Rocamadour to St-Céré

May 17, 2019

Gouffre de Padirac!

We thought it would be a short day today but we still got lots of exercise (all the better to eat lots).

We started our day at the crack of 10:30, having breakfasted at the hotel and oiled the chains after the last couple of wet days. Uphill of course, then along and down and rolling. The first village of any size was Alvignac, which had a picnic area with cover and public WC (I think) as we entered from the west and a nice-looking sports field as we left heading east. In between were a lot of closed businesses and vacant buildings, but we did find an épicerie/traiteur (what does that word mean, anyway?) where we bought some pizza and quiche to stash away for lunch. Then the rain started.

By the time we got to Padirac it had more or less stopped so we continued to Gouffre de Padirac. What's that? said Al but as soon as I saw it I knew it was something I had to see.

In the village of Padirac, which is quite separate from Gouffre de Padirac (which had its own entering/exiting signs).

Admission was 15€ each but worth it. Very well done, as it should be since this attraction has been open for over 100 years! Lots of stairs, though it's possible to take an elevator, but we are cyclists and our knees work reasonably well.

The first stairs down into the sinkhole (461 steps!) are behind these decorative panels.

More stairs down and more photos on display.

Looking back up. The sinkhole is 100 metres or so across.

This is the photographer whose works are being exhibited

The audio guide (available in several languages; we opted for English) was well done and described the first exploration as well as the features we were seeing. The Gouffre de Padirac has been hosting visitors for 130 years!

The water flows down past one of the many natural weirs, depositing calcium

The visit includes a boat trip of about 500 metres (if I heard correctly) through a part where the stream fills the entire width of the cavern. In places, it's 6 m deep. No photos from the boats; this is taken as we boarded for the return trip.

Afterward we ate our picnic in the park area and remounted to continue to Carennac. We went via Magnagues which meant a very scenic descent and only 1 km of backtracking when we headed southeast along the river, heading toward St-Céré.

Jeanne d'Arc? In the abbey church, Carennac

Detail, entrance to the abbey church, Carennac

But of course we didn't just follow the river. No, we rode up to Loubressac for the views across the valley. Loubressac is a tidy mediæval town and probably worth more than the few minutes we gave it. We zoomed down D118 back to the valley bottom and along to St-Céré.

We kept getting views of this château. I took this photo on the descent from Loubressac.

We found our hotel with no difficulty (!) but we reception didn't open until 6 and it was only just after 5. How to spend an hour after an energetic ride? Beer? We found a nearby brasserie and indulged in a pint each (though here they called a 50 cl glass a "double"). Tasted great, though I can still feel the effects as I write this!

Our room at the Hôtel Victor Hugo is fine, though I have to say that the layout of the building is unusual. Maybe it's a conglomeration of multiple buildings? There's a restaurant here but it seemed more expensive than we wanted to we wandered out in search of something else. Unlike Rocamadour, this is most definitely not a tourist town. Not every restaurant we passed was open on this Friday evening, but we did find a pizza and pasta place. Al discovered a love of salade paysane, with bacon and potato (which we had before but not with a name), while I had a green salad (just greens and dressing) to start. Pizza for me and pasta for him and we were too full for dessert. I saw banana split as one of the dessert options and though that's never been a favourite of mine, it was weird seeing it in France.

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Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 476 km (296 miles)

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Steve Miller/GrampiesWell a traiteur is a "caterer", but I don't think it would be different from a charcuterie, except maybe a traiteur is more oriented to take out. In eastern Canada, in the age when we were in to such things, caterers were the people who came and fed the people at your wedding, mostly by reheating stuff they had prepared off site.

While I am blithering, the word and the business type "delicatessen" does not seem to figure in Europe. In Germany you have metzgerei, but that is more purely a butcher shop.
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5 years ago

Scott AndersonCarennac, Saint Cere, Figeac - you’re retracing a route we followed a decade ago. The Geoffre de Padirac though - we’ve never seen that, and it looks incredible. We’ll have to go back.
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5 years ago