I love to travel. This statement is not entirely true. I love being here and I love being there. It’s the bit in between that I do not usually enjoy. This past weekend went some way to changing my mind. The convenience of London City Airport to the ‘Transport For London’ system made getting to the airport relatively painless. The airport itself is quite small and the processing in and out not so prolonged and painful.


City Jet use quite small turboprop aircraft on their Brive route and, sadly, everything about the aircraft is small. The overhead lockers – small (mind your head when standing up) and will only accommodate a briefcase and coat, the space between seats – small (breath in when pulling down your tray table), single toilet – very small. Despite these ‘small’ conditions, the destination was well worth the effort.


Brive Airport, contrary to my first impressions, was not converted from an old military airfield but is modern and purpose built. It is easy to use as the aircraft taxi up close to the terminal building. Not being very large, the airport operates efficiently, the baggage comes through quickly, there is only a short queue for the friendly Passport Control and, there you are, ‘en France’.

Brive-la-Gaillarde, to give it it’s full title,is divided by the Corrèze River which then flows into the Vézère River which in turn flows into the mighty Dordogne. On this occasion Brive was not our destination.

Our destination was the ancient town of Sarlat-la-Canéda which is just 45 Kilometres (27 miles) from Brive Airport. Our reason to visit this jewel in the Dordogne Valley was to take part in the Goose Festival. Like many other towns and villages in France, this festival is one of several held throughout the year. Ultimately it involves the community coming together to celebrate various local harvests. We stayed right in the centre of Sarlat at the Hôtel Le Renoir which is a 3 Star member of the Best Western consortium.


This hotel combines historic buildings with modern elegance. It has a swimming pool in it’s central courtyard either side of which are the two accommodation areas. The rooms are very comfortable and user friendly. There is a restaurant which offers a light but tasty breakfast and has a small bar (not open at breakfast time). Security is quite strict and a key code is necessary to access either part of the accommodation blocks. For more information about this hotel please click on http://www.hotel-renoir-sarlat.com/

Sarlat is the capital of ‘Black Périgord’. It’s beautiful ‘mellow yellow’ stone buildings, dating back as far as 1000 years, are remarkably well preserved. One of the more unusual architectural features are the very steep roofs. The older of these are constructed out of ‘slates’ made from the local stone and, as such, are very heavy. The steep roofs allow the weight to be borne by the thick walls of the main building.

At one stage in it’s history, for 10 years, Sarlat became English and remained so until 1370. Because of its superbly preserved buildings and narrow cobbled streets it is no surprise that Sarlat is a natural choice as a film set for historic tales of knights and heroines.

The story of our enjoyment of the Goose Festival (Fest' Oie) deserves an article of it’s own and so, keep reading to join us on our further adventures in Sarlat-la-Canéda.

For more information about The Brive Dordogne Valley Airport please click on http://www.aeroport-brive-vallee-dordogne.com/en
And
for more information about the wonders that await you in Sarlat-la-Canéda please visit the Tourist Office of Sarlat’s website -
http://www.sarlat-tourisme.com/

GETTING THERE

There is a twice weekly service from London City Airport on CityJet – Friday & Sunday with an additional return flight between 23 July & 31 August. They also fly from Amsterdam to Brive. https://www.cityjet.com

Coming soon, Ryan Air will offer a London Stansted to Brive route commencing April 2014 and flying Wednesdays & Saturdays. http://www.ryanair.com/

HOP! fly a regular service from Paris Orly Airport to Brive.ttp://www.hop.fr/