Sunday! Another day off dirty work!

Not far away from us is an ancient town called Argentat, right on the banks of the River Dordogne. The name comes from the Celtic 'argentoratum', the passage of the river. In the 17th and 18th century, Argentat enjoyed great prosperity as a result of the transport of wood along the Dordogne by traditional flat-bottomed 'gabares' to Bergerac, where it was used in the barrel-making industry. For wine, of course! This photo is of the nicer bridge, taken from the ugly bridge. The river is chockablock with reeds and weeds, but it's rather beautiful.

 This is the view the other way, west, towards the actual Dordogne region.

 The old town of Argentat.

 Les canards, navigating the reeds/weeds.

Unbelievably, many of the old houses have actual lumps of stone as roof tiles. and we thought our roof was a mess!

 This plant reminded me of Capri...no, not the car.

 A view of the ugly bridge from the nicer bridge.

 We parked our car at the church so we could easily find it again.

 Here be dragons! Raaaarrrrhhh!

Lunch beckoned. You can see it up at the end of that row of cafes and restaurants. We went to the Auberge des Gabarriers and ordered the Plat du Jour, as it's easier to do that sometimes, rather than trawl through the entire menu and take pot luck... So, we took pot luck with the Plat du Jour, which turned out to be a sausage, yes one bendy sausage, on a bed of rice and tomatoes. It was tasty, but it was, after all, just a sausage. It came with pudding too though, and coffee, so all in all, an acceptable lunch.

I didn't bother to find out what this piece of sculpture represents, but it's quite stunning to behold.

A little dam, a mile up from Argentat. There are five dams on the upper part of the Dordogne, and this must be the smallest. Dams scare me a bit.

 Oh-oh, a bigger dam! This one is the Barrage du Chastang and it's terrifying!

 Yes, I did feel a bit 'Bond-y'.

A backwards glance at the Dordogne as we climb to St Merd-de-Lapleau. (In the car, you understand... we're not up to climbing per se.) There was a little church there with four separate bells in their own little bays. I took a photo, but I took my life in my hands, as there was a big barky dog showing an unhealthy interest in me.