Kings adventures: Turenne; Collonges la Rouge; Meyssac; Curemonte; Beaulieu sur Dordogne

I had wanted to do a tour of the Upper Dordogne Valley which starts in Brive but it was going to be a very long journey so we adapted it a bit. We drove directly to Turenne with pleasant scenery most of the way. Turenne was really nice and we had lunch there before embarking on the great climb to the castle which is huge and atop a cliff.

We stopped at this Church on our way up to the castle. Collegiale Notre Dame et St. Pantaleon de Turenne.

Then we went to Collonges la Rouge, a most beautiful village, where all the buildings are built of red sandstone. It was such a contrast to Turenne where the buildings are creamy. Collonges is very touristy and was very busy. It was here in 1982 that the mayor of the village, Charles Ceyrac, devised the concept of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France in an effort to preserve and renovate these beautiful villages where populations had declined and buildings were in a state of disrepair. The red stone of the buildings was easy to get in the local quarry.

The computer resolves problems that we would not have had if data processing had not been invented!

Alcohol has never helped anyone solve their problems. Neither have water or milk!

St. Peter's Church in Collonges la Rouge.

This 14th century Chapel used to be a Black Penitents' Chapel and is now a place for contemporary creations like these modern stained glass windows.

Then we went to Meyssac where there were a lot of roadworks. It is another pretty red stone town with a market square where there were a number of games that visitors could play.

We then went to Curemonte, another of the most beautiful villages in France, where we had to park a good way out of town. It was paid parking – 2 euros. Jim had 1.90 but a very friendly man gave us 20 cent. However we couldn’t get the ticket until, after many failed attempts, I realised Jim was pressing the eject button! This village had 3 castles – a record for such a tiny place.