Duras, France

I'm really rubbish at recording everything!
We'll start over yet again.
Recently we spent four days in France with Gill and his parents. It was terrific fun and Gill’s parents are lovely.
First we went to Gouffre de Proumeyssac, an enormous cave where I touched water that was meant to give me good luck. It seems I am collecting cave luck.

Then we went canoeing on the Dordogne river. I was dreadful. I never knew how hard it was for two people to move a boat. Gill seemed ok, but I was rubbish. I have no idea about oars and water currents. But that meant I got to sit back and look around while Gill did the hard work. Occasionally he was kind enough to let me ‘help’, but each time I took us somewhere we didn’t want to be and I was forced to relinquish my oars.

Then Gill and I were capsized by some teenage French ruffians. I didn’t mind until I realised that my beloved Vic Market sunglasses had been washed away. The dreadful youths stalked us for a while, splashing us a few times (like it mattered by then) before gesturing that we should follow them to the bank. I certainly didn’t want to be stranded with them amongst the bushes so I spoke sternly in English about how unimpressed I was before Gill and I (I helped damn it!) paddled away.

The next day we went to a market. I loved it. I bought two scarves, and Gill gallantly bought me new sunglasses. We also had some of the tastiest cheese ever. I wanted to buy a big straw bag, but the whole ‘one carry-on bag per person’ on flights would have stuffed me around.

On the final day we went to Château de Duras. I love castles almost as much as I love caves. We made the dizzying climb up the tower and were rewarded by some of the best views we’ve ever seen. Now I have castle envy.
We sat down to a crazy ghost show, only it was all in French so while I’m sure it was very good, it was a little hard to be scared.

To sum up, the people here are much nicer than at St Jean Pied de Port. The countryside is very beautiful and the food can certainly be amazing. I think that I will make one more trip to France, in order to see Paris, but then I’ll focus on other parts around Europe. I just don’t love France the way I love Ireland. It’s a bold statement, but the Irish just seem much more friendly.