Day 30 - Saint Cirq Lapopie to Rocamadour - Gorging in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

May 17, 2023

Day 30 - Saint Cirq Lapopie to Rocamadour

Via Capdenac and a Little Help From SNCF

The revised plan that was set in motion two dayes ago in Figeac had its final day today, and the consensus was that it was a resounding success.

We woke up to another glorious day of blue sky scattered with a few cotton ball clouds. The temperature was in the mid teens, allowing us to have our smashing breakfast on the patio with a view of the Lot valley spreading out to the east. Breakfast was early too (for France) and we were packed up and on the bikes by 8:30.

Why the early start? Well, we had train to catch in Capnedac in a few hours and we didn’t want to miss it. The final phase of our revised plan was to ride east up the Lot ~50 km to Capnedac and then catch the regional train to Gramat, leaving us a final ~15 km ride to Rocamadour.

Our original plan would have called for us to ride up the Celé back towards Figeac, and then climb out of the Celé valley and head basically north to Rocamadour, resulting in a ~90 km day.

The opening to this day started with me describing how wonderful the day was starting, and it was a perfect day for cycling … as long as you weren’t travelling north. Today, just like the last few days, had a stiff 30 ish km/kr wind blowing from the north, and 90 km of riding into this would have been no fun.

What we did do, a 50 km east ride into Capnadec, followed by a 35 minute 10 euro train (both of us, with bikes) to Gramat, followed by a 15 km essentially flat ride to Rocamadour, with the last few km’s into the wind, but downhill, was … well glorious. Beautiful easy pedalling up yet another spectacular river gorge to Capdenac and then more deserted minor D roads through forest and pastures west of Gramat … with no headwinds!

We arrived in Rocamadour just before 2 pm feeling fresh and with lots of time to explore this remarkable place.

Thanks Susan for recommending taking the same route into Rocamador that you and TA did last October. It is a remarkable sight to start to drop off into the l’Alzou valley and then see the Castle, Cathedrals and medieval village (all two streets of it!) dropping down the cliffs on the opposite bank.

Rocamadour is one of the most visited places in France, and it’s easy to see why. The setting is spectacular and it has a long history as a religious pilgrimage site. There is a downside to all of this though …. And that is that it is one of the most visited places in France.

Thanks to all the other CB folks whose tire tracks we are following, we knew that this is a popular place and we had the foresight to book a place here many weeks ago. Good thing we did, as even in Mid May Rocamadour was essentially ‘complete’ … as the sign in the window of our modest but nice hotel said.

I’m writing this up the day after we arrived, and now have the benefit of knowing that the next day (i.e the day that I’m writing this) is Ascension day, a national holiday in France, and since it fell on a Thursday, most working people (and schools) also take Friday … and the following Monday off.

So, we arrived just at the start of a 5 day extra long weekend…. In one of the most popular spots in France.

August in May!

It wasn’t that bad, and there was no traffic on the roads we cycled on, but it was crowded compared to anywhere we’ve been so far. That’s not a complaint per se, more of an appreciation of how great we’ve had it so far on this trip.

OK, I’ve beat this horse to death. We walked up and down Rocamadour (this place is laid out vertically!), saw the chapels, The Black Virgin, and just took in the truly remarkable setting, while keeping the carvival atmosphere of the crowded two street ‘medieval age but 21st century mass tourist village’ in context.

Both K and I were discussing today as we were riding how this Europe trip for us has been so different, and refreshing. Previous tours have been focused on cities, historical infrastructure and other ‘human generated’ things, while this tour has had much more of a natural environment focus. Gorges, rivers, causses, mountains, with human influences woven into them, but not dominating.

This is a bit of foreshadowing of what tomorrow holds, quite a contrast to how this day concluded.

So, a great day of biking and another amazing setting to end the day …. Slightly marred with having to share it with a few thousand other people!

The straight line from Capdenac to Gramat is a train. This part of the trip does not appear in the recorded distance.

Heart

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SOTD - Big Yellow Taxi by Joni Michell. Pretty direct reference to the parking lots that surround Rocamador … many of which were full today!