Wonderful Eyment Again

Tuesday 5th June

So nice to be back; and this time with warm pleasant weather, such a change from Easter, where it was cold, windy and full of rain.  We camped on the way down near Blois, and there was a thunderstorm overnight, but it was thirty degrees during the day, and we swam in the heated pool.  Just like summer, I thought, which of course it almost is, though these early June weeks can catch you out.  It was quite a long drive and we made the error of trying to run through Paris, a big mistake as every Parisien was trying to escape and the peripherique was blocked most of the way.   Still as we headed South and hit the Dordogne, all of those pleasant memories came back to us.   I was especially struck by all the vineyards, the old stock was just stumps back in April, and now they were covered in green leaves and tendrils growing up to the wires, can’t wait to see them in midsummer and then again heavy with fruit in October.   The gently rolling hills sweeping down to the rivers, and even the few houses dotted around seem sympathetic to the landscape, with their orange tiled roofs and light stone walls.  This part of France seems particularly untouched by the modern world, one imagines that viniculture has been going on for hundreds of years, and though there are now roads and traffic, it seems less intrusive than in much of England, where vast fields and disappearing hedgerows have changed the way the countryside looks from even fifty years ago, let alone hundreds.  And Eymet herself is quite beautiful in the sunshine, such a contrast to the rainy London.  We have just walked around in the sunshine in shirts and shorts, had a Monaco and glass of wine in Café de Paris and are now watching brave London in the pouring rain as the flotilla of boats goes down the Thames. So sad for you all.