17/5/2012 PLAZAC

Plazac was our destination today, after consulting the weather forcast and tomorow was to be rainy and today fine, we decided today was the walking day. First we headed down the secret path to the village for our daily visit to the Boulangerie, the bells had been blazing all morning and the shop was cleaned out!!! It's Ascension and a holiday for the afternoon, and after an explanation of why we were so late compared to our normal ritual, we managed to scrounge 2 pain de chocolats. We also had a chat to our friendly elderly friend, who complained about all his ailments after we explained that we were to set out on foot to Plazac. Plazac is 6km from us, and downhill for most of the first part. Very different and pretty according to local knowledge, though the road is much busier and we had to jump aside more frequently. At one point we walked past La Boulanchie which consisted of two large houses built in a mews style either side of the bitumen road only 7 metres apart.

Eventually we came to a (another) cross along the road at the bottom of the valley and a kindly driver stopped and enquired if we were hitch-hiking and offered us a lift but we declined as it was not much further. The village Plazac was very different again, the main road was on the lower side of the hill as were some of the shops (mainly the post office, boulangerie, toilet, school, mayor's office and cafe/tabac)and some houses ,then alongside the hill going up the houses were perched one street after another with the 12th Century Church and cemetery at the top. The lanes were so cute and the stone houses so ancient. All this we discovered after we had refreshments at the cafe, once again we timed it to perfection able to secure pannini's for lunch, which we enjoyed on the terrace along the main road. It was a busy little hive at that time, we spotted 2 tractors; 3 motorhomes; various cars with strange loads( ie vegetation out of poking out between doors; the parking was sideways, in the side street up a steep hill leading up to the Church; locals were dressed as old hippies (we learned later that it was once visited by the Dala Lama and now had a big Buddist centre). There was one other little cafe up one little street with a veranda and a lot of loud items for sale.

Eventually we exhausted our camera batteries and headed home and sighted a very colourful and dead snake on the road, which would have been about 1 m long. We took a different lane to go home which went through part of a forest and was isolated for most part - at least no dodging cars and having our hearing deafened by les chien(dogs). We saw boar tracks in a forest that was at the top of the ridge and this place resembled something out an Australian pine plantation and lots of signs (which were really everywhere) for mushrooms gathering by locals only. Some fields and lots of gorgeous views of surrounding hills. Some more ancient homes also. I guess that we signed up for coming here as the history is incredible and right out of another time. We came out at the same road to Fleurac we were on yesterday, past the same little hamlet with menacing dog who was really just a tough labrador behind a fence doing his job. So we got to see Les Mazeaux which in fact was the hamlet that had the menacing dog sign yesterday.

Straight home for a brief shower and rest. Our neighbours were home and invited us for more cheese, we made Raclette for them as they had the potatoes. They never had raclette before and we ended up helping then eat their fresh asparagus and fried onions. Steve came by with one of his new micro hens which will be laying eggs in several months time. No eggs on this visit to Les Paschauds! Our neighbours started to feel the cold so we farewelled the dinner table and headed out for a night walk to the village and on the way watched the lightning from the approaching storm.