Terrasson
Today we woke to what might be the first day of summer here in the Dordogne. We found blue skies and warm weather at 23C, so we decided to take a 30 mile drive to see the town of Terrasson. The old part of town is on the south side of the river Vezere, but we parked for free on the north river bank next to this pretty bridge.
Looking over to the south side we could see that we would have to cross the 12th century bridge that is now only open to pedestrian traffic. 
From this end of the bridge we could see some of the older houses on the other side, this one was interesting because of the boat access underneath the building. The river is very full and quite fast flowing at the moment due to the heavy rain that we have had over the last few weeks.
This is the view looking along the old bridge from north to south.
On the way up to the old fortifications on the south side we passed through some houses that had been built a very long time ago. There was no chance to get a car up there these days, but when they had been built people had never imagined what a car was!
There were little fountains around a few of the corners, I assume that they were originally places for watering the horses. 
And here is another one.
As we climbed we could see part of what was once the Abbey. The monks had originally built the old bridge in around 1150 AD.
Here is another view of the old bridge from further up the hill. Note the passing places where carts could avoid touching wheels when passing.
And the same bridge again from a slightly different angle. Note the newer north side of the town beyond, but not that much newer as I would guess that there are many 15th and 16th century buildings over there.
This is the sort of building that can be seen at the top, probably part of the original Abbey.
And the view looking up river with the buildings on the south side. The building on the left of center is the one with the boat access underneath. It is now a restaurant.
On the way home we went to feed the ducks at Roque St Christophe, about 20 miles down river from Terrasson, with some stale bread that we had. This family of mother and three ducklings was rather cute.
As is normal on this blog you can click on the pictures to see a bigger clearer view.
posted by madman @ 10:19 pm
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