All's quiet in medieval Martel

Thursday 4th May

Did another load of washing this morning but chose a different wash cycle. All good, only 90 minutes.

Another day, another medieval village. This time the village of Martel. It appears that most of the villages around here are 11th to 13th century though this one did have some mention of the 500s. Most villages were built for a religious purpose, or were defensive. Apparently this one was neither but rather was at a crossroads for trade. And this village had very few tourists which made for a pleasant stroll around. One street we walked along someone had put chalked signs along the walls labelling the plants growing on the walls. And unlike the more touristy villages we found lunch here at a very reasonable price. We both had pasta - Italian in France. 

The village of Martel - 11th century.

I'm guessing the moss might help with the waterproofing.

Part 1 of dog of the day - the dog toilettage.

This church was unique - you may think all the colour is tiles,
but no, it is painted.

Can't help it - we love border collies.

After lunch - ok Dora, take us home a different way. We passed through a village called Saint Sozy. This was a beautiful village, on the Dordogne River with lovely houses, tidy streets and a few camping grounds. Probably not cheap to stay there but it was lovely.

An old Chateau in Saint Sozy.

A unique weather vane.

Just lying in the middle of the road watching the passing traffic.
He saw us twice as we did a second loop around
to get another look at the village.

I forgot to mention yesterday that we saw another deer on our drive. By the time we got the camera out it was gone - again.

Tomorrow we are moving on - further south towards Spain. Heading for the town of Marmande. Not sure if there is anything there to see - just a stopover along the way. We've noticed just in the few days we've been here that spring has really sprung. All the walnut trees are now sprouting leaves, the pollarded trees are shooting from their knobby bits, and there are more and more poppies showing their colours.