France Protesting

The so called “Yellow Vest” demonstrators protesting petrol prices, disrupted the whole country today. 
We had plans to spend the day in Cahors, drove the 1.5 hours to get there, only to be stopped at the last roundabout into town by a blockade. So we turned around and visited some villages along the Lot river instead. Closer to home we were stopped again by a small group who waved us on.

More to come for sure.....

The Sanglier (Wild Boar) Farm

Visited a nearby sanglier farm. 

We walked along trails in the woods, throwing stale bread and acorns to the boar - very glad to be behind the high fences! 

The Farming of wild boar is not very common. Each boar family is kept separated, otherwise the older males will fight to the death. The claim is that the meat does not have the wild taste due to the pigs not having any fear of having to chase or being hunted. 

We sampled some products - no wild taste!

Museum and Orchard of Nuts

An interesting visit to the Ecomusee de la Noix near Beynac

                                                                 Some Walnut art.

The traditional nut mill - we arrived to watch hazelnuts being turned into a paste.

                       The paste was roasted on top of the oven pan to the left below, then pressed.

                             We sampled the final product - sipping some still warm hazelnut oil.

 The museum had an interesting movie covering the history, the trees and production of walnut oil.

 On display were some beautiful walnut wood sculptures, tools of the trade, and some walnut shell toys. The last photo reminded me of the tiny doll beds that my mother made for me using half walnut shells. I remember the little beds but not the tiny dolls that must have slept soundly in them :)

                                            The only displays in English were for the kids.

Old Time Museum

Allas-les-Mines, a village stopped in time with a lovely little museum. 

The museum is set up as village streets, with every store you could imagine from days gone by.

The garage with old cars and motorbikes and cars parked along the street were all fun to see. 

So interesting!

and yes you could sit and order a coffee.

The Caviar Farm

A visit to the Sturgeon farm in Neuvic. 

An interesting tour where we were told about the farm - from the water, the tanks, the feeding, the breeding, the caviar collecting, and the packing of the caviar. 

The breed of sturgeon they keep matures at 7 years. The female is given an ultra sound to check if she has any eggs, if so, she is put in another tank and goes without food for a few days before the eggs are collected. The flesh is not wasted, the main side products are fish pâté and animal feed. 

The wading tank - with several varieties of sturgeon. 

They have no scales, are slimy and very bony to touch. 

End the tour with some delicious samples.

                                                 PS...Nov 29th - now on our last night in the Perigod,
                                           The fridge is empty, it was a toss up between takeouts or smoked                                                      Sturgeon for dinner tonight. Trying the sturgeon of course!!!

Side Trip to England - the Royal Air Tattoo - Celebrating RAF 100 years

The Royal representative - Duke of Kent

   The Red Arrows - showing off the red, white & blue

 Swiss PL7 - Swiss precision never faltered.

 Spanish CASA - the accented commentary was the real entertainment.

 Italian Areomacchi - being flamboyant!

Russian SU 27 - Big, loud and colourful.

RAF F35 - the future

During a downpour you stand in the belly of the US C17 - as you do.

Taking a seat with a view, the inside and outside.

                                                The Japan Air Force was there with a C2

                                                Ending with a few British touches.