Chenonceau to Muides sur Loire

I woke late today, Paul is feeling better but still has a fever, so we took our time getting ready. We mostly packed and then while we waited for the tents to dry from the dew we walked into town to get food which we ate back at the camp site. I walked around to say good bye to the Ozzie but he wasn't there, getting food I guess.

We set off, briefly back the way we had come, there was a little bit of a head wind this morning so I guess we probably did have a tail wind in the morning yesterday. Of course we are also going up river this morning as well. The ride back the way we came was only about 8 K's and then we turned away from the Cher, over the low hills in between and towards the Loire. The area was very pleasant. It was Sunday morning, a white road, and so there was barely a car around. After a short climb we had a long section of rolling hills, very easy riding. We stopped at Chaumont sur Loire and ate our pain au raison from breakfast.


We then joined a part of the Loire bike route and followed the Loire for a bit. After a while the route turned to gravel which we did until the end of the bike path. In the end we were glad to get off it and back onto a real road. We decided to ignore the bike signs as they were a bit confusing in this area although we somehow rejoined the bike route a bit later on. Then came to the Foret de Russy. I have seen the Foret's on the Michelin maps before and so I was quite interested to see what they were like. Very pleasant, but gravel. Paul however didn't enjoy it at first, he definitely isn't himself he dropped right off when we first hit the gravel.

We came out of the Foret and stopped at the town of Cellettes, near Chateau Beauregard, we went past the Chateau but not into it. It would have been nice but today we are targeting a three star Chateau, Chsteau Chambord, so we continued on. Unfortunately I think we needed to go into the grounds of the Chateau to join the bike path because we ended up on a very rough gravel road. And then this turned into single track, rather nice actually. Even Paul seemed to enjoy it! And then it got very rough. So I took a photo. (There you go Lynda, a cycling photo for a change.)


Some how we eventually ended up back on a road near the town of Mont-pres-Chambord. It was getting pretty warm and I think Paul was knackered. From here we followed a white road and in no time we entered the grounds themselves, however there was still 3 K's to the chateau itself. We parked the bikes near the shopping area, not realising that everyone else just rode them to trees just next to the Chateau entrance. It was 9.50 Euro to get in, cheaper than yesterday. The main differences between today and yesterday are that today the Chateau is enormous, ostentatious, but yesterdays had the gardens to walk around in. The Chateau has 472 rooms of which 90 are open for inspection, including access to the enormous roof. The design is very repetitive so you get a feel for the entire chateau just from the sections that are open. Very little of the furnishings are original as in the days of Francis the 1st he brought everything with him, he had an entourage of 8000 people and the caravan was 30 K's long! The Chateau took 150 years to build up to its current state (it's not finished) it has only ever been lived in for 50 years. Francis the 1st only visited it for 72 days in the 32 years he was king. There is a stunning double spiral staircase in the centre of the Chateau and everything is built around that centre. There are also loads of towers and other spiral stair cases, all very fantastical with a Renaissance flavour.

We eventually left the Chateau around 6 pm, after 4 hours. We had another nice ride through the grounds before getting onto the road out, about 5 K's to leave the castle grounds! From there it was down to the Loire and into the town of Muides sur Loire which, naturally has a (cheap) camping ground. The ground is packed with cyclists! We showered but could not launder, too late. So we then walked into town in search of food. Oh oh. We walked all over, we'd almost given up when we eventually found an open bar.


I had a Salade Mixte, Pizza Hawaiian (Mushies and Pineapple) nice but I was so hungry it didn't touch the sides, 3 cheeses (two soft, one swiss) and a Tarte Normandie (apple with custard). Paul, claiming he is still sick, only had a pizza. Definitely not himself.

Vierzon to Chenonceau

I woke early but Paul was already rustling, he must have gotten up at 6.30. I packed and we were ready to go at 7.25 am. Sunrise is only at 7.10'ish so we were doing pretty good. It was a tad overcast and of course it is damn early so it was cold out, so we put our thermals on.


The roads out of town were deadly quiet, a weekend morning in France, lovely. We rode 14 K's to the town of St. Georges for breakfast. We had a very pleasant repas sitting on a wall by the boulangerie. Then we continued on. The day was flat with barely any rolling today, nice and fast. We followed the Cher, down river, and by 11 am we had already done 65 K's! We stopped for lunch in the one star town of St. Aignan. There was a market on, boy was Paul salivating! I got a couple of very nice peaches, tasty and juicy. Then Paul discovered that there was a shop with roasted chickens, ducks, quail and... rabbits! Guess what we had for lunch? Yep an entire roast rabbit! Finger licking good. Actually it tasted a lot like chicken. We sat in a picnic area on an island in the middle of the river.

We had another stop at the one star town of Montrichard. We shared an Eclair Chocolat and I had another drink. The town is quite nice, has a modest church and the nice ruins of a castle on the hill. However we are more focused on the Chateau we are visiting today so we did not stop for long. When we were getting closer to Chenonceaux Paul wanted to stop at a Logis however he agreed that if there is a closer Camp site we'll go there. As it happens there is a one star camping site right next to the chateau, reasonably cheap. So no Logis for Paul tonight! We set up and then went to shower but there are no showers until 6 pm, bugger. I had a towel wash instead, Paul didn't bother. We did however do the laundry, and there is a clothes line, nice!


After that we walked the few hundred metres to the Chateau, three star site of France, only 10 Euro's each. Needless to say it was very good, and well worth the money. Then again I imagine Patrick would hate it :) The Chateau Chenonceau is a very famous one, it straddles a river and has magnificent gardens. We started with the Chateau which had three floors and is mainly filled with original furnishings, quite magnificent. It was interesting in the kitchens, there was a sign apologising for them not being the originals. The kitchen was upgraded during World War I because the Chateau was used as a hospital. So the new kitchens are almost a century old as well! We took far too many photos and then went for a tea. Paul's feeling exhausted and a bit feverish. Surprisingly the tea was only 1.50 Euro, just about the cheapest we've had in Europe! Then we went for a walk in the gardens, very extensive. The Chateau is of course surrounded by forests as well which were used for hunting. There were also large gardens for food and flowers. All of the floral arrangements in the Chateau, and there are many and they are huge, come from their own gardens. Between the fish in the river, the forest and the vegie gardens I can easily believe that the Chateau was self sufficient.


After an exhausting two hours we went back to the camp to check the washing and have a shower. There was an Ozzie there from Melbourne travelling on his own, he is here for 3 months and like us is finishing in a week or two. We talked for quite a while before we needed to shower. I am not sure if he is even going to the chateau, he went last time he was here, in 1982! Finally we showered, and feeling much better we went into town for dinner. There were several to choose from although the menu's are not that different. Paul is actually not feeling that well, so he is getting the Vegie menu, but yes it has fish in the menu. The meal was very nice, I had deer for the main with vegies in a really tasty sauce. I also had a Kir Royal and a 250 ml bottle of cider. I would have had wine, they had an excellent wine menu including several aged wines from the early 90's. But Paul doesn't want to risk it, damn. Still think of the money we saved :)

Montignac by bike and train to Vierzon

Slept really well last night. It is almost cold this morning, cool air blowing in from the window and out the bathroom window. There was rain last night but it didn't last that long, or at least I never heard it again. We got up at around 7.30 and went down for breakfast at 8 am. They took ages to bring out our bread and drinks but it was a nice breakfast and a welcome change to sit down while we eat it, and at leisure. There was baguette, sliced (rock hard) bread, croissant, mini pain au chocolate, yoghurt, boiled eggs, fruit, cereal, orange juice, tea and coffee. A nice start to the day.

We've completely given up on the idea of the Lascaux caves and we aren't even going to bother trying to go there. Instead we will make our way up the river to a train station and see what our options are. We checked on-line but the route it gives requires a station change in 7 minutes which seems a bit unlikely.

We set off in the wrong direction but used a side road to connect back. In fact the side route was so nice, aside from the up and down, that we stayed on that the whole way. At one point we had a fair climb up to a rather good look out, we could see three separate chateau's along the river. I pointed out the horrible red route that was on the other side of the river to Paul and said “Who'd want to take that nasty busy road?”. Paul wanted to know if I meant the dead flat one with no cars on it. Yep that was it :)

After the lookout there was a nice descent into the next town and from there a small lump and then another lovely riverside road (beside not above) into the town of Terrasson. We'd decided to ride directly to this town without checking out any others along the way as we thought this was the first town that would actually have a manned train station, and we were right. The station attendant was very helpful and took ages to book a route for us which seemed unduly complex and even included a TGV leg. However the price was 150 Euro! Too much, we were expecting it to be about 80 or 90 Euro at most. We picked a town that was quite so far and he tried again, this time it was 108 Euro which seemed much better. We could have saved the 8 by riding the 15 K's to the next town but couldn't be bothered. We booked that, thanked him several times and then went back into town.


The town has a nice looking church half way up the hill that surrounds the town so up we went. Alas it is being renovated and it closed to the general public, bummer. We enjoyed the views for a while, Paul took yet more photo's and then we went back down in to the town, checked out the 12th century bridge. Paul then found a patisserie with a meringue based regional speciality tart so we got that and ate it in the town square. As it turns out the change of destination is probably good as it puts us on the river Cher which Paul informs me is another important chateau area, so more to see!


The train was spot on time, as always,, we got on and while there were bike hooks didn't bother as this leg is only 14 minutes. A pleasant little trip down the river valley, and no hills! At Brive La Gaillarde we carried the bikes down the steps, up the steps and then rode out of the station to the nearest restaurant. Paul immediately picked the Logis de France restaurant which had an 11 Euro lunch which included a buffet entree. We locked the bikes up together across the street in a bike parking area and settled in for our 90 minute lunch, I mean wait. The buffet was reasonably good, lots of vegies, gerkins, even a mixture of mushies. We ate a plate of that with baguette and then I had beef burgognone and Paul had steak hachette. Some of the beef was a tad tough but by and large it was pretty good. Washed down with a Rose for me a red for Paul. For dessert you could get one dessert from the buffet so I had a slice of apple pie ad Paul a crème brulee.

With just a few minutes to spare we made it to our carriage on the incredibly long train. About 12 carriages, almost like a Japanese train. There were even bike hooks which we got the bikes on to, panniers and all, with some effort. Then a rather nice, air conditioned, ride to the town of Limoges. At this stop, our final change of trains, we had a quick look at the area outside the station and decided that there was nothing there. We then walked back into the station planning to look for somewhere to wait when the train platform number appeared so we went immediately there. And it is a lucky thing we did. When we got there, to the two carriage train, there were already two cyclists trying to get their bikes up and into the only area of the train where the bikes could fit. After removing our panniers we followed them in and the organised to have our bikes against the wall as they were getting off first. While we were doing that another cyclist appeared, he went to the other end of the carriage. We then settled into a pair of seats to wait for the train to leave when 2 more cyclists arrived. And then another 3, and then another 2. Who knows how they fitted so many people into the front carriage, but they did get everyone in!

The train finally left, spot on time of course. It is an all stops and will take close to 2 and a half hours to get to Vierzon so I decided it was a good time to do some work on the diary and photo albums, so I did. I went to the loo after a while and discovered that they had opened up the guards area and put all of the bikes in there, so no problem after all! After a rather uneventful journey we arrived at Vierzon. We descended from the train, repacked the bikes and then we had to go down and up to exit and there were ramps! Cool. Paul almost lost control of his bike but fortunately no children or animals were injured.

We then looked for a map, there was one, AND the camping was marked. So good! Paul seems resigned to camping so off we went. There were even signs all the (round about scenic view of the city) way to the camp site. Great! And it was only 8.25 Euro, what could be better. Well as it happens it has concrete picnic tables available! Alas though, we don't actually have any food to cook. So after a shower (too late for laundry) we ate at the camp site snack/dinner area. Paul got two turkey kebabs and I had chicken fillets, both with a green salad. The chicken was actually very tender, the lettuce smothered in a sea of mayonnaise. For dessert Paul had a Magnum, the bugger. I had a Callypo because I've been on the verge of hay fever the last few days. I'd have loved a Magnum I haven't had one in so long.

Sarlat to Montignac

We both got up early today as it was a bit cooler and we also wanted to get going before it gets too hot and too crowded. We were down at the patisserie by 8 and on our way by 8.20 am. I'd chosen a white road for the first part of the route just to avoid what I suspect is a very busy red road. It was, as expected up and down, up and down, however it was quite pleasant, cool if not cold in places which made a nice change, and hardly a car about. The final part of the route to Les Eyzies was along a green road and it was, surprisingly, almost all down hill. Very nice.

We stopped at the Grotto Gaume, two star, and Paul even decided to go in (he hates caves) since there were cave drawings present. However, after quite a wait we got to the head of the line and discovered that even though the ticket office had only been open for only 30 minutes the tickets were already up to 1 pm. We decided it was too late, we would never finish the day if we didn't leave here until after 2 pm. So no cave this morning :(


We followed the road out of town and up another hill, quite a long one and a lot of traffic. Now as it happens, fortunately for Paul, I didn't notice the turn off for a route which would go up a quiet white road. It was fortunate for Paul because only a few K's further on there was a Goose farm where they gave demonstrations of the goose force feeding. I think it is kind of disgusting and I didn't want to see it but it turns out the demo was in only 20 minutes so there was no way Paul was going to pass that up. The farmer came out in due course, gave a long speech about the geese. As far as I could ascertain the babies were about 8 weeks, the middle size ones 17 weeks and the larger ones older. He then took us into the feeding shed where there were two groups of four geese. It was interesting the way they behaved. Outside they all flock around the farmer as he feeds them. Inside they run from him squawking. Paul assures me that they feel nothing from the process but I don't think so. The farmer gabbled on for a long time and then fortunately we could leave. All I got out of his speech was that they get 17 days of one type of food and 17 days of a corn like feed.


We finally left there and this time I did see the turn off for the next quiet route which also turned out to be fortunate. Just a K or two along there was Le Roque St. Christophe. This is the location of an old fortress built into the rock face. The first fortress, really rock face town, was around the 14th century. However the site has been almost continuously inhabited for the last 55,000 years! The rock face town is gone however they have recreated sections of it and there was even a printed English guide. They also had working replicas of various different winches that were used at the time to get food and materials up from the valley floor. It was actually a very good site.


We were peckish so we polished off a patisserie we had from breakfast and then rode the 5 K's to St Leon sur Vezere. This is also a one star town and quite pretty, although not very big. We checked out the restaurants, almost accepted a mediocre looking one, when we saw a sign for a garden restaurant. We went there of course, a very nice setting and the food was excellent. I am pretty sick of duck and goose by now so we had something completely different: A vegetarian terrine (yes Lynda it's true), a vegetarian assortment for the main, including a lovely potato dish, with two medallions of chicken. Ha Ha, fooled you. And dessert was a Tart Belle Helene, basically a lemon meringue pie. Delicious, bloated we left around 3 pm. Fortunately it is not as hot today.

Then the final 10 K's to Montignac where the Lascaux Caves are. Of course we have no hope of seeing them now, it is just too late in the afternoon. So it looks like it will have to be another time. The final stretch of the ride, after the obligatory hill was along the side of the river Vezere. We've actually been along the river all day but this is the first time that they've bothered to put the road along side instead of in the cliffs up above. There was a nice little chateau along the way, open to the public too, but it was on the other side of the road, so we got a photo but that was all.

Finally reaching town we circled once looking for the hotel that Paul had picked and then found it. We checked in, they only do demi-pensions. This is where there is a fixed price for accommodation, breakfast and dinner all in one, in this case 120 Euro. It seemed a little steep but we were planning to have dinner there anyway (we'd already checked the menu) and tomorrow is a semi-rest day so it would be nice to have a proper breakfast, so we did.

After showering, I started the hard work on the diary. I am so far behind and Paul has taken so many pictures it is going to take ages to catch up :( Around 6pm Paul insisted we go for a walk and just as we were leaving Paul found the two pain au raison that we bought for breakfast and forgot about. He ate his but I just nibbled at mine, mainly the raisins, and fed the rest to the ducks. Quite fun. There was a mini Paul duckling, it grabbed as much as it could and wouldn't share no matter how big the other duck was!


The town itself is quite nice, not that touristy. The church is 1930's and of course by now most of the shops were shut. Still we had a nice walk, Paul took too many photos again, and we got back to the hotel around 8pm for dinner. After a quick wash we went down and we were one of the last ones to arrive. Dinner was in the garden out the back of the hotel and there was almost a cool breeze blowing. There is a change coming in and it is supposed to be 24C tomorrow, a nice change. The demi-pension includes the 24 Euro menu, which we'd picked earlier. It was mainly regional specialities but I managed to avoid duck altogether, Paul however couldn't help himself and had duck gizzard salad and confit of duck. I had red mullet with salad, which included a rather nice tomato sorbet, and then I had steak which was outstanding, so very much better than the other day at the Bellevue hotel. Of course the wine was just a glass of the local red and was not too exciting. For dessert I had what turned out to be another lemon meringue tart!

One interesting thing about the hotel is the number of English tourists here. We can't remember the last hotel where there were any and this hotel is almost completely full of them. Funnily enough some of them are exactly the stereotypical English tourists, not a word of French, they even had to ask what the word for water was!

Ride around Sarlat

Slept like a log, couldn't hear Paul for a change :)


We got ready and rode down the hill for breakfast around 8 am I think. Stopped at the patisserie and got baguette, two pain au raison and a Tresse for later. We then sat on a rock wall near the Logis we couldn't get into, there was a market on too. We then set of immediately for our loop, the earlier we go the cooler it will be. First off we had to go down an awful busy red road to Beynac-et-Cazenac, a two star town thanks to the fortress there. We rode into the lower town which is very picturesque and Paul took far too many photo's. (I think that's going to be the case for the next few days.) Then we walked up to the fortress proper. This is an English fortress from the 100 years war. On the other side of the river are the French fortresses from the same period.

We walked around but we were too early, so we went and got a drink while we waited for the Chateau to open. 3 Euro each for an Orangina, it's a good thing the Australian dollar is appreciating :) We went into the fortress just after 10, it was a good time as there were not too many people around yet. The fortress is amazing, it is in excellent condition and is under going a restoration process from 1980 to 2030! It is perched on a rock out cropping, naturally, high above the river floor. Very good. There are of course very few furnishings other than some massive chests and wardrobes. We spent over an hour just inside the castle area. By the time we came out there were hundreds of people around.


We then rode down from the castle using a different route and then crossed over the river to the French fortress of Castelnaud-la-chapelle. It is only a little down stream from the English fortress. It is not as impressive looking but Paul thinks that is because it is on a naturally defended (i.e. shear) rock face so it does not need as many battlements. We rode up the 1.5 km road to the chateau and had a look around, however it is already close to midday and we originally planned to be back at the camp site by then. Not to mention that it is getting damn hot now. So instead we looked at the junk shops and I bought a replica castle.


We descended down looking for somewhere to have a drink and a patisserie we bought this morning. In the end we sat by the river, a bit cooler, quite pleasant. Then it was time to make some tracks to get back before it got too hot. However there was one more stop along the way, La Roque-Gageac, actually the castle I bought a miniature of. It wasn't far and Paul time trialled us there in no time. This castle is also in excellent condition but is unfortunately not open to the public. We think the town was given a star rating is for the actual town itself, it is quite nice, built along the side of the cliff. We took a bit of a look around before continuing on.

Paul resumed time trialling and we were back to the back road route we used to get to Sarlat in no time. A pleasant enough ride with no panniers, but much hotter than yesterday. Yesterday was 34C and today is 37C, noticeably worse. We rode back to camp with the intention of cooking. So while Paul went ahead I bought baguette, peaches (for dessert), a bottle of Orangina and paid for an extra day of camping. The lady at reception was quite impressed that we'd been out in such hot conditions. Paul cooked up a storm! Alright, that's an exaggeration he reheated the jar of Coq au Vin we bought the other day. It was very nice with the baguette, and very filling :)

After cleaning up we walked into town. It was absolutely packed with people. The town itself is all cleaned up, very nice. Beautiful stone work in all the buildings, wooden framed houses here and there. We went to the church for a look, and because we thought it would be cool inside, but alas it was pretty warm inside. I bought some Foie Gras to send home and a small porcelain serving plate which has a goose head as a handle. The next thing was to mail it all home. The plate was a bit of a risk but it was only 10 Euro so hopefully it will make it home. It is wrapped in paper and a T-shirt and wedged in between some other stuff. We only just made it to the Post Office in time, Paul just happened to notice the time at 4.45 pm, they close at 5. 3.45 Kg's sent home for 41 Euro, the bike will certainly be lighter tomorrow :)


We walked around until dinner, just enjoying the ambience. The restaurant we picked actually has its own cave which you can check out after the meal. The restaurant was quite cool when we got there because of it which was nice. The food, alas, was not as good as yesterday. Because the fresh Foie Gras was so nice last night I risked getting it tonight and while it was tender it had a strong duck flavour which doesn't work that well for me. The main course of trout was not so hot either, I think it was over cooked because it was hard to get the bones out. Dessert was a piece of chocolate cake, a little too close to Sarah Lea for me. So really the meal was a bit of a disappointment compared to yesterday. After paying we checked out the restaurants cave, and it really is a cave. It has been in use since the 15th century and the water flows into a small fountain next door to the building. It was also lovely and cool in there so we stayed a few minutes. Then back to camp, in the dark, it was finally starting to cool down. I stared out of the tent at the stars for a while again to help cool down.

Souillac to Sarlat

Well I learned something new last night! Paul can snore as he breathes in AND out! Bloody annoying to say the least.

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 :)

Train to Souillac

Almost another rest day today. But not so restful a night. At about 5am the fire alarm went off. It was very loud and it went on and on and on. In the end I went for a walk down the lane until they finally turned it off. Fortunately it was quite cool by then so there was no problem getting back to sleep. No sign of the fire brigade though. As to the day, Paul decided that even though he'd like to we are not going to Lourdes. It is a bit inconvenient and we are running a bit low on time. So instead we are catching a train north from the nearest station rather than in two days time.

Consequently we packed and checkout as soon as they opened, 8 am. Interestingly, when the owner was preparing the bill she had to go to the menu to get the prices and the 1986 Mercurey is now crossed out! So we got the last one, it patiently sat there for 23 years just for us :) A shocking 275 Euro for two nights and dinners, of course more than a third of that on wine and an almost equal amount on food. The accommodation was the smallest component.


We got a pain au raison in town and then rode to Lannemazan which has the nearest train station. There was a map of the region and the town we wanted to go to, Souillac, was listed. Paul got the tickets and then we went and got Paris Brest to celebrate finishing the 100 Col club event and ate it at a bar across the road from the station with a hot drink. By the by, it rained a little bit last night and was quite misty this morning, but it is not even remotely raining now.

The train arrived right on time, we squeezed ourselves on and had a fairly pleasant trip to Toulouse where we had to change trains. When we got there we went out of the station and across the road to have lunch. There was a bike store there too but they didn't do repairs, so no luck on the spoke today. For lunch we had a plat du jour, Tagliatelli Carbonara. A bit cheesy but light enough given that we have only done 13 K's today. I got a map for the next area and then we caught the next train, no problem on this one as there was a baggage area. After 2 hot but fairly pleasant hours we arrived in Souillac. We went directly into town and checked out the Logis de France. The one we wanted, i.e. cheapest with WiFi, was shut till 4.30 so we went and got a drink and in the end stayed at that hotel instead, about 10 Euro cheaper. The room is quite large but is on the third floor, a bit of a hike.


We went for a walk around town, there is an abbey there and lots of historic buildings. The general houses themselves are rather historic for that matter. We also stopped at a Foie Gras shop and Paul bought a tin of Coq au Vin which we plan to heat up and have with bread for lunch one day. After an hour or so I'd had enough so we went to the restaurant Paul had picked and had an aperitif, Muscat, quite alcoholic really. Then we got the regional menu for 20 Euro, a local version of goose gizzard salad, then a duck cassoulet. They were both very nice. The cassoulet is more of a winter dish and we were both sweating and stuffed by the time we finished it. After that we waddled back to the room for the rest of the night.