So if there was a sticker book for ‘Les plus beaux villages de France’ (and who knows, there may be one) we would certainly be ticking off a few of them. The weather is hotting up again with 37C again over the last two days. On Wednesday we headed off on the motorbike to explore west along the Aveyron River towards Montauban. The route took us the through the gorges with a first stop at Penne, a small medieval fortified village dominated by the ruins of its château. For such a tiny village it actually seemed livelier than others we’ve seen.
From there we headed to Bruniquel, taking in the impressive château perched high on the rocks above us. Our route took us on past Montricoux, via Albias and on to a Montauban. As we progressed and emerged from the gorges, so the scenery and landscape changed, becoming more agricultural again with fields of sweetcorn, sunflowers and extensive apple orchards. It seems the apples are not only for eating but also get made into apple juice, ciders, eau de vie and apple-based patisserie such as croustade de pommes. It certainly looks like they’ll have bumper crops this year. The architecture of the houses also started to change with lots of use of pinkish hued bricks the closer we got to Montauban.
At Montauban we took some time to wander around the centre of what seemed to be quite an elegant town, in particular the Place Nationale in the heart of the town. The square is surrounded by brick arcades, built in the 17th century to replace wooden arcades that were destroyed by fires. The town is located on the Tarn river and we enjoyed our picnic lunch overlooking the weir and bridges.
We planned a circular route back with a stop at Cordes-sur-Ciel. Before we got there another wonderful hilltop village came to view in the distance , all the more impressive because of the rampart walls all the way around it. We discovered later that the village was Puycelsi and definitely looks like it would be worth a visit on another day. Our route started to take us into the Gaillac wine region and we have been enjoying both the red and rose wines of that area.
By the time we got to Cordes-sur-Ciel the temperature had risen considerably, so a change out of motorbike gear was required. This fortified town was built by Raymond of Toulouse in 1222 and has wonderful medieval and gothic architecture. It was voted the favourite town by French TV viewers in 2014 and Joe also visited when he was in the area a few years ago. The town is totally pedestrianised and we decided against the small train ferrying visitors up to the top and walked up instead. The incline of the cobbled streets is extreme and all the more difficult when wearing a face mask in hot temperatures but the views on the way up and at the top are worth the effort. This is another town full of artisan craft shops but nothing much for practical day to day living – that all seems to happen at the bottom of the hill!
The previous day we signed up for a day of canoeing, direct from the campsite riverside and organised by one of the local kayaking companies (of which there are a few) – Les Pieds dans l’eau. We were given our large watertight ‘bidon’ to store our belongings and more importantly our picnic lunch and wine. Our route was a one-way 12km stretch from the campsite just east of Saint Antonin to a landing point just beyond Cazals to the west. Before setting off we were given a briefing on what to expect en route and the correct side to approach the various weirs we would encounter on the way. With instructions committed to memory we set off, with no further surveillance until we got to our landing point. The first weir, just before Saint Antonin was tackled without incident and without getting grounded on the top of the weir. Beyond the town we were soon in the gorges with cliffs above us on both sides.
The next weir, next to a hydro-electric plant was larger and a kayak chute between two walls was the route to take. In our briefing we had been told we would get ‘as wet as if we were in a swimming pool’ and indeed it was rather like a log flume ride at a water park, but we executed it well. From there on we encountered various ‘rapids’ that gave some excitement and laughter.
There were a number of ‘beaches’ and landing points along the way to provide swimming opportunities and picnic spots – we enjoyed our lunch watching other people negotiate a tricky rapid. By mid-afternoon we reached the landing point, from where we were transported back by minibus. The canoe companies take photos at various points along the way. By the look on Claire’s face we must have been approaching a tricky spot!
