Campervan Therapy

Souillac

The swimming pool is sardine-packed in Souillac’s Camping Les Ondines – and it’s 40C – at first glance it’s not a promising prospect.

But it borders the Dordogne and the restaurant has cheerful red and white chequered table cloths on long trestle tables. Under fairy lights on a mellow evening it’s French enough to warrant a few days’ stay.

Rambling River

We follow the GR6 walking trail beside the Dordogne west to a deserted beach where I swim alongside green-mermaid-hair waterweed. Damselflies flutter about my head, with their iridescent blue bodies and navy tipped wings –  one settles on my outstretched hand, another on my shoulder.

We tramp along the river east from Souillac, just because the limestone cliffs are awe inspiring.  

The Historic Centre

The centre of Souillac is barely a kilometre from the campsite, the route by old watermills. Suddenly a trio of onion domes appear behind ancient, rustic buildings, but the path conspires to prevent me ever finding them as we twist down cobbled alleyways, by half- timbered houses leaning drunkenly against honeyed-stone ones.

Abbatiale de Sainte Marie

We trace the domes to Sainte Marie’s abbey church, with its beautifully curved walls, a fine example of the Quercy Region’s Byzantine-Romanesque tradition.

St. Martin’s Half Tower

St. Martin’s tower has been sliced down the middle of its length. I need to know how it came to be like it. Detective O’Brien on the case, it turns out that the church stood on one of the gateways to the fortified town and was badly damaged in the Wars of Religion.  History tends to repeat itself ad infinitum. I wonder when we’ll ever learn.

Josephine Baker

St. Martin’s church now houses a Josephine Baker exhibition, whose beautiful estate, Château des Milandes, is a short drive away.

We wander around the formal gardens, and graceful interior before watching majestic birds of prey swipe meat from their handlers on the wing.

Baker built the estate up while she adopted and raised children from around the world. She shocked segregated states in America; enthralled Parisian audiences; and received the Legion of Honour for her Resistance work.

An amazing woman, she fought prejudice and ignorance at every turn. The photos of her sitting on the château’s doorstep when she was evicted and bankrupt are heart-breaking.

Le Quercy de Souillac Hotel

Our meal kicks off with bubbles, in more ways than one. A glass of crisp fizz and the ironic painting of Vermeer’s girl with the pearl ear-ring chewing gum and blowing a giant bubble. The Mona Lisa has a beer-froth moustache, the joke goes on around the hotel.

The dining room is all claret velvet and low lighting. It’s the Dordogne so the menu is a bible of what to do with duck. All I know is the accompanying chanterelle sauce manages to be rich, yet light at the same time – the ubiquitous walnut cake a fitting finish to this local feast.

The Money?

Camping Les Ondines – €26.22 per night

Château des Milandes – €12.50 per person