Thursday, Sept 1st Day Sixteen – Agen to St Nicholas de la Grave

I didn’t run this morning after a sleepless night worrying about getting out of town without facing the trials of the Agen roundabout again.

I will drive across France if he likes but I am not entering that riotous merry-go-round again for as long as I live!

So we walked the route from car park to the D813 to be sure that I had no excuses to go wrong, and in fact I switched Jane off altogether – just in case she chose to intervene with some of her ‘better ideas’!

As it turned out it was a relatively short drive in very hot sunshine from Agen to St Nicholas de la Grave, and we even arrived too early to be let in where we are staying at Chambres D’hotes au Chateau and so decided that Husband could manage an extra 24 kilometres this afternoon and tthis give  us a little more time to spend with our friends in southern France.

After cycling to Bourret and taking the bike apart under the bemused gaze of various locals we traveled together to Verdun sur Garonne for refreshment and some more images that have changed little, apart from mode of transport since the 11th century!

Back to tonight’s accommodation – a whole suite in a converted castle and a delightfully laid back dog called Daisy, plus two pretty cats to fuss.

This is a beautiful place inside and out, with these elegant shutters giving an impressive frontage, plus the owner kindly allowed us access to her own secure parking because we had the bike in the back of the car. I will certainly give them a good review! 

Important buildings in the town include what is known as ‘the Chateau’ of Richard 1, Coeur di Lion  – his final home after he had worked his way across Europe to raise money to go and discuss battle tactics  and finally engaged in battle with Saladin .

ho,By MOSSOT – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=27535706

Another infamous resident of this town appears to be Antoine Laumet, aka Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founder of the American City of Detroit,  who was born in Saint Nicolas de la Grave on March 5th 1658.

In 1683 he went to what is now Canada in the service of Sun King Louis XIV. He established relationships with the Native Americans – specifically the Hurons and Algonquins, with whom he exchanged beaver skins for alcohol, that they couldn’t handle, even then a scandal to the extent that the Jesuits in Canada, criticised his perceived perversion of the “Amerindians” and he was imprisoned for a few months in Quebec in 1704, and again in the Bastille on his return to France in 1717.

His claim to fame came from his surveys of the Atlantic coast down towards the future islands of NEW YORK, then back to the Great Lakes where in July 1701 together with a handful of soldiers he founded Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit, the beginnings of modern Detroit, which he commanded until 1710.

Naturally, as a Frenchman of this period he fought against the English, and due to his prowess in this activity in 1710 he became the governor of Louisiana – although he did not arrive in that territory until 1713 and stayed only until 1716 when he returned to France – presumably never imagining that he would be imprisoned!

In 1902 GENERAL MOTORS, famously based in DETROIT, called their prestigious new range of motor cars CADILLAC in honor of the founder of the city.

In 1972, the Historical Commission and the Detroit Historical Society donated 20,000 US dollars to the municipality of Saint Nicolas de la Grave for the purchase of the family home so that it can serve as museum .

Tonight we ate our pizza in a bar/restaurant called Cadillac after this famous resident.

Tomorrow we tackle Toulouse , the largest City we have had to drive into – I so hope that Jane and I have better luck than usual!