Day 19 - Indescribable.

We left Limoges in high spirits and armed with a good map of the city centre and a good idea of where we were going we still managed to get onto the wrong road. Well, never fear, it was a nasty red road, but it was quite slow and travelled alongside the river out of Limoges. With the flat of the river plain helping us we managed to get an average speed of 15mph going, which was enjoyable to say the least. After getting to Aixe-sur-Vienne we followed the D20 south through Les Cars and to Bussiere-Galant. All bog-standard. Pretty nice, but nothing to write home about (other than it seemed to be largely downhill, which was nice). However once we got to the station of Bussiere-Galant, which is so far away from Bussiere-Galant that it requires its own name on the map, we met "Wow!" country.

Zooming in and out, round and about these small lakes, through woodland and across open fields the scenery was nothing short of extraordinary and I promise that we barely had to move our feet. Alongside rivers we rode, birds flitting to their own music beside us, the sun beating lightly on our brow as we watched the world, the beautiful world continue around us. Curving roads carried us south and it could have been october, the trees were so red and orange.

We didn't stop once until we reached Sainte-Marie, and I cannot impress on all of you enough the sheer excitement and thrill, far more silent and pleasurable than anything this cycle trip has yet shown me, by this simple road. It needs to be experienced in its entirety. If you ever find yourself in France and near Limoges, hire out a bicycle on a cool spring morning and make your way to Bussiere-Galant and just follow the D20 south, its not something that can be shared any other way. I decided not to take pictures just because no one part could stand without its next, had I video even that would not do it justice.

Absolutely beautiful, but it wasn't yet finished. Turning left, we followed the road to Jumilhac-le-Grand, which was beautiful as it followed river and climbed hill to reach this castle perched securely atop a hill, commanding the most magnificent views we had seen. Here we stopped for lunch, which I had made the night before; sandwiches full of meat and cheese and salad, followed by chocolate to delight the stomach and the blood.

After a small stop, for at this point the sun had decided to disappear behind unfriendly clouds, we followed the road south to Perigueux, and camped rough just south in a little place called Atur. The campsite we were hoping to go to was shut, but we found this neat little passage going nowhere between two fields, safely shaded from the road by a small rise and fall in the ground and trees from the side. Not perfect, but better than nothing.