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Travel tales of an empty nester
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Home  >  Blog  >  Mum’s Gone to the Dordogne – Flirting with Frenchmen

Mum’s Gone to the Dordogne – Flirting with Frenchmen

Trish Burgess Posted on12/08/201006/04/2017 Dordogne, France 18 Comments
L Roque Gageac

I do love a good guide book. For this holiday I bought one of the Footprint travel guides
for the Dordogne and Lot, written by Michael Pauls and Dana Facaros. Their style of writing really appealed, giving just the right amount of information to help make sightseeing that bit easier. On their recommendation we set off on our second morning to visit La Roque Gageac. They were right, it was a stunning village, with a line of classic Perigourdin buildings squeezed into a single row along the river. The setting was made all the more dreamy with warm sunshine and a slurpy ice-cream which was just the thing before our trip on the traditional gabarre riverboat.

Gabarre riverboat

We had paid for our tickets at the booth and they were marked with the word Anglais so the chap on the boat would know to give us some headphones for the English commentary. Now there’s one thing I’m bloody good at and that’s a decent French-sounding Bonjour. I have no idea why it sounds so authentic but it’s definitely not a British “Bon-joo-er”, more a guttural, speedy Gallic “Bon-jur”. It gets me into all kinds of trouble in restaurants and hotels when French people assume I’m “Le Real Thing” and bombard me with a whole load of French I have no hope of understanding. Getting on the boat that morning was no exception. A rather attractive, rugged monsieur helped me embark; as I said Bonjour and handed over our English tickets, he was stopped in his tracks.
“Mais, you are not French?”
“Non”
“But your accent, Madame, eet eez so good”.
“Oh, Monsieur, eet ees nothing. I know a leetle French, un peu…”

At this point, as we were both shrugging and flirting, I felt a definite propulsion from behind as my spoilsport husband felt it was his duty to move the queue along.

“He thought I was French”, I giggled, as I drifted towards our seats.
“You mean you fell for all that flannel?”, countered a smirking husband.
“Was not flannel!”
“Was!”
“Wasn’t!”

Dordogne La Roque Gageac

The rest of the boat trip was quite delightful, plenty of people in canoes and kayaks to wave to and scare into paddling madly into the bank plus lots of gorgeous chateaux to look at, including Chateau Castelnaud and Chateau de Lacoste which unfortunately didn’t have a gift shop selling designer polo shirts. Dougie missed most of it as he fell asleep because of the soporific voice through the headphones. I showed him the photos later. As I got off the boat I smiled at Monsieur Le Boatman and whispered, “Au revoir et merci” in my best Vanessa Paradis accent. Husband might have swooned at the French SatNav woman earlier in the holiday but I think I was one up.
The afternoon was spent at the fabulous Jardins de Marqueyssac, a spectacular place set on a spur overlooking the whole Dordogne Valley. Even Rory, allergic to exercise, thoroughly enjoyed walking along the three different routes, finding weird sculptures and getting lost in the bizarre boxwood maze.

Jardins de Marqueyssac

Tired but content following our day exploring the Dordogne Valley, we headed home by the scenic route and I spotted an orchard.

“I wonder what they are growing there?” I said as I pointed the trees out to Dougie.
“Oh they’re apples, or maybe pears, or plums…..peaches?”
“You don’t know, do you?
“No”
“Well thank you for that, Mr Del Monte….”

Lou Messugo

Previous Article Mum’s Gone to the Dordogne – 101 uses for Duck Tape
Next Article Mum’s Gone to the Dordogne – Where’s Willy?

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18 Comments

  1. Steve Reply
    13/08/2010 at 7:20 am

    It all looks so breathtaking beautiful… I think me and mine may have to navigate the ol' chunnel one of these days and see it all for ourselves!

  2. Trish @ Mum's Gone to... Reply
    13/08/2010 at 8:01 am

    Steve – well worth a trip, even if you start just over the channel, there are some beautiful spots.

  3. libby Reply
    13/08/2010 at 3:01 pm

    Don't you love it when the 'mister' gets jealous? So sweet! Looks a fab place to visit Trish, the photos are great.

  4. Sugarplum Kawaii Reply
    13/08/2010 at 3:36 pm

    Lovely post…1st time i've visited your blog…just read your 'teenagers' piece as well. Made me chuckle (-:

  5. Trish @ Mum's Gone to... Reply
    13/08/2010 at 3:47 pm

    Libby – doesn't do any harm to keep him on his toes!

    Sugarplum – thank you for reading and commenting: lovely to see you here. You'd think I would have written more than one post about my teenage boy: he survived the skiing trip you'll be pleased to know!

  6. MadameSmokinGun Reply
    13/08/2010 at 4:36 pm

    Lovely pics Mrs. Aren't husbands just great around other men?

  7. Trish @ Mum's Gone to... Reply
    14/08/2010 at 8:40 am

    MSG – Ta, was quite chuffed with my photos this year. Hubby was insistent old Charles Aznavour was just spinning me a line but I knew better!

  8. Troy Reply
    15/08/2010 at 10:06 am

    I've just been to Normandy (and blogged about it) and have now definitely got a taste for french holidays. So thanks for the this informative and interesting blog. It's uncanny how with one word (bonjour) they can tell one is not french.

  9. FrenchVillage Jacqui Reply
    06/04/2017 at 5:40 pm

    This certainly made me smile! You can’t have a proper French holiday with a little bit of flannel from a real Frenchman – it’s the law over here! #AllAboutFrance

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      07/04/2017 at 10:53 am

      Ah that’s good to know – at least I was obeying the letter of the law 😉

  10. tracy Reply
    06/04/2017 at 8:25 pm

    Such a beautiful part of the world! I think we went to those gardens when we were there last – off to check as it looks really familiar! We canoed down the Dordogne but believe me if I had known there was a boat with a flirty Frenchman running it I wouldn’t have paddled it!!!

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      07/04/2017 at 10:54 am

      Ha! You missed a treat, Tracy! You’ll remember next time 😉

  11. Emily Reply
    10/04/2017 at 10:10 am

    That maze looks incredible (I resisted the terrible pun that I could have used there, which you should be grateful for). #AllAboutFrance

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      11/04/2017 at 2:04 pm

      Ha! I’m grateful, though I do love a good pun 🙂

  12. GGG Reply
    14/04/2017 at 6:34 pm

    LOL! Love your sense of humor, lots of fun 🙂

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      20/04/2017 at 12:10 pm

      Thank you, GGG! I do like to find the funny side and it was great to remind myself of the fun we had on that holiday.

  13. Phoebe | Lou Messugo Reply
    18/04/2017 at 6:00 pm

    Ha! I’m the exact opposite, there’s something so pitifully English about my “Bonjour” that even after 20 years here I get answered back at in English and yet I can manage the full on assault of French that should follow!!! I am completely fluent but my accent is a giveaway from the 1st syllable. I’m glad you got your one up on your husband and the French satnav lady!! Great story Trish, thanks for linking up to #AllAboutFrance

    • Trish Burgess Reply
      20/04/2017 at 12:09 pm

      Isn’t that typical. I would rather be you than me – it must be fab to be fluent!
      I enjoyed being involved in #AllAboutFrance as you have some really interesting writers contributing. I wish I had been able to link a more recent post but I suppose experiences like this are timeless.

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