We had breakfast this morning sitting on a stone bench around the wall outside the towns Abbey. Interestingly there is an echo caused by the curvature of the wall, very interesting! Once we finished we went around to see if the bike store was open. It was! However there is no way they could fix the broken spoke this morning :( Oh well. We rode out of town and up a pointless hill. It was quite a nice road actually. As we were going up Paul said that he was taking his time, but whenever I sped up he sped up. I said I was just taking my time too, and the victory salute at 27 kph at the top was just me stretching :) Paul of course contests where the top of the hill was and claims it was 2 metres further on where he thinks he was in the lead. Of course he wasn't.
After that there was a nice downhill, our reward, and then we had a lovely stretch of white road, along the side of the river. We stopped at to photograph an old train bridge and later crossed the river and went up a dog leg to the one star town of Carlux. There was a nice little ruined castle but it was being renovated and so was closed. It was warming up so we stopped at a bar and had a coke and coffee, very pleasant. As we were leaving town I noticed a local produce store so we stopped again and Paul realised that it is one that he and his family went to in 2002! We got a couple of peaches and then back down the hill, a nice descent.
We then joined the bike path which heads all the way to Sarlat, of course we didn't follow it for far. We stopped at Aillac thinking it was the one star town Carsac-Aillac, it wasn't, but there was nice church, alas also being renovated. Back to the bike path and this time when we stopped it was Carsac-Aillac. It didn't seem like it deserved its star until we went down and looked at the church and the old fortifications visible in the hills. Very nice. Then a brief stint along a yellow road, fairly quite, and stopped at the Cingle de Montfort. Pretty but not open to the public, bummer, guess that is why it only gets a single star.
Next we went to Domme, there was a 5 K up hill climb but it was not too steep. The town is an old bastide town which is why it is on top of a hill, of course. Very pretty. However we are not really sure why it is a two star. We didn't think much of the church, but then again we didn't go into the caves (grottes) or visit the Templar dungeon either. We had a mediocre lunch and then I went for a look around the junk stores, didn't buy anything, Paul didn't even bother. With all the touristy work done we both got a three scoop ice cream in a waffle cone, lemon, raspberry and chocolate (and hayfever in the evening)!
Then we were off and out of the Bastide. It was now very hot. Somehow we went out the wrong exit and swung south and then north, fortunately it was quite a nice road and (after a climb) there was a long descent. It was very hot and very busy at the bottom and as it was now after 5 pm everyone seemed to be heading home. I found a nice quiet white back road to Sarlat, I enjoyed it. Did I mention how hot it was?
We got to town around 6pm, Paul went to look for a hotel while I asked about getting my spoke fixed. Not today and not before lunch tomorrow. Oh well. No hotel near by, they recommended another Logis, we tried that, nope. In the end 800 metres up a stiff climb to the camp site. 21 Euro!!! Unbelievable. And even more unbelievable another 300 metres of climbing (not elevation) to the camp site. Bloody hell. We showered, wonderful. Went to the loo, seat paper and toilet paper, wonderful. We did our washing, we have a clothesline!!! Wonderful. So ok, it was dear but it did have some good features.
We went into town for a walk, amazing, so many stores. Sigh. We must stay another day. We changed our plans to do a day ride for tomorrow instead. The shops were even open at 8 pm, it's almost like civilisation! I have to say this is the first place I have been to in France, other than Paris, that is truly busy.
We randomly picked a restaurant, based more on the air conditioning than anything else. I had a Salade Salamandere (basically a duck gizzard one). Paul has fresh Foie Gras with Kiwi fruit dressing, I tried a bit, it was really nice. Then we both had a Snail and Cepes stew, also delicious. Then, again, we both had the Duck breast with Pomme Sarlandaise (sliced potato's and cepes), and again it was delicious. Then we got, alas, a goat cheese with lettuce and walnut, revolting. Paul ate my cheese for me, he is trying to train his taste buds. To wash all this down we had a local wine, a Bergerac, Julien de Savignac, a white and according to the label a mix of Savignon Blanc and Semillion blanc.
Fully sated we walked all the way UP to the tent, it was dark now, cooler but still hot. It was so hot I lay partly out of the tent to stare at the stars. You needed to be careful though, you don't want to get hit by an acorn :)
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