On Saturday we left the campsite at Cahors. We really enjoyed our time there and particularly enjoyed having the time to explore the town at a leisurely pace as well as using it as a base to travel further afield. We’ve moved east along the Lot river to a campsite on the river below the village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. The landscape changed almost as soon as we left Cahors as we moved into the Natural Regional Park of the Causses du Quercy recognised by UNESCO as a global geopark in 2017. It’s key features are the distinctive limestone cliffs as well as many underground caves and ‘grottes’. Part of the road we travelled along was cut through the rock or with rock overhangs. So Saturday entailed packing up camp and then re-erecting it all again in extreme heat, so it was all done at a very slow pace. This region is on amber heatwave alert and it doesn’t show any sign of cooling down soon. The new campsite is on the river with an area of ‘beach’ and a base nautique just in front. We have very easy access to the swimming area via a gate near our plot and the cliffs are the backdrop to our view. The whole riverside area is very browned off by the sun – no doubt it looks very different when it’s green and lush. Once we had set up camp it was a quick change into swimming gear and a plunge into the river to cool ourselves down – bliss! It feels like a nice site and certainly another beautiful location.
We have not seen rain for the 43 days we’ve been here but awoke on our first day here to a short 5 minutes of raindrops, barely enough to make any impression apart from raising the humidity to levels you’d normally experience in Asia. As usual we use our first full day to explore some of the surrounding area and to get our bearings, so we have to start with the medieval village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, perched 100m up on the cliff behind us. The village belongs to the category of Most Beautiful Villages In a France and in 2012 it was also voted France’s favourite village for an annual French television show. The village itself is a listed site and there are 13 historic monuments within it. It has always been popular with artists, the most notable being the poet André Breton who lived there. So did it live up to the hype?
We walked up to the village from the campsite and, indeed, all visitors have to park in one of the car parks at the base of the village and walk up. The climb gives tantalising views of the village with its stone and timbered houses and tiled roofs. Below it are incredible views along the river with cliffs on one side and vines on the other. The combination of the buildings and views certainly ranks it as the most beautiful intact village we’ve seen. Of course that means it does attract tourists so there are plenty of restaurants and shops selling arts and crafts, but it’s charming nonetheless, albeit a bit like a living museum.
We escape the centre of the village to follow a walk around the ‘heights of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. Marked as ‘easy’, it probably would be on a cooler day but we soldier on up the ‘Chemin de Croix’ and have the reward of the Chapel of Sainte-Croix and, later on, stunning views at Le Cirque de Vènes.
When we make it back to camp it’s a quick change again and another plunge into the river.
Dear Stars
Now read all with google maps open so I can follow your journey and live it with you – thanks for sharing. And so well written. Our family has had so many camping and boating holidays in the region. On one occasion we (I!) wanted to kayak so fluent French-speaking husband left it to me to negotiate. I checked that the only problem didn’t involve death, only the occasional broken limb, and we set off. It was indeed a weir wall (the word I didn’t recognise), which we safely negotiated including the rocks at the bottom. Navigating the Lot becomes challenging when rivers enter before a lock and we’ve had a stairway of about 10 locks (I think) in one go, perhaps that was on the Canal du Midi. I loved all the swimming and open air living – but we never shared it with a donkey. Brilliant pix – I, too, find doors suggestive of other lives and centuries and loved your collection of those liminal invites. As Mary suggested, definitely a publication brewing. What a marvellous adventure. Don’t exclude walking with goats …. Maggie
Hi Maggie lovely to hear that you also know this region and its attractions. Doing a self-hire boat trip looks like hard work given that all (except one) of the locks are unmanned. The commentator on our recent boat trip said that it always seems to be ‘Monsieur’ who needs to do the important work of steering the boat into the lock whilst ‘Madame’ does the running about and winching on the lockside! Persuading Joe about the goats might be a hard sell, but there’s time… Keep well xx
Jules nearly took the side of a boat when accelerating into the first lock so subsequently I did all the steering, filter checking etc, and he did lock winching and filling wine glasses. xx
Sounds like a fair exchange Maggie! Xx