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Today we traveled from the Lot river north to the Dordogne river, although we are still in the Lot region. Most of the trip was through areas of natural scrub land interspersed with grassland, where silage was being produced. We saw many rolls of silage dotting the fields. We had some long hill climbs and also some lovely downhill runs. We only did 67km.

Our route took in Saint Cernin, Labastide-Murat, Carlucet, Couzou, Rocamadour, Alvignac, Miers and finally Carennac.

Rocamadour is a very unique place and we spent some time sight seeing here (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocamadour for pictures). We first caught sight of the village built into the cliffs on the other side of a steep gorge we were descending. The road took us right to the bottom of the cliff and we had to make our way up again to the village. There is a little train that takes tourists up there (cars have to park at the bottom).

It is very much a tourist town. The village has one main street that runs along the cliff where we enjoyed an expensive coffee. There are lots of boutique tourist food and clothing shops along here. All the buildings are pretty stone buildings with high pitched roofs.

We then climbed a steep stairway to the chapels built into the cliff above the village. The back wall of the church is natural rock and the shape is squat and wide to fit into the space. There is also a chapel devoted to Mary that has a black virgin statue, it is filled with candles and people at prayer.

These churches were built from 1152 and it has been a place of pilgrimage since then. The pilgrims used to kneel down to pray on each step of the Great Stairway that goes up to the church.

It was a steep climb back up out of the valley with our bikes to the neighboring town of L’Hospitalet, the site of hospitals built to accommodate the pilgrims. Here we found a food shop and the tourist office. So we arranged our accommodation and bought some food for supper before setting off for Carennac.

Carennac is rated as one of France’s most beautiful villages (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carennac). All the buildings are made of stone and it has an 11th century church and cloister at the center. It is on the Dordogne river. It is a small village and we are staying in a hotel here.

Today we set off on small country roads again. We are now in the Lot region of France, named after the Lot river, which we did follow for part of today’s route.

Our route took in the towns of Saint-Daunès, Bagat-en-Quercy, Sauzet, Saint Vincent Rive-d’Olt, Luzech, Dovelle, Cahors, Vers and finally Lauzès.

All the villages are very picturesque with narrow streets, flowers and trees. Kris and I were most taken with Saint Vincent and decided that we would come here if we ever move to France. It has a river and canal that run through part of it with fish and ducks in it and an old mill. It is immaculate with willow trees and beautiful gardens all around.

We stopped for a coffee at Luzech which we drank at a cafè overlooking the Lot river.

Our route followed the river to Cahors, a large town where the traffic picked up. It has a special old bridge called the Valentré Bridge – it has guard towers along it and a cobble stones – only cyclists or walkers on it.

After the bridge there are cliffs on the river and the road becomes very narrow. The route out of the city was very congested and we headed out at the first opportunity. We found ourselves on a busy road going in the wrong direction. As soon as we could we turned onto a small country road – that seemed to be going in the right direction. After this we took a series of country roads through a lot of wild undeveloped country. We rode for a long time on top of a ridge with little roads causing us to segway left and right. Eventually we found a small road that took us through a tunnel under the highway and down a very scenic hill pass, single lane only, with a cliff on one side and the river below on the other.

Getting to the bottom we crossed a bridge to the attractive town of Vers (also on the Lot with cliffs on one side). We planned to spend the night here, but there was only one (expensive) hotel in town. There was also a campsite without bungalows and a beautiful place advertised as a Chamb de Hotes, which only took women (we think it was a nunnery).

We still had the energy to go on so decided to try our luck in Lauzès, about 10km away. The route there was fairly easy, along a river valley of a tributary to the Lot.  Lauzès seemed like a large town on the tourist maps, but when we got there found it was really small. It only had one shop with few goods and high prices. No accommodation. A Chambres d’Hotes was advertised on sign posts and Kris got some directions to it from some old ladies in the town. It is on a farm a few km’s out of town. We got here at around 5.30pm. The farmhouse is situated amongst a set of dilapidated farm buildings. We were greeted by a sheep dog and a small elderly lady who could only speak French.

She led us to a large apartment with a separate entrance at the top of the house – kitchen, dining room, huge bedroom with single and double beds. Her price is very reasonable. Kris also managed to buy some tomatoes from her to go with the bread, cheese, salami and wine we had with us.

We had a lovely day today – new bikes, beautiful country roads and perfect weather.

We started out visiting the main attraction in Agen, the Pont de Canal. This is a 19th century engineering marvel – it is a canal that crosses the (large) river on a bridge. The canal on the bridge is large enough to take a boat and you can walk along it and look at the river below! (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agen_aqueduct).

As an experiment we set off from Agen with no fixed end destination in mind – just a direction of travel (north east). Each time we passed a town or intersection we would decide which one to head for next (sometimes changing our mind before we got there).

Our first destination was Laroque-Timbout – where we stopped for coffee and bought some groceries – in case we ended up somewhere without a shop. We then meandered over easy country roads (hills not as steep as previous few days). We even had a breezy tail wind come up to ease our way in the afternoon. The gear change on the new bikes is different and is taking me a while to get used to, otherwise I am finding it very comfortable to ride.

We ended up in Montcuq at around three in the afternoon, having clocked 77km on the new odometer. This turned out to be a good place to be. It is a cute town, with a small medieval section and a tower on a hill. The main street has a wonderful pedestrian area shaded with trees down its length. A group of people were playing pétanque here when we arrived and later on several groups of old men were sitting at picnic tables playing cards. There were several people sitting in outdoor cafes.

The town has a couple of hotels; a few food and wine shops, a bakery (that does heavenly caramel tart) and a tourist office.

The tourist office helped us find a bed and breakfast in a house near by. We shopped for some extra luxuries, walked up to the tower; and then ended up eating our picnic on a picnic/ card playing table in the center of town. Each old man wished us ‘Bon Appetit’ as they left their card games.

We decided that we would buy new bicyles in Argen (see Kris’s entry for the reasons to replace them), as this is a large center with several bike/sports shops.

We had a late start for our 40km ride to Argen. The first part was the best as it was still hazy and we were on lovely quiet country roads. Later in the morning the heat began to build up. It was a busy road coming into Argen and bustling at the center of the city with lots of people sitting in cafes. Unfortunately by the time we got there the tourist office was closed (until 2pm) – Kris none the less got instructions to the local bike shop and Decathlon sports shop (from a local shop keeper). The bike shop was also closed for lunch, so off we went to Decathlon, which was a bit out of a ride out of town.

The Decathlon is a chain of sports super stores here- huge variety and everything very cheap compared to NZ. For example they even sell gear for horse riding – as well as camping, tramping, cycling, running, etc.

We found suitable bikes there and I also bought a new cycling shirt (later threw my old one away) and Kris bought a new helmet.

It took us hours to change everything over to our new bikes – we did this under some trees in the car park – by this time it was stinking hot, so not very pleasant. We changed the pedals, my saddle, pannier racks and water bottle holders.

My front pannier bag (called the snack box – as it was large enough to store a variety of fruit and muesli bars for emergency energy needs) was a casualty of the change over. The mounting was for a wider handle bar and we damaged it in the process of trying to improvise. I now have a smaller; cheaper version from Decathlon that mounts with velcro.

It was with great sadness that I left my bike in the Decathlon car park – it was my first bike as an adult, a Christmas present of some years back from Kris. It is still a good bike, just a little worn. Lately it has been called the Donkey, as I am like Sancho struggling to keep up with Don Quixote (me struggling to keep up with Kris on my bike). I hope that it is nabbed by a worthy thief and enjoyed.

We finished at around 7pm and headed back into town to find a hotel. Luckily we found an affordable 2 star hotel easily by just riding around the city. Once we had washed up we went off to find some food and for a drink (pastis for me, beer for Kris). The heat was incredible, according to a city thermometer display it was still 26 degrees at 10pm.

Another long ride today – at 102km. We set off in the rain and rode in it for 3 hours until midday. By that time we were at Cazoubon. Kris broke a spoke and fixed it in the rain – I feel I jinxed this by blogging about not breaking spokes the previous night. We were soaked through – it was lovely when the rain stopped and everything was fresh and you began to dry out.

We are back in the grape growing region and passed a few wineries where you can buy wine direct and in bulk (at one we saw someone bringing their own containers and filling them).

In the afternoon we passed through Barbotan-les-Thermes – it looked like a lovely holiday resort with a la ke and thermal baths but alas we were committed to reaching Condom. Next we passed through Montreal (no mention made of Canada) and then onto Condom. Beautiful farmland a bit like the Western Cape with rolling hills.

The French name Condom has absolutely no sexual connotations (in French) at all – Kris managed to refrain from cracking any jokes at tourist info.

Condom has a beautiful Gothic Cathedral with flying buttresses, and a nice inner town. However the road directly in and out was not well maintained and the motorists were inconsiderate. The tourist office was very helpful and we found a Chambre de Hotes about 6km out of town (near the small town of Caussens). It is in a wonderful rural setting, in a converted barn next to the host’s home. It is private and we have plenty of space – with the sleeping area upstairs. There are also four beautiful long haired cats.

We were very tired and dirty when we arrived from riding in the rain and had to spend some time cleaning the bikes and panniers.

Our hosts, Colette and Jean-Marie were very friendly and made us a welcome coffee on arrival. Breakfast the next morning was a treat – including a home baked cake! We had an interesting discussion with Jean-Marie over breakfast about the different languages in France and other such matters – as he speaks very good English.

Colette does patchwork as a hobby and there was a wonderful piece on the dining room wall – also one in our bedroom with chickens on it that I really liked. Her blog (with pictures of patchwork pieces) is at http:coudlette.blogspot.com

Today we traveled 84km to Mont de Marsan – most of the journey through hilly farmland. Many maize fields and small towns. We had breakfast at Orthez and stopped for coffee and cake at Hagetmau InterMarche (supermarket cafe).

The road was hilly (constant climbs and descents) until the last 15km when it flattened out. We had ideal cycling conditions – overcast and cool the whole day but without wind or rain.

Mont de Marson is a very attractive town, full of public sculptures and open spaces. It is situated at the confluence of three rivers and also has a large airforce base.

Our accommodation is a cheap but adequate hotel on the outskirts of town. Its biggest selling point is that it is right opposite a Carrefour supermarket (our first since arriving back in France). After we had cleaned up we bought a Carrefour picnic and went back into the town to explore.

We visited the local museum which is dedicated to local modern sculptors Charles Despiau and Robert Wlerick (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donjon_Lacataye). We ate our picnic in a romantic setting on the relics of a medieval wall near the river and the museum.

We had a late start today (after 9am) after a big breakfast in the hotel.

There was a large organised group of cyclists at the hotel who were busy assembling their bikes after breakfast – with full support crew. Also saw many other cyclists leaving from here and a few walkers – it seems this is a popular starting point for Compestela routes.

As usual Kris and I were traveling in the opposite direction to everyone else.

After a short climb we reached the summit (1058m). It was sunny up to the summit but as soon as we were on the other side of the mountain we were in cloud. After the summit we had a very long steep downhill run with many switchbacks (around 16km). I was glad we were not coming in the other direction. We passed a few cycling groups and a few walkers. It was very pretty, wooded and with ferns – almost like NZ. The villages at the end of the run look alpine again – the farming here is cows and sheep – we also saw some goats high on the cliff and some miniature horses.

We knew we had crossed the French border when we came to a large duty free shopping center – full of shops selling cheap booze and cigarettes. Lots of traffic coming into it from the French side.

We passed through the town of St Jean Pied-de-Port which was very pretty and bustling busy.

From there the we followed a river into the rolling foothills to Salies de Beam – also a very attractive town. The weather was overcast for most of the day and it was great having a cooler ride in the afternoon. Our journey was 90km to the town, but then we spent some time riding around looking for accommodation. There is even a large casino hotel here. After finding a few of the smaller hotels full, we were directed to a larger hotel on a golf course (there is some type of convention going on in town). It has a lovely setting – but more than we have paid in a while. Jenny was tired so Kris went out to buy food again. All together we did 101km.