We had a few chores to get done today that worked well given that it was really windy and cloudy out. We drove into Sarlat and dropped the bikes off to get repaired so they would be in tip-top shape for our next biking adventure. The shop wasn't able to get them back to us till after 5 pm so we had the rest of the day to run other errands. We shopped for groceries at the nearby Leclerc and gave our camper a much needed wash. We had seen a lot of cars at the car washes in France and when we were washing ours, we learned why - it is illegal to wash your car at home because it wastes so much water. After about ten minutes, our car was looking shiny and new again and we drove off back to camp. We spent the afternoon in camp with some tea and walnut cake (from our market purchase) and around half past three, we headed back into Sarlat.

We finally happened upon a post office that was open in the afternoon and mailed off a slew of postcards. We then embarked on a short, self-guided walk through Sarlat. It was a lot quieter today without the market in town but it was still just as fun to wander through and we even recognized quite a few of the places throughout town that we had been at during our last trip. We went into the church for a quick visit and came out the right transept entrance and went around the back. The church was more impressive looking from the rear than the front because you could see it in its entirety. It was here that we also saw the Lantern of the Dead – a monument erected to commemorate the victims of the plague where one in four of Sarlat’s citizens perished. From there, we wandered around the narrow streets connecting us back to the main square and then eventually onto the Place d’Oie (Square of the Geese) with a really nice sculpture of a couple of geese. Geese are raised in plenty here in the Perigord region and are a large business, alongside walnuts and truffles.

On our way out of Sarlat, we picked up our bicycles and it turned out that in addition to our rubbing brakes, my brake pads had to be replaced because they were almost all worn out. I’m guessing that was from all the long descents we did back in France, which seems like an eternity ago. When we got back to camp, I immediately got on the phone with our travel insurance provider to see if we could make an extension. Now some of you may be aghast that we are extending but it was only for one day, so that we could avail some considerably cheaper airfares back home. We were luckily able to extend our policies by a day and once that was complete, we booked our tickets back to Vancouver for August 2^nd – exactly 365 days after having left. We were happy to have completed this but it meant that we now had to start thinking of the end of our trip in concrete terms. We have lots to look forward to when we return so we’re hoping the transition won’t be too difficult (and I think to ease with the transition, I will have to find a local boulangerie/patisserie).