Lalinde

 

24^th April

The weather has turned ugly. Constant rain and no chance to get anything dry. One good thing is that the lonely dog on the hill has stopped howling, for which I am glad.

25^th April   The "Bastide" towns of southwest France are a remnant of the medieval townscapes six centuries ago. The layout has remained virtually unchanged and many of today's buildings have walls that date back to sometime between 1200 -1400.

The kings of England in those days were  French speaking Angevins, one of the four great French dynasties. They brought the population together in centres called bastides which could be more easily controlled and defended.

Lalinde was the first 'English' Bastide town, built by Henry III (the grandson of Eleanor of Aquitaine) and the Château de Lalinde was built by him in 1267. The foundations and cellars/dungeons still exist from this time.

It is one of our favourite places and  we sat and had coffee in

the wonderful sunshine. Perla watched everyone with great interest  and then walked with us around our favourite spots. The river, the great Dordogne, was in flood right against the walls of the chateau. No swans or sandbanks in sight, just a rolling brown swell of water rolling down to the sea.

I discovered  New Aquitaine courtesy of a wall decoration. I had heard of Aquitaine, who has not? After all, when Henry II married Eleanor the region belonged to England.  It was  vast  then, but now covers an eighth of the country of France and came into being on 1^st January 2016,. The new region merges the old regions of Poitou, Charente, Limousin and Aquitaine. It covers 450 miles of the Atlantic coastline and stretches from Poitou to the Pyrénees.

Plaques informing the discerning tourist of the history of certain buildings such as the Governor's House and an old auberge called Le p'it Loup were new to me. I took pictures, so I could read the info at leisure. I am consumed with curiosity about the name the Little Wolf. If anyone knows the story, do tell!