A quiet day in the country

What do you do in rural France when you just want to relax? You go for
a coffee and a cake but, because this part of France is very rural,
you have to go quite a long way. We had a decent coffee (no idea
where) but no cake, unfortunately.

When you return to the apartment you can have an ice cold Coke. Or
not, if you forgot to move the cans from the freezer (where you'd
placed them the previous day for a bit of rapid chilling) to the
fridge. Coke doesn't take well to freezing, and neither do the cans.
In fact, Coke in the freezer is a recipe for coating everything else
in the freezer with a thick layer of frozen Coke; not advised.

Doors of the covered market, Sarlat

Doors are seldom impressive and these ones are pretty bland. If it
weren't for their sheer scale they'd be completely uninteresting but
they're the largest doors I've seen for quite a while.

Sarlat, in the Dordogne

Sarlat isn't too bad. It's in the Dorsogne (here: http://maps.google.com/q=44.8879%2C1.2172
) and, if today is any guide, plagued by flying ants. And a piper, of
some sort; unfortunately he's making no impression on the ants.

Beynac, on the Dordogne

Cooler today (27 degrees, or therabouts), but climbing up fro river
level is still warm work. Nice village; more photos posted later - I
think they're being mangled somewhere in the system.

The weather breaks, a bit

Till yesterday we had had an unbroken run of fine weather with temperatures most days of around 33-36 degrees. Yesterday's thunderstorm, which was pretty impressive, broke the run, although it cleared up later in the day.

Today started grey and humid but is now brightening, hinting at an afternoon of hot and humid. Can't wait. I think, maybe, that I'm not entirely at home with the heat.

The bike has arrived!

And what a bike it is! A red Gitanes hardtail with the elegance and
sophistication of a brick. And probably the speed of a brick. Time
will tell, but I strongly suspect that it will prove to be a less than
satisfactory ride; should have brought my own, dammit.

Dordogne by canoe

15km in two and a quarter hours in the blazing sun. All good, except
for sunburnt knees.