Beynac-et-Cazenac
Beynac-et-Cazenac
Day 12 (No cycling!): We had breakfast in the vielle ville near the cathedral in Bayonne. We boarded the train in late morning. We were travelling on the TGV (Train de Grande Vitesse - literally "high speed train"), the sleek trademark train of France's rail system. At Bordeaux we changed to a little two-car train that took us to Bergerac where we collected our bikes (they were waiting for us) and checked into the Hotel Cyrano. We wandered through the vielle ville. There's a statue of Cyrano de Bergerac there although he apparently did not come from Bergerac. Peter got lost for a while but ultimately found his way back. We had a lovely dinner (including a first course of eels in parsley and butter - delicious) - the restaurant Le Cyrano is a favourite of ours.
Day
13: (60 km) We set out on a beautiful warm sunny morning, following
the north shore of the Dordogne. There were a few hills, a few wooded
areas - great cycling. We stopped in Le Bugue for a picnic lunch in a
pretty spot down by the river. There was a brocante (an
antique/junk market) outside of Champagne so we had to stop, of
course. It's impossible for Heather and Carol to pass one of these.
Fortunately, everything nice was too expensive so we carried on to
Les-Eyzies-de-Tayac on the Vézère river where we found
a hotel after a day of wonderful cycling. The Vézère is
the river of pre-history. It is near Les-Eyzies
that the first evidence of Cro-Magnon man was found. The limestone
cliffs in the area are full of caves, many with paintings or carvings
by our pre-historic ancestors. Just 300 metres outside of Les-Eyzies
are the caves of Font-de-Gaume. Carol and I had visited them on a
previous trip. The paintings of horses, deer and bison deep inside
the caves are beautiful. The artists were clearly human yet the
paintings are more than 10000 years old. It was an eerie, chilling
experience and we wanted the Starks to see what we had seen.
Unfortunately, because there are a limited number of visitors allowed
each day, there were no openings for three days so they couldn't get
in. (We had the same disappointment with another group of friends
several years later. If you want to see these remarkable cave
drawings, call several days ahead to book your visit.) We had a
little "cocktail hour" with Roquefort, crackers and Monbazillac (the
sweet late harvest wine from just south of Bergerac). The blue
cheese/dessert wine combination is, as one of our friends says, "to
die for". We had our supper at a pizzeria: a "salad" of perfect
tomatoes, sliced and served with a little vinaigrette dressing, and a
thin tasty pizza. The French seem unable to make poor vinaigrette or
a poor omelette. The awful stuff they sell in stores in North America
under the name "French Dressing" is an abomination. We had a long
walk after dinner - a splendid end to a splendid day.
A part of the steep (uncyclable) climb to the Chateau de Beynac
Day
14 (80 km): We phoned ahead to book rooms in La-Roque-Gagéac.
Heather and Peter headed off to Sarlat, an interesting town with a
large medieval vielle ville. Carol and I had been there a
couple of times before so we headed south over the mountain back to
the Dordogne. We stopped at Beynac-et-Cazenac (another of les plus
beaux villages de France). It's one of Carol's favorite places in
France. We walked up the steep hill towards the imposing castle at
the top. The views across the river are fantastic. We continued on to
La-Roque-Gagéac (one of the plus
beaux villages) and checked into the hotel, dropping off our
panniers. We set out across the Dordogne and looped back to the west.
We made the very steep climb to the Chateau Castelnaud, glowering
across the river at Chateau de Beynac which glowers back, just as
they did during the Hundred Years War many centuries ago. It was very
hot (mid-30s) and the hills were starting to tell on Carol's knee. We
begged a few glaçons (ice cubes) at the bar when we got
back to the hotel. I told the patronne that they were for my
wife's knee, which was true, but a couple of them found their way
into Carol's Orangina. La-Roque-Gagéac is built along the face
of a cliff so that the street behind the main road is one level up.
We climbed to the upper part of the town. There were remnants of
dwellings that had been built into the shallow caves in the cliffs
but looked like they had been unoccupied for at least a century. The
Starks rejoined us after their adventures and we had a fine, fun meal
on the terrace overlooking the river. The experience at the hotel, La
Belle Étoile, stands out as one of the best of our trip. The
cycling was fun, although the heat made it a little tough.
Day
15 (66 km): We awakened to a thunderstorm but by the time we set out
after breakfast it was sunny and getting warm again. We crossed the
Dordogne, heading south. We stopped mid-morning for a pause
café and tried to true Peter's wobbling wheel, doing a
mediocre job. A few clouds rolled in, moderating the temperature. A
series of long climbs and descents brought us to the valley of the
Lot river at Cahors where we booked into the Hotel Terminus across
from the station. Cahors has a nice vielle ville and a
magnificent medieval bridge, the Pont
Valentré. We had dinner at Le Balandre, the restaurant
that shares the building with our hotel. We had a wonderful meal on
the terrace. In fact, Peter still says it was the best meal he has
had in his life! We took a nice stroll down to the old bridge after
dinner - a nice ending to a pleasant day.
Day
16 (40 km): We started out in a misty rain after replacing a
punctured tube on Peter's bike. We always carry spare tubes. It's
faster to replace the tube than to repair it. We can repair it at
leisure when we stop for the day. We followed the south shore on a
road high above the river Lot, stopping for a pause
café in a little village. Heather tried out her French to
ask the young man if it was going to continue to rain for a long
time. Unfortunately, what she asked was "Has it been raining for a
long time?" to which he responded, "No, just since early this
morning." A setback for her, but she's a lot braver about speaking
French than Carol is. Carol cycles in France for about a month every
year so she spends one-twelfth of her life there but still doesn't
speak the language. We rolled down from the ridge into the beautiful
village of St. Cirq-Lapopie, another of the
plus beaux villages de France. There was a small market in
full swing. We bought a bottle of Cahors wine, the intensely coloured
red wine of the region, and drank it with a pizza we bought from a
truck in the market. The rain had stopped so the women toured the
village while Peter and I watched the bikes. We're good at that. Then
we descended to the river, headed west again to where the
Célé river meets the Lot. Then we turned east again,
following the north shore of the Célé to Cabrerets
where we found rooms in a hotel. It was a cooler day - a refreshing
change.
Day 17 (60 km): It was sunny and fresh as we made the steep 3 km climb up to the caves at Pech-Merle. We took the 90 minute tour through the caves: some beautiful pre-historic paintings; the footprints of a woman and child made in the mud 10000 years ago and now hardened into rock; stalactites, stalagmites and other concretions created by eons of dripping mineral-rich water. It was awe inspiring! The descent back to the river was very fast. We continued east in the valley of the Célé with steep canyon walls on both sides of the river. This route is called the val paradis, the "valley of paradise", and it is very beautiful. We lunched by the river in Marcilhac-sur-Célé and took a look inside the old abbey at the remarkable wood carving around the altar. Farther along the river, Espagnac-Ste. Eulalie is a delightful picturesque little village. We rode fast en peloton for a while along this flat road and finally stopped in the small city of Figéac. Figéac is the birthplace of Jean François Champollion who deciphered the "Rosetta stone" which finally allowed historians to read Egyptian hieroglyphics. The women toured the vielle ville while Peter and I sat in the sun in Place Champollion, having une pression (a quarter litre of draft beer) and watching a woman at the next table making a charcoal drawing of soleilhos (covered rooftop terraces almost unique to this city) atop buildings across the square. Well, perhaps we had more than une pression; they are very small, you know!