Our first motorhome trek to France: at Penne d’Agenais
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Day 3 at Penne D’Agenais
Our third night at Penne d’Agenais. Awakened several times in the night to the thump-thump-thump of music, thinking about it, it was coming straight across the river from St Sylvestre sur Lot, … about 2 miles! The music must have been incredibly loud to travel that far and still be able to hear it!
We awoke about midnight, 01.42 and finally stopped about 03.00am. I guess it didn’t really stop us sleeping but the night was warm and when we awakened it was thumping away! In the morning the temperature had dropped to 15°C, it felt very cool! But the sky was blue and the sun was shining so we decided to get up and on our way to Temple sur Lot and Latour Marliac… the lily garden created in 1875 by Monsieur Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac to propagate and cultivate a nursery for hardy (outdoor) water lilies.
It was this garden that Claude Monet visited following Latour-Marliac exhibiting his collection at the Great Exhibition in Paris in 1889, in fact his display was in the Trocadero gradens in front of the newly built Eiffel Tower. Monet was so inspired by these new and amazing plants that, later when he bought the property at Giverny which he had been renting, he began building his own jardin d’eau and ordered the lilies from Monsieur Latour-Marliac. [Later note: We visited Monet’s garden in September 2019, read our account (opens a new tab)] There followed the famous paintings with which we are all so familiar (the Nymphéas). The gardens and water lily ponds were enchanting.
The morning was warm and sunny, the flowers were colourful and the garden was magical. We must have spent two hours captivated by the atmosphere and magic of the place before we moved on to Temple sur Lot for our lunch… another ancient Bastide dating back to an agreement in the 1380s with Henry III and the Knights Templar (hence Temple sur Lot). We also find the Aire at Temple that we must have driven past on Friday! Tucked up behind the eglise and against the walls of the bastide, it would have been perfect… all services, a toilet and grassy area with picnic tables… room for only 4 campers, it would have been very quiet. C’est la vie… we would not have found Penne d’Argenais. Back at the campsite, it was 29°C, a swim in the pool and then a read under the trees.
Chicken salad with Muscadet and a fabulous sunset. Tomorrow we must move on… this has been a great stop.
Our motorhome tour around France : at Penne d’Agenais
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