that we could buy some special wine that they sell.
Our journey back through France was a reverse of the one going down, around 470 miles and virtually all of it was at 80 mph, so set cruise control and sit back. The Subaru behaved with its usual verve and good manners and we arrived at the dockside and the wine shop at around 17.00.
After filling the Outback, buying the wine and parking we had a look around the restaurants. The one we chose provided us with an excellent, leisurely evening meal before embarking once more on the Brittany Ferries superb "Mont St Michel'.
The weather and traffic in Portsmouth was what we have come to expect. Ugh!
The whole holiday was a total success, and everyone appeared to enjoy themselves immensely and next year's event has already been booked by some couples.
All the holidays organised by Caravan Safari Holidays are run in conjunction with the Caravan Club and can be arranged by them. Just call the travel service on 01342 316101 for full details.
As usual we found Brittany Ferries to be excellent, the food is absolutely first rate and the ship is very friendly.
We look forward to seeing you there next year.
Adrian H French
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