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25.06.08 Wednesday.
Suris to Rochechouart
Correction for yesterday, it was Tracie & Kieth who owned the campsite. Sorry for any confusion caused.
Early start after yesterday to try to avoid the heat, walking by 0645 but no breakfast until 0900 when we reached Pressignac a nice little village with a good bakery, the French seem to have become even more obsessed with bread over the years and it seems they all vie with each other for the greatest range of breads and pastries. We had reached there as straight as possible via the GR48 on green lanes and country tracks but the route then started to duck and weave first to a mill to cross a sizable stream in valley bottom then all over the ridge leading to the valley head and the town of Rochechouart. This was over the border from Charante and into Haute-Vienne, we had thought this would give us better info but it was still difficult as we cross not 2 but 3 different departments around here as we soon to be Dordogne. Although the English of the ladies in the tourist office was very good and they tried hard to find us campsites they are in short supply on our line of march. So we have two nights out of three in indoors accommodation, one of which however is in a chateau with reductions for pilgrims. We are for that short period on another main pilgrimage line to Bordeaux and Saint Jean Pied de Porte. We await with interest their views on our DIY route down France. We arrived in Rochechouart in time for lunch and a look in the fine church this has a spiral tower like Chesterfield and proudly belongs to the European society of spiral church spires.
Campsite down the hill and the usual rituals of setting up camp, washing and a brief dip in the pool ensued. We seem to have enough info to know now that we will meet Geoff on Sunday in Brantome about 12 miles north of Perigueux which should have a rail link to Bordeaux.