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DORDOGNE
February 2011 - Issue 24
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Lexine cooks up a storm
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TRAINEE chef Lexine Hepworth has won the top award at the Sarlat Truffle Festival cooking competition – after just three years in France. Working with her tutor, Fabrice Cambonie, from the Lycée Hôtelier in Souillac, the 19-year-old from Souillac, who hails from Chester, won over the jury of 12 Michelin-starred chefs with her pot-au-feu of foie gras and rare vegetables with jellied truffles. “I was a bit nervous when I saw the audience” Lexine said, “but I just wanted to let all these famous chefs see what I could do”. Lexine, whose parents own a restaurant in Souillac, last year won the Meilleurs Apprentis de France award. She also works in the Michelin-starred Pont de l’Ouysse restaurant with Daniel Chambon. Her prize includes stages at Maison Lenôtre restaurant in Paris and Rougié Foie Gras in Sarlat.
Passenger fury after a year of railway delays by OLIVER ROWLAND RAIL passengers on the Périgueux-Limoges line are becoming increasingly incensed after nearly a year of disruptions and delays. The line is used by people working in Limoges and, according to passengers’ association Périgord Rail Plus, “problems have been piling up one on another, seriously worsening the service, causing multiple inconveniences”. Passengers also complain they are not consulted and never hear about important changes affecting them until the last minute. Association president JeanFrançois Martinet has written an open letter to the president of Limousin Regional Council, which manages the line, after, he says, having spent several months asking in vain for a meeting. He said the problems started last spring with two weeks of strikes, followed quickly in May when, with little warning, the line was closed for eight weeks of line renovation work. This meant buses being substituted for trains and journey times rising to two hours rather than 40 minutes, causing problems with employers and childcare. There were were further strikes in the autumn. Mr Martinet said: “The renova-
Photo: Réseau Ferré de France
Photo: AFP / ROMAIN PERROCHEAU
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Commuters are losing patience with the TER service at Périgueux tion work was meant to improve the service, but since then there have been more and more delays.” He said the local TER trains were regularly affected by delays, but the Corail Intercity Lyon to Bordeaux trains, used by many people to go home, were also hit. Mr Martinet noted that the Corail often arrived in Périgueux 25 minutes late, although rarely as much as half an hour, which is when compensation would have to be paid. Connections to destinations such as Paris or Bordeaux were also disrupted by the delays. He said two recently created
stops just before Limoges had made the trains arrive even later, so even on “good” days passengers tended to miss their usual buses. There are plans to modernise the line – including electrifying it to allow TGVs – and Mr Martinet said: “That will be very interesting, but it is 10 years away and we need improvements now.” He is asking for regular travellers and commuters to receive compensation for the line works and strikes, and for the rail management to consult users before Î Turn to Page 2