We kept as close as we could to the Dordogne, which involved a little backtracking when we came to dead ends, but avoided the main road.

The weather was fine but rather hot. It was mainly flat apart from a couple of stiff hills. The roads were quiet and it was a pleasant ride. Luckily it was only about 50km because Margaret still wasn’t completely over her cold.

We stopped for lunch at Lalinde. None of the restaurants appealed to us but the boulangerie sold sandwiches and cakes that turned out to be excellent and we enjoyed them sitting in the warm sun on a bench in the park.

The accommodation was just outside of Le Bugue. We checked with google which took us up a very steep dirt track. It looked so unlikely that after a few meters we backtracked and asked a woman working in her garden if it was correct.

She assured us it was so we pressed on, but even pushing the bikes we had to pause every few meters.

When we eventually reached it, the house had a splendid view but our room was on the bottom floor. However we sat on the terrace and enjoyed a glass of wine until it grew cool.

The accommodation provided a five course dinner with wine for 35 euros a head and this proved to be one of the highlights of the trip. There were 10 of us including the hosts. We started with a glass of champagne in the sitting room and then moved to the large table in the dining room. It had the ambience of a private dinner party, and we felt privileged to get an insight into the French culture.

Luckily there was another English speaking couple, an English girl and a German man living and working in Bordeaux.