Day 15 - to Saillagol

Leaving La Métairie Basse, the early morning was foggy and I took photographs of the slightly surreal landscape. I was advised by Richard to take the unpaved track down to Conduché where the Célé joins the Lot, as it is less steep than the normal paved road to St Martin Labouval. The track was rough, with deep flooded potholes and fallen trees, but it worked, and I met Barbara, filming (may be added later), in St Martin L. We agreed to meet before noon at Varaire, possibly to have lunch. The route via Limogne was straightforward, and it was a slightly odd experience to be driving through these familiar places with the tractor. No-one here turns a hair, of course. I was parked in the village square at Varaire by 11am, just as a ceremony to celebrate the re-opening of the library was about to start. So there were plenty of people, many of whom took an interest in the tractor.

Barbara phoned then to say that a film team from the Quercy rural video assocation was at Saillagol, intending to record my arrival, but had now decided to hot-foot it over to Varaire. Much excitement in the square as I drove round a couple of times for the camera, and headed off for the last few km to Saillagol.

I arrived unaccompanied (not deliberately, just a communication screw-up) at a by-road into Saillagol, and gave myself a symbolic cheer as I passed the village sign. At our house I was filmed doing circuits of the mill, and gave a short interview describing my reasons for the trip, my experiences on the route and so on; I look forward to seeing the result.

Thereafter, much champagne and a quiet afternoon, sinking into early unconsciousness.....

I will, once I can persuade France Telecom that our phone and internet connection really does not work when it rains, aim to post an epilogue, but experience suggest this may take a few days yet.

Day 14 Carennac to Sauliac

A sunny morning after last night's storms, and the tractor brought out a large group of English hotel guests, with reactions varying from the admiring to the frankly astonished. The hotel proprietor's wife and I took photos, as above.

From Carennac, south to Gramat where I managed to get completely lost in the town's road system. I finally found myself going up an increasingly narrow and steep lane, which I prayed would eventually intersect with a main road, because there was no possibility of turning round or reversing. Thanks more to Garmin than a higher power I eventually found myself on the D807, and headed down, via Quissac and Blars, to Sauliac sur Célé, where I had arranged to rendezvous with Barbara at 2pm. I had an opportunity to relax for an hour before she, and the rain, arrived. We were able to set about exploring the next and final day's route by car, an unprecedented luxury for me. It was even more terrifying than usual to be driven, now that my internal velocity sensor was set firmly at an average of 17km/hr.

We stayed the night at our friends Helen and Richard's place, La Métairie Basse (http://pagesperso-orange.fr/metairie.lot/). It is a lovely house in a tranquil environment high above the Célé.

Day 13 Hairpin bends without brakes

I left Segonzac this morning, intending today to be a fairly modest run, passing Brive to the south west and moving some way east as well as south; it still turned out at 100km. Via Larche, and then on to Souillac. The weather was OK at first - some sun, though threatening clouds. But at Souillac the heavens opened, and I climbed out of the town towards Martel in about 15 minutes of cloudburst. The road was flooded to at least 4 inches in places - no problem for a tractor, but I found that the front wheels pump water very efficiently straight onto the driver's feet. By Martel it was dry again, and then a scary sequence of hairpin bends as the road descended at 7% for about 2km. Engine braking worked fine, which is just as well, because my one remaining brake would never have stopped the tractor.

Crossed the Dordogne river into the Lot at about 3pm and found my hotel at Carennac http://www.france-for-visitors.com/dordogne/perigord-noir/carennac.html. The village is very much a tourist attraction, and it is easy to see why. I visited an excellent exhibition of local vernacular architecture in the Chapter house. At the hotel, I asked if I could put the tractor in their small car park, and this provoked a lot of interest by the proprietor and his staff. It turned out that he is a tractor enthusiast and we had another lengthy discussion on the merits of various tractors with the Ferguson heritage. I apologised about the oil dripping onto his forecourt from my leaky rear axle, and he confirmed that they all used to do that. He also said the brakes had never been any good, even on the newer ones. He insisted I parked the tractor in his own garage, next to his slightly later Massey Ferguson (photo). This turned out to be fortunate because that evening we had a huge storm. It started with 15 minutes of intense hail, with stones the size of marbles, and continued with another half hour of tropical downpour. The road in front of the hotel turned into a river, lifting tarmac, and washing away the gardens opposite. Unusual for June they said; it doesn't normally happen until August. I learned afterwards that damage included broken solar panel arrays.

As I'm now getting so close, I've spoken to Barbara and arranged to meet up at Sauliac sur Cele tomorrow afternoon, with a view to staying the night somewhere nearby.

Day 12 Haute Vienne to Correze

I left Cieux in light continuous rain, which became heavier as the morning progressed. Kathy and Tony French, at whose delightful chambres d'hotes, Les Volets Bleus, I stayed, took photos and a video as I departed. I have now clocked up over 1000km on this voyage! I passed the village or Oradour sur Glane, whose inhabitants were massacred in June 1944 (http://www.oradour.info/) and which has been left untouched ever since. I felt I ought to stop and look but, partly because of the rain, and partly because it seemed somehow inappropriate with my odd form of transport, I didn't. I will return.

My route took me by minor roads down to Nexon, where I had a back-up plan to stop overnight if the weather was too bad. Refuelled at a supermarket there, and had the customary conversation with a shopper there about the tractor. From there to St Yrieix sur Perche, which is a large town with a complex road system in which I got lost as usual. The rain came on hard again at about 2pm, which slowed me down and made driving quite unpleasant. Finding my stopping place at Segonzac, a tiny village in the Correze, was hard enough - it is high up in the hills, but my chambres d'hote, the Pre Laminon
http://www.prelaminon.com/was nearly impossible, requiring two or three stops to ask. However, the search was worth it. It is a beautifully converted Correze barn in stunning surroundings, and great place to relax after a pretty unpleasant day. Just before dinner, the rain fell heavier than ever and turned the lanes into rivers. There were two couples also staying at the place; we started the meal with home made aperitifs and our hostess asked us all to guess their origins. The first was made from lilac flowers and I couldn't; but in the second I knew sloe gin when I tasted it so I won a brownie point there. The two French couples were also interested in matters rural, and we talked about global warming and why there are so few swallows this year (I commented that there are plenty in England, though they were late), and about the absence of bees, which they thought was because of pollution.

Day 11 - Brenne to the Limousin

Slight rain today, going south via Douadic (see http://www.jewishtraces.org/rubriques/?keyRubrique=le_camp_de_douadic) to Le Blanc and Belabre. The small road going south from here is very lonely indeed, as far as Lussac les Eglises. Small panic close to there when the engine suddenly revved to the maximum and could not be controlled. Fortunately, I was not going downhill, relying on engine braking, because that all that really works, at the time. It turned out the the throttle linkage had unscrewed itself, so it was easily repaired.
After Magnac, having left the Brenne the landscape becomes much more hilly and wooded, with many small dairly farms. There are many steep hills, fortunately marked on the map enably me to navigate around the worst ones. I refuelled in Cieux and, as usual, the tractor and the voyage attracted interest. I stpped in the var park there and one oldish guy drove in specially for a chat. He knew a lot about Fergusons, and we discussed engines; he also, as is now common, was kind enough to point out that the rear tyres are rotating in the wrong direction.
I estimate I have about another 250km to go, which should make a Saturday morning arrival possible - nothing going wrong meanwhile. The weather forecast for tomorrow is bad.

Day 10 - Loire to the Brenne

Left Fleuray, just north of the Loire in cool and overcast weather. Although the Loire itself and its chateaux are undoubtedly beautiful, the surrounding landscape is quite dull, with large hedgeless cereal fields. However, the first small vineyards started to appear - the first since Chilford! - which reinforced the sense of progress. I crossed the Loire at Chaumont and, shortly after, the Cher, close to Montrichard. South through a military zone (no photographs) to Orbigny and Montresor. I stopped at the latter scenic village for coffee and to get warm. Used a bit of "red" road (ie a major highway), the D975, to get around Chatillon, fearing heavy traffic, but there was virtually none. I refulled close to Chatillon and was concerned afterwards to see petrol coursing down the side of the tank and onto the hot exhaust manifold. Luckily it did not ignite, or I think France may have been missing an entire petrol station. The problem was that the fixed screw section of the filler cap had detached, probably through previous rough usage. I fixed the whole lot down with the essential duck (or is it duct?) tape, and pressed on.

Other than this minor problem, it was a good run today, and I have stopped for the night at the Auberge de la Gabriere http://www.auberge-36-gabriere.com/, close to Linge. A couple on push bikes asked me about the trip. He said that only the English would do a thing like this, but in a very complimentary way. Helps to stay alive he said. I felt quite good about that.

The Brenne is beautiful. From my room (photo) the view over the lake was wonderful.