The Lot Valley France

Travelled: 142km
Visited: Faycelles, Cabrerets, Cahors
Stay: Cahors- aire free parking and services. GPS N44°26.420' E1°26.468'

Feeling very excited as we woke to blue skies and sunshine, we set off driving through Figeac and after making a wrong turn somewhere, we found ourselves stopping at a lookout and having breakfast in the morning sun watching the birds flying in the thermals.

 We had noticed a few hikers along the road, one was even with a donkey. We chatted to a fellow and found out that they are doing the Santiago Pilgrim walk. He will take 10 weeks to complete his journey. 

We continued down the road and stopped at the beautiful village of Faycelles (Mark said he could buy a house here). It has such a lovely atmosphere and the stones houses where full of character and most offered a great view of the valley below. 

From here we drove down and along the Lot River Valley. Very picturesque with lime stone cliffs, villages on rocky outcrops and fertile pastures. 

We planned to follow the river all the way into Cahors but a 2.9 height restriction made us take another road which brought us to the village Cabrerets, where we had eaten lunch last year. As it was lunch time we decided we had to stop for lunch again and it was delicious!

With full bellies with set off for Cahors. We felt very lucky when we came to the 3 place aire, that someone was just leaving, giving us the last spot on the river. (There is a larger parking area 200m further on)

We spent the the afternoon wondering through the medieval quarter and took a look in the St Etienne Cathedral which has two 18m wide cupolas (the largest in France). Also the wall paintings are originals from the 14th century. 

After a little treat, we made our way to Valentré Bridge, one of France's finest fortified medieval bridges. I got a little worried about Mark as he became very accident prone...whilst gazing up at the architecture of the Cathedral he managed to trip on the kerb, walk into a bollard, bump into a lady and then later walk in some dog poo! So we spent the rest of the afternoon sitting on our chairs enjoying the sun.