Safe Return Doubtful

Storm Nils has devastated this area of southern France. There is a lot of flooding with many residents having to leave their homes. Though the area is liable to floods there has not been anything as serious as this in living memory. 90 mph winds brought trees down as well, and power outages were common. 

I drove on from Villafranche for an hour or so to the village of Marquay, a typical Dordogne village with its distinctive style of architecture, a blend of medieval fortifications, Renaissance elegance, and traditional rural farm buildings. I thought that the village had everything I needed, a little bar and restaurant, and an aire with an electric hook-up option, as there was no sun forecast, and I wanted to stay for a three day weekend. In the early evening on Friday I explored the bar, only to find the power off, due to the storm, but it was open. The landlord welcomed me, and I took a bottle of beer, as all the draught was off. It wasn’t long until we spoke of rugby. I knew that this a huge rugby area, situated between Brive and Agen who were playing this night, by chance, in the Pro D2. The landlord, Henri, told me he was also a coach. He was a huge guy, and had played until he was 42 in the backyard row. He had coached in Brazil and Surinam, and spoke some Spanish, so we communicated in a mix of three languages. He hoped the power would be on for the night’s games. I was less keen on Brive Agen, and more so on the Under 20 Six Nations, which I find really good to watch. 

I called into the bar early the next morning, as Henri had recommended, to pick up some bread, but still the power wasn’t back on. We had made a tentative arrangement to watch the afternoon matches of the Six Nations in the bar; there was expected to be a small crowd. I headed out to explore some local trails on foot and was back to the van in the early afternoon. Alas, the power was still not back. I mentioned moving the van up to park next to the bar, and use my electricity, internet and projector to show the game, but by this time Henri was losing some serious business. He would usually have had a busy Friday night, and a booked out Saturday lunch serving. If he closed, he told me, he could claim on his insurance, if he opened, he couldn’t. 

I retreated to the van to watch the games, as the heavy rain set in again, and lasted until the early hours of Sunday when it gave way to steady drizzle. 

After a wet wander on Sunday morning I called past the bar and received to good news that the power was back. There was a busy Sunday lunch. I returned at 3:45 pm, just ahead of the Wales France game only to find the place closed up, the power cut again an hour or so before. It was no problem for me, but frustrating for Henri as he had hardly any takings for what should have been a busy weekend. 

This morning I needed to move on, and generate some charge to my battery from the van engine. After a couple of hours out in the forests around Marquay in the morning, just as the rain set in again, I chose a scenic route to drive, slowly, northwards through the Dordogne region. It was laundry day also. The last time I had done the washing was at the Under The Blue Palms campsite a few days before Christmas. Intermarche offers a good service here, sturdy machines at a good price. 

I looked at a few options of places to stay overnight, Saint Agnan, Hautefort and Cubjac, before settling on Saint-Jory-las-Bloux; it has a very pleasant setting and is on relatively high ground, most of the other towns around here are still affected by flooding. Their camping aires tend to be near the rivers, so are either not accessible, or not a good idea, with much more rain forecast overnight and for later this week.