Sunday 5 January 2020 – Thielly to Gourdon

Thielly to Gourdon - 218 miles

Another cold night but a nice bright partly cloudy start, which gradually improved throughout the morning until it became wall-to-wall blue sky, although the temperature didn't get much above 6/7 degrees. Full English Sunday breakfast of course then empty the waste tanks and get back onto the road towards Vierzon. Then Jamie started creating for some reason so a short stop whilst he got walked again until he settled once more.

Shortly before Vierzon we joined the A20 non-toll autoroute, and stayed with it then for most of the day. We don't normally “do” motorways but it was going in our direction and, although in no rush, we had no real wish or need to stop off anywhere so we thought may as well get some distance in on our way to the sunshine! So with the cruise control set we enjoyed a steady run through quite attractive countryside, at one point crossing the Dordogne, stopping for a leisurely lunch at a very nice aire de repos where we managed to refill the water tank – 5 trips with the watering can....!

Just after Brieve the motorway became a toll road, which we definitely don't do, so dropped onto the D920, which is the old N20, for a slower but much more “scenic” (read twisty and hilly) route through what was now the Lot region of France. We were heading for Cahors but it soon became clear that that was as far as we would be going today, so Bren got the books and maps out and from a limited choice spotted a nice looking place about 10km off our route.

Gourdon is an attractive small hill top town and the aire de camping car was nicely set just off the town centre in a little valley. With nobody else on it we settled in and found free electric and water – the latter was turned off but Terry found the stop-cock............! The electric switched itself off after an hour but could be turned back on again – fair enough so that it wasn't abused.

Next morning - a bit frosty!

With the sun going down the temperature dropped again so screens up and blinds closed for a quiet evening. We took advantage of the electric/water for a shower in the van after tea before log, blog and books. The onward route is pretty much planned out now; tomorrow head for Toulouse then south across the Pyrenees to Andorra, a country we've never visited, and then on into northern Spain. The weather forecast is good, if cold, so we are looking forward to a different experience.

Come back tomorrow for an update!