Wednesday 16th May 2012

Today started with a huge sleep in until 8:18am and then somehow the feet managed to get onto the floorboards around 10:00 heures. As we planned to walk to Fleurac today and any other unknown destination via previously undiscovered laneways and byways we though that just buying everything of the SHOPI woulod suffice. Well we discovered after making our lunch and having their croissants for breakfast that all croissants and bread is not equal. From now on its back to the Artisan Boulongerie for us. 

Fully provisioned we set off on our walk via the path we discovered yesterday that went past the fat chickens and the two storey high rooster and we ended up soon in unfamiliar territory that lead us the countryside Peugot garage in fmiliar territory. With the help of local knowledge we retraced and finally found the D31 route to Fleurac. Once again so much variation in scenery and flora along the way cursing over the top of the hill with distant villages and hamlets the other side of deep valleys. There were many forests and woodlots and fields of wildflowers and orchads. After 3 km we spotted our destination with its signature Chateau standing atop the hill. Before we arrived we passed through the hamlet of lafrage which consisted of one house with rooms either side of the road. Amazing! The village was very quiet and incredibly neat and ancient. No one we spoke to knew how old the Church was but it was at least 600 years old. The Chateau was private and so no chance of a look. However the Auberge du Coq was open(being the only business in village) and we partook of hot chocolates and magnificent deserts. The English speaking proprietor was lovely and we arranged to return for lunch next week once we got our hire car from Bordeaux. She explained how she makes the foie gras right on the premises and uses the duck fat to fry eggs or potatoes. Guy was swooning on the floor by the end of this.

The walk back unveiled more delights including two dead end trailsto Les Mazeaux that ended up at people's houses/barns for the lack of maintenance of the walking paths. Delightful just the same. We also spotted another hillside village in the distance, Plazac, and put this on the list of must walk to places this week. Having added a couple of km to the walk urged us to get home before expiration and we gladly took time to direct a man with deliveries to a road we had passed this morning - great to have local knowledge eh? In turn we got ambushed by a local of a hamlet who wanted someone to chat to and we exhanged banter whilst creating a traffic jam whilst we spoke in the middle of the road. He continued on later in the middle of the road and we finally arrived back at Les Paschauds and dropped onto the lounge chairs. We discovered our kind hosts had left us some Bordeaux and some jam that Karen made from the cherry trees outside the door in appreciation at putting up with the renovations of the other half of the gite for the couple arriving today. Well it wasn't long after preparing dinner and preparing for the al-fesco dinning before we met them, Mavis and Gus from British Columbia, Canada. Within 30 seconds we had joined forces with their cheeses and Normandy sausages and our fruits and the party was on. This lasted 2 hours and then terminated suddenly because their favourite TV show was on and our night walk beckoned. The return trip discovered a pizza van in the market square and around 50 folk in the local bar. We missed the main event for the day but it didnt matter as the Fleurac walk holds promise of gastronomical 5 course local cuisine for around 19Euro next week.