Photo-A-Day Friday 31st May 2013

In the late summer of 2010, on our 2nd foray into Continental Europe (Italy the previous year), Daphne, Stephen and myself got the ferry from Dover to Dunkirk and drove North for a few days in Bruges and then Amsterdam. 

Then we drove down and toured the East side of France before making our way up the West side and back to Dunkirk for the return ferry.

This was my first time touring France and I loved every moment of it.  The roads, major and minor, were so empty of vehicles that it was a joy to drive on them......even with the toll charges.

But it was the countryside that took my breath away, and of course the beautiful, hot weather made even better.

On the return leg we were in the Dordogne area of France and spent several hours relaxing in the scenic town of Brantome. Actually scenic didn't do it justice as it was a photographer's dream with stunning views everywhere.  Majestic buildings, clean clear water and my usual criteria for a good tourist photograph, blue skies.

This photo sums up Brantome.

As we left, I glanced back to try and take it all in one last time as I never expected to be back there again.

I should've known better as we did indeed pass near Brantome last summer on the way back from Spain and it was a unanimous decision to spend a few hours there again.  We had a lovely outdoor meal at a small restaurant on one of the main streets leading to the location in the photo and when we got to the water area, it was a complete deja vu experience as everything was the same........including the clear blue sky and the bright yellow canoes.

Hopefully I'll get to France again this summer and it remains to be seen if Brantome will be on the route.  It'll be hard to pass it by !