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Day 5
Day 5
We made an earlier start and by fair means and foul and the GPS worked our way up to the south of Limoges which we skirted around to head for Oradour-sur-Glane. This is the village martyred by the German SS who slaughtered nearly every one of its 690 men, women and children, and then torched it. In a remarkable act of remembrance the village was left exactly as it stood in 1944 and you can walk around this piece of history and wonder at man's inhumanity to man. When we visited it there were few tourists there and in the peace and tranquillity it was impossible not to be touched by the scene.
Oradour sur Glane
From Oradour-sur-Glane we followed the D9 and then the D675 to rejoin the N147 at Bellac. Many of the roads in this region look as if they have been drawn on the map with a ruler and the only reason you cannot see from one end to the other is the hills in between. Time to wear out the centre of my tyres and wish I had a Throttlemeister cruise control so I could rest my right arm as well as my left.
Around Poitiers and onwards to Loudun and eventually to Fontevraud l'Abbaye . The hotel I had earmarked as being worthy of our attention lay behind closed doors - massive wooden ones set in a stone gate and the contact with the concierge was by intercom.
"Avez-vous deux chambres avec douche pour ce soir, s'il vous plait."
"Non" came the reply, they only had one room with a double bed. Much as I like Alan I draw the line at some things, besides which he snores as loudly as I do so it would be a toss up who kept whom awake.
However, having switched into observant mode before entering Fontevraud, I had noticed another hotel about 2 kilometres beforehand. So back we went.
What we found could only be described as a 'golf and country club' with a very well appointed 2 star hotel
attached - Domaine
Saint-Hilaire. The buildings reminded me of various military establishments I have visited so
I enquired about the history. It transpired that the place was a 19th century equivalent of a young offender's institute and the accommodation was in the officer's quarters - most intriguing. So Alan and I were in a juvenile's prison - how
appropriate!
Domaine Saint-Hilaire
Again we enjoyed good food and wine, we had been really spoilt up until now so it was not surprising that although the repast was of a high standard it was not quite a match for those we had enjoyed further south although an excellent Saumur helped to compensate.
We retired early hoping to get an early start the following morning.
That evening I received a mobile phone call from a friend, who had lost our home number, and was ringing to say that my wife's mother had been taken seriously ill. I phoned Susie (my wife) back in the UK and informed her. She was on her way to her mother's immediately and I set about thinking how I could get back to England faster.
Distance travelled 181 miles
Index | Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | References