Pittsburgher in UK: FRANCE'S MOST BEAUTIFUL REGION

My Summer Holiday this year was spent in the lush Dordogne, also known as the Perigord, stretch across the north-eastern corner of inland Aquitaine where the Dordogne, Isle and Lot rivers snake their way to the Atlantic.

World famous for its wines, the Dordogne is France's most beautiful region, a magical area of Chateauxs, Forests and Gardens, unspoilt countryside, rivers and caves .

The Dordogne is also home to bustling markets, colourful festivals and sumptuous cuisine and summer sunshine.

I managed to convince friends we travelled with to take the Moth trap on condition it would not eat into our days with hours of unloading the trap followed by the usual countless photographs.

PREHISTORIC PAINTED CAVE

One of the many Dordogne highlights was a visit to the La Grotte de Villars a cave with amazing formations of stalactites on the ceiling and the vertically growing stalagmites on the floor in caves and galleries.
When a stalactite joins up with a stalagmite growing below it, a column is born.

So the story goes one cold, winter evening at the end of the year 1953, a team of pothollers from the Périgueux Spelunking club were wandering around the Cluzeau coppice.

By some large rocks they discovered a foxes earth, an opening blocked by stones and therefore impenetrable. There was a slight mist emerging from the meatus, there was no doubt about it: behind it was an underground passage… breathing. The narrow entrance was quickly cleared to reveal a dark passage which plunged down into the unknown: Villars cave had been discoverd.

After they had cleared their passage way, the discoverers: Marie Claude FERRES - Yann JEZEQUEL – Robert de FACCIO – Bernard PIERRET and Pierre VIDAL made their very emotional journey into a magical garden of fantastic surroundings.

After many expeditions, the spelunkers had explored an entanglement of galleries and chambers spreading over more than 13 kilometres and on several levels.

Five years later, in December 1958, yet another discovery was to make Villars become a sanctuary: while exploring the cave, Pierre Vidal, a member of the Périgueux Spelunking club, spotted a number of prehistoric paintings hidden under the calcite: Villars was a painted cave.

Abbot BREUIL evaluated the paintings and in 1959 VILLARS cave was opened to the public.

One of the highlights of the tour through the cave were prehistoric cave paitingsThere are about 18 500 years, the Cro-Magnon frequent the valley of the massive and Trincou Cluzeau. They are hunter-gatherers.

These prehistoric people developed a complex cultural universe expressed through artistic expression.

Specialists in prehistoric art now know the techniques used by our ancestors to make their masterpieces. Magdalenian artists used the walls of the flattest and driest to execute their paintings sometimes takes the shape of the rock to give relief to their representations.

OTHER PICTURES FROM THE BREAK

Local Market

Phalangium Opilio Spider

Chilling by the Pool

Bug Hunting

Torsac

Velorail

Brocante

Sunflowers

Roman Tower Perigueux

Bergerac

Perigueux

My son Canoeing along local river

Health & Saftey not a strong point with the French Chainsaw Gang !

Bergerac

River

Not the Red Squirrel I had hoped for !

Bergerac Boat Trip

Grab Spider

Canoeing with my daughter

COMMON TOAD

SOME OF THE MOTHS THAT WERE TRAPPED

In between the days visiting local attractions I set the Moth trap and was pleasantly surprised with the results except for the first evening when I had caught around 12 Hornets and was not really sure what to do !

Here are some of the Moths caught