Once we found a park outside the commune of Cadouin, Michael rushed off in search of the Cadouin Abbey which has made this place famous.

The wooden decking on the road was actually a bridge across a running stream.

The Abbey was very impressive in size and age against the other buildings.

This abbey was founded in 1115 and it was once Périgord’s most prestigious abbey, its notoriety stemming, in part, from the presence of a piece of material believed to be the shroud which enveloped Jesus in the tomb. The abbey grew rich from the pilgrimages to the relic. Unfortunately, in the 1930s, this shroud was proven to be much too young to have been around in the time of Jesus. Cadouin Abbey is a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the pilgrim route to Compostella. Perhaps our friend Phil Halpin who is walking this trail at the moment, walked through here recently.

It was very dark inside and so most of the photos did not work, but I spotted something familiar to my memories of my youth and thought this could be a spot for Michael to spend a few minutes if only I could have found an accommodating priest.

We drove on a few more kilometres to another small commune called Buisson de Cadouin. It was market day today and it was quite large with lots of clothes as well as fresh food and local produce. We sampled some, including some wine Michael tried and was told by this man that his mother and brother grew the grapes. Michael swallowed that along with his sample and bought a bottle of the Bordeaux.

No frozen meals needed here as there are huge pots of food already cooked you can buy to take home and reheat. They looked brilliant.

Michael was most taken by the poissonier – in particular the price of the oysters as he had earlier bought some at a supermarket.

We had stopped at the supermarket on our way to Cadouin to buy some milk and bread but walked out with salmon and oysters. I took my eyes off Michael for a few minutes and when he showed up he had a bag of oysters he told me cost €8.50 for a dozen and that the fellow had given him 12 really big ones, plus he had apparently thrown in a few extra ones. Unfortunately for him they were being sold by the kilo and he had actually paid more than €1 each for these beauties. He was very sorry to see this price at the market where he could have bought 2 dozen for €10!

Our final stop this morning was Molièrs and we arrived just as recess was finishing and the children were going back into class.

Molièrs was once a bastide and had its central square in tact.

But the walls of the bastide were in ruins.

We headed home to spend some time with the dogs before going out for lunch to a restaurant in Saint Sabine our hostess recommended.