Caravans,troglodytes and explosives

Ok so I've finally recovered after our epic drive south of Paris. We collected our brand new lease citroen from near the airport and headed off after a quick instruction on the how to use the gps. Of course, however, it's all French so we battled it for a while and head off. Three wrong turns, a triple spin around a roundabout and a quick growing of a few extra grey hairs we finally left the airport and onto the elaborate freeway system. Through Paris and finally out into the countryside. Easy! All this in a car with the steering wheel on the wrong side and everyone driving on the wrong side....
Our trip should have taken around 6 hours but due to a major accident on the A20 it took around 9. Then we had to locate our accommodation which is in an unmapped town called Baran. Fortunately our accom owner was very understanding and speaks English, he directed us and we finally located the town square.



Welcome to the thriving metropolis of Baran. A historic village that's lanes were never meant for cars.


And yes I did meet a car coming the other way, a jiggly manoeuvre ensued which they appeared quite accustomed to.
We followed our host Olivier to his property and to our home for the next week.
Taadaa!
Said it was going to surprise you!



It's an original American airstream he imported and restored. There is another behind and to the right is the pool.



Once we settled in we went off exploring the Dordogne region which is thought to be one of the cradles of humanity. It has many prehistoric sights with cave paintings dating back to early man. The archaeologist in me has awoken!
Tomorrow we are hoping to see some. You have to get up early and join the queue to get one of the 52 tickets issued per day. I'll let you know how we go.
One of the first things on the agenda was the local Sunday farmers market where we bought fresh ham,cheese,olives, tomatoes,bread and this amazing nougat! You buy it on thickness and this very lovely and funny fellow carves it off for you.






I can tell you, it was to die for and the market was wonderful. All fresh organic produce straight from the growers and makers. I'm completely converted. No more supermarket rubbish.
Over the following days we travelled to a couple of medieval villages. I can tell you every village is beautiful I just can't capture it. But here's a couple of snaps.








We also visited a ancient cave site and troglodyte village which remained occupied till 1966. This place was four stories high and each level accessed with rope ladders and steps cut in the stone. A rock climbers paradise.












The caves go deep into the rock and these walkways stick out, freaked Susie out a bit but all very safe. I'm sure the original occupants just walked about like it was nothing.

Now the explosives part!
Olivier has a lovely property and we have been visited by birds and deer today. The local farmers hunt the deer but Olivier doesn't so they know his property to be safe, however not so much can be said for the local moles! Olivier has tried traps with no luck and this one is busy tearing holes all around the pool, so Olivier has resorted to explosives. He places this contraption in the hole, if the moles comes scratching around......Bang! We heard it go the other day however it appears to have outsmarted the explosive and new holes have appeared. Mole 1, Olivier 0.

Location:In the South of France