We’re keeping up with our thrice-weekly exercise sessions of running/cycling and our route along the river at Cahors is an inspiring one. Claire’s run takes her along the river on the opposite bank to the old town and along to the lock by the apartment where we stayed last year. We need to be out early in the morning before the sun is fully up as the heat is intensifying this week. (Still 28C at 11pm las night – phew.)
A cycle route runs from Cahors along the Lot valley so we decide to follow that to Douelle, a riverside village to the west of Cahors. We’ve driven through it before but haven’t had the chance to explore properly. In theory cycling along a river should be flat, but of course there are some hills to climb. The flatter part of the ride takes us through riverside vineyards and at one point the impressive Chateau de Mercuès comes into view on the opposite hillside. It’s a former residence of the Bishops of Cahors and now a wine estate and member of the Relais & Châteaux hôtel group.
We approach Douelle via a very long downhill section which means there will be a long uphill ride on the way back. Douelle itself is pretty small with another iron bridge and it’s also a starting point for the hire of boats for Lot river cruises – the company ‘Le Boat’ has a base there. It’s history is based around wine and the transport of wine to Bordeaux. It’s also noted for a piece of art ‘Mur 2 Douelle’ – a piece of art that from a distance looks like a huge graffitied wall along the riverbank. In fact it is a commissioned mural, completed in 1992, which is the largest contemporary art painted mural in Europe at 800 m2 and 120m long. We had our lunch overlooking it on the opposite bank where an information panel gives the details of the 12 different sections, starting with the creation of the world, the history of wine through the ages and through to modern day wine making in Douelle. It’s certainly striking and the colours that reflect in the river must look amazing at different times of day and in different lights. No doubt it caused some controversy at the time! (Well it still looks like a load of graffiti to me – Joe)
Fortified by lunch we headed back up the long hill, a very long slog in fierce heat but we made it, and back to Cahors – round trip of 20 miles, which we certainly felt later.
Our neighbours at the campsite are a large french family of three generations occupying two mobile homes. There’s obviously a lot of excitement at meeting up for the summer. We’ve seen the grandmother (long white hair) sitting on the verandah, watching us intently at times) but there had been no acknowledgment to our nods, smiles and bonjours. In fact we didn’t think we’d heard her speak and she was on her own a lot, so we wondered if she might have dementia. Whilst having lunch at the campsite after a morning out she suddenly popped her head round the corner to wish us ‘Bon appétit’ and then chatted away animatedly for 10 minutes, telling us how much she liked our ‘set up’ and all about her family. Just shows how wrong you can be and hopefully we will be able to chat some more.
The campsite organisés a small market ‘sur place’ twice a week with 3 or 4 local producers in attendance. We took advantage of some of their wares to enjoy at a later date.
