St-Cirq-Lapopie to Cahors

May 13, 2019

Everything's a postcard

"Everything's a postcard," said Al as I stopped yet again to get my camera out. That time was to capture the "défile Anglais" (I think).

There was no need to rush this morning. St-Cirq-Lapopie is a lovely village and it's a short ride to Cahors. Besides, I missed the Office de Tourisme yesterday and wanted to get directions down to the chemin de halage. I certainly didn't want to make a mistake and have to climb back up!

Once again, we were underway at the crack of 10:30. It's a good thing we don't need to start early to beat the heat! In fact, the descent to river level was a tad chilly.

And looking down to the river from the same place.

We found the chemin de halage without trouble and it was a beautiful ride/walk. Yes, we walked part of it. The stone paving was bumpy and the stones themselves were a little slick and neither of us felt like going for a swim! Besides, there was no rush and we could spend the time to fully enjoy the route.

St-Cirq-Lapopie from the river level. Impressive!

The chemin de halage and the second lock of the day. I took the previous photo from the first, which was right where we joined the chemin de halage.

More modern art, near Bouziès. We had been discussing over dinner whether France (still) had any large timber. Short pieces, anyway! We have seen a lot of logging and piles of logs by the road awaiting collection; some appeared to have been waiting for a very long time. The logs were always short by BC standards, maybe 2 or 3 metres long.

The railway bridge (?) near Bouziès. I like this kind of steelwork.

More modern art near Bouziès. This artist was clearly influenced by the paintings at Pech Merle.

At Bouziès, we crossed back over the Lot on the same narrow bridge as yesterday. We turned left to continue downstream on D662, a scenic route with little traffic. At Vers we crossed to the left bank once again but D49 led us up and away from the river. We continued to climb until the intersection with D8 where we turned and descended through Galessie. After a short stint on the D911 (which seemed long!) we escaped onto Les Ramondies, marked as a cycle route. It was very bumpy, seeming to be a collection of patched potholes, but there was essentially no traffic. It continued under various names and improving surface until the outskirts of Cahors.

Looking back at the bridge we just crossed for the second time. We have seen several of these narrow suspension bridges over the various rivers.

We've noticed that trees are always planted in rows, even in "wild" forests. That seems strange to us, but even stranger are the stripes on hillsides caused by lines of evergreens among the deciduous trees. Were they planted like that?

More modern art, near St-Géry. The wheels turn in the breeze and I think it's mounted to turn like a weather vane. What a fun project it would be to make a similar one using cans from BC craft beer!

Looking down on the Lot valley as we climb

So many places have been called "La Borie" that I thought I should include a photo of one of their namesakes. Besides, it was an excuse to take a break on the climb!

At this point we hoped to find a bike shop and eventually we did, but it was closed. It seemed to be operating out of someone's house... we continued to Cahors with a stop by the river to eat our lunch and then tried the second of the three bike shops we'd found in our online search. This one was out of town a bit to the south. Veloclic wasn't hard to find, being right on the busy D820, but didn't have what Al is looking for. Gravel bikes and tires to suit them don't seem to be the thing in this area as they are at home.

Next destination was our hotel, the Jean XXII. On the way there we passed the third bike shop. We didn't stop as it's closed on Mondays, but it's right on Boulevard Léon Gambetta, which forms the western edge of the old town. We arrived at the hotel 40 minutes before its reception opened. What a shame--we had to go for a beer!

Well, the beer was good (I had a Picon Bière again) and the hotel is decent. The town, however, isn't what I'd call a destination. Somehow, I was expecting more.

We started our exploration by walking down the series of streets at the centre of the old town. The old town, as indicated on our city tourist map, is long and narrow, with Boulevard Léon Gambetta on the west and the river on the east. There's just one north-south street (really a series of streets) between these boundary streets and it was empty, as were most of the storefronts, and many of the buildings were in disrepair. Not somewhere I'd make an effort to visit!

We walked around the bottom of the oxbow of the Lot enclosing the city and over the Pont Valentré. It's a unique bridge, with its midstream tower, but is it worth coming to Cahors? There's not much else of interest for visitors.

Pont Valentre, stairs to the eastern tower.

Did you see it in the photo above? There's a story about the devil's involvement in the original construction of the bridge back in the 1300s. When it was restored in the late 1800s, the architect in charge added a little devil to the centre tower.

Dinner tonight was at a brasserie/restaurant on Boulevard Léon Gambetta. The food was good, the noise levels a rather high, and the ambience lacking. The prices did not reflect the detractions so we skipped the expensive desserts and retired to our room. We didn't pass a restaurant on the way that made us think "we should have gone there!"

Our hotel is right next to the Tour Jean XXII and almost looks like it's part of the same structure.

But it's not. There's a narrow street between.

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Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 633 km (393 miles)

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Paul ThurstonLoving the photos Jacquie. Keep it up! Looks like you're seeing lots of scenery and food. 😊🍷
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5 years ago

Jacquie GaudetGlad to see you're following along. Cycling is the best way, I think, to see a country, with the added benefit of needing to eat lots of delicious food!
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5 years ago