We set off to Brantôme in time to catch the weekly market. We were pleasantly surprised when we had a bit of difficulty finding parking as that usually meant that it was going to be a worthwhile market. We managed to find parking along the river that ran through town and it was a very short walk in. The main square in town had been occupied by vendors selling mostly fresh produce, cheeses and meats. We picked up a head of lettuce (which here is simply called 'une salade', which we think is quite funny) and then perused the other stalls. Megs stopped by a farmer’s cheese stand and pointed out that they had "d’Ortie" cheese. We wondered if this was the same kind that we had picked up at a market in the Vosges mountains back in September. We decided to take a chance and bought a small slice that turned out to be a couple hundred grams. The market was not as varied and large as the one in Sarlat so in about three quarters of an hour, we had checked out all the stands. Brantôme is known as the Venice of the Perigord Vert because of the river that almost encircles the whole town and therefore has five bridges that span the river. We wandered around town, crossing several bridges, to get different views back onto the cute village. We then proceeded to the post office to pick up some stamps for all the postcard writing we had done in the past few days.

It was a beautiful day and so we decided to stop at a café and sit outside to enjoy the sun and watch the remainder of the market wrap up. We had a café au lait each and realized that it had been our first café out since Barcelona. We sipped our cafés leisurely and eventually decided that we should set off as we were getting peckish. We gathered our lunch supplies from the van and chose a picnic table by the river and enjoyed our meal outside. I finally dug into the Camembert which had been ripening over the past few days. When staying with the Lafeuilles in Royan, Sandrine had suggested that I try camembert with butter. I originally thought that this was quite strange but I was quickly converted after trying it. Yes, this sounds a bit “de trop” but I have never been able to go back. I figure that when you’re eating cheese that’s 45% fat, why not layer on a bit of gourmande butter from Normandy (even the butter is a bronze medal winner for its taste). We also enjoyed some other cheeses with our fresh bread that we had picked up from a local boulangerie that morning: St. Paulin, Pyrenées, and the d’Ortie we had picked up in the market. We were very glad to discover that the d’Ortie was just as delicious as the first time and decided that we should keep an eye out for it at markets going forward.

When we had finished lunch, we drove out to the nearby town of Bourdeilles because Meghan had seen it featured in a guide book. The town was quite scenic with a small château overlooking the river and we spent about twenty minutes wandering around the town and taking in the views. We didn’t go into the castle since we would be seeing some of the best in France in a few days time. It was mid-afternoon by now and as it was still sunny out, albeit a bit cool at nine degrees, we decided to cycle a section of the Voie Vert from St. Jean du Cole to Pardoux la Riviere. The “voie vert”s are designated cycling paths, completely free of traffic, and this one happened to be along an abandoned railroad track that once connected these towns. We parked at the designated parking just outside St. Jean de Cole and after getting changed into our cycling gear, were soon on our way. We encountered only a few people walking the path but no other cyclists. The path was a dirt path, quite damp and sandy in a few spots, which made us have to exert more effort that usually necessary for such level terrain. The path was lined with bare trees the entire way and we passed over a few streams and alongside several farms. We ended up cycling about 22km round trip because we were enjoying it but were definitely cold when we got back to the car. I couldn’t feel my fingers and toes and had a hard time getting the bikes back onto the rack. We drove back to our campsite knowing that excellent, hot showers awaited us. It was half past six when we got back to camp and relished our dinner that evening after a full day’s excursions.