A Day on the River

Last Wednesday we drove to Bergerac to pick up Ellen, Ben and Wes, who arrived for a week's visit. We went early and spent an hour or so in Vieille Bergerac, the old part of the city. After a walking tour of the cobblestone streets, we went to the tiny airport for our reunion. From the moment we picked them up, it's been a nonstop adventure that's been a lot of fun. There's been too much to put in a blog, or even two or three, but I'll give you one or two of the highlights.

On Saturday, at Carol's suggestion, Ben and I had a day on the Dordogne. Carol and Ellen drove us to the only canoe rental place still open in October. There are about a zillion canoe rentals (give or take a couple) to service vacationers in the summer. We drove down a one-lane dirt road toward the river and had to slow for an old couple on bicycles, carrying plastic bags with goods from the market. How quaint, we thought. It turns out that they were the proprieters of the canoe rental. We agreed on a meeting time later in the day, and Carol and Ellen went off for their own adventure with Wes. Ben and I paid our nineteen euros and climbed into a clunky old van that may have been used to drive downed American pilots to safety from Nazi interrogators once upon a time. The old man drove us fourteen kilometers to another single lane dirt road down to the river bank, where he gave us a funky (rhymes with clunky) fiberglass canoe, two paddles and a waterproof box for our lunch. (This canoe was not pretty, but it was serviceable. I think you could drop it off a cliff, retrieve it, and still paddle it without concern.) Then, we were off on our adventure.

I was in my element. It was like the Boundary Waters with chateaux along the way.

Ben took the bow, providing the muscle (and getting in the way of all my picturesque photos).

We worked hard, but were rewarded with wonderful sights, like the town of Beynac, with its chateau rising above the town. (Well, we didn't actually work hard; the current did most of the work. But we DID have to steer a little bit.)

Every bend in the river brought us a new wonder to behold. After a cold, foggy start, the day quickly warmed.

Somewhere around the midpoint of our journey - you don't pay attention to mile markers when you're drifting on the river, so we don't really know - we came to the stunning Castelnaud, which the five of us had toured the day before. It was time for lunch.

I was pleased to see that my son-in-law understands the finer points of French dining.

I did, however, have to point out to him that one holds the bottle in the LEFT hand.

Fortified with lunch, we set out to continue our journey. It was important that we not be late for our rendez-vous with Ellen and Carol and Wes. We stopped for directions.

The locals were very helpful. After they reassured us that if we kept drifting with the current we'd be fine, we decided to show our gratitude by boosting the local economy. I wanted to boost the economy with another beer, but Ben reminded me of our rendez-vous, so we were off.

We had agreed on a 3:30 rendez-vous. (Notice how I keep throwing in that French word. I'm getting really good.) We rounded a bend in the river and saw the canoe rental place. I looked at my watch. 3:29! We picked up our paddles; I mean we adjusted our strokes so that we would touch shore at precisely the right moment. A successful end to a successful journey.

Next blog: We walk right off the map!