Day 2 of hiking

We were picked up by cab and brought to St. Leon sur Vezere. The bags went on by cab to the hotel in Les Eyzyes de Tayac. We walked over the bridge built by Eiffel and began our journey. Sue enough, we soon got lost in the trails of the Dordorgne. We did come to realize, however, that the fault may not have been all ours.

The directions given to us by the tour company are translated from French and we saw there was at least one instance where they got left and right incorrect.

We lost only about an hour's worth of walking and made it to Roque St. Christophe- the prehistoric cave dwellings later used in the Middle Ages. It was also our first walk in the autumnal rain. A little discouraged but determined to catch up, we marched on.

Lin was a little cranky by 2 pm when we were still walking (having stopped by a small store to pick up bread, cheese and chips). We had already snacked 'on the hoof' on chips and apples. Bill decided that the better part of valor included taking a rest stop. Almost immediately after a quick lunch, we saw some goats and Lin fed them an apple. That was fun.

We did a major hike through the woods on faith that the directions and the map were correct and made it to the hotel at the expected time.

The Hotel Le Moulin de la Beune was a former water mill and very charming. Our bags were waiting for us in our room - on the third floor (six if you count the half floors)! While quite simple and very cold (Lin didn't find the radiator controls until after dinner) the room was very comfortable.

We bought three bottles of local wine in town - red, rose and white. The rose was very nice and we polished it off before dinner. We skipped on the local and ever popular foie gras.

Dinner was extraordinary. - we had dinner included in our tour package but Lin upgraded hers and Bill decided on getting steak and dessert instead. Lin ordered a 6 course meal that also included a small bottle of wine. It was very funny that Bill sat there as course after course was served to her. :-)
The restaurant did take pity and gave him some of the wine although Bill thought the waiter was a bit grudging. They also sent him an amuse bouche of light goat cheese with chocolate. Lin shared her rissotto with truffles. Everything was swimming in butter and was great. You'd think dessert after so many rich courses would be too much but you'd be wrong! Yummy, is all I'm saying.

We slept 9 hours, exhausted from the hike and filled to the brim with dinner and wine.