Walking and cycling around St Cirq Lapopie

Friday 4 May 2018 - Day 61

I took a few days of daily blogging, mainly to have a bit of a rest but also as we were on electric, we watched a few episodes of a recorded TV series on the laptop in the evening.  We’re parked on an aire in Tour de Faure, overlooking the river and only about 18km from our last stop.  

After a night on the aire in Vers we moved down to the municipal campsite on Wednesday for a couple of nights.  There was a group of 3 selfie-vans next to us - a bunch of guys carp fishing and their wives cooking!  They also had a grey parrot with them that sat on the shoulder of one of the fishermen.  They were using bite indicators on their rods, which alarmed if they got a bite.  The parrot had perfected the noise and a few times they moved over to inspect their rods, only to realise it was the parrot!  Once settled in we walked up into the village to start a circular walk from the church.  The route was marked by yellow bands, so was quite easy to follow.  It took us mainly through forest and glades, occasionally popping out by the river and meadows.  It gradually climbed to the top of the granite cliffs, with a view over the valley and river.  At some point the yellow markers merged with a walk from another village (same markers, different walk!) and I realised we were heading away from Vers, so it took us a while to get back on track and down to a welcome brew at the campsite.

Yesterday started sunny, so Cathy took a walk along the riverbank and I went for a bike ride.  I followed the D662 out of Vers heading for St Cirq Lapopie.  The road followed the river, hugging the bottom of the granite cliffs, through some short tunnels and overhanging rocks.  I passed through St Gery and turned off, crossing a narrow bridge to Bouziers.  I found the aire and cycled a little further along to the start of the Chemin de Halage.  Back in Bouziers I took the road climbing up the other side of the valley, gradually gaining height until I reached the viewpoint over the medieval village of St Cirq Lapopie.  I cycled slowly down some of the narrow streets - brakes full on most of the way - before reaching the river again at Tour de Faure, where I found today’s aire, next to the river and a campsite.  Crossing a river bridge again, I turned right and found a cafe, where I took a break with a coffee and a piece of goat’s cheese pizza - delicious.  I followed the D662 back to Vers for a hot shower and a cup of tea.  There was a small market in the village square in the evening and I bought some fruit and veg, cheese, pate and half a rotisserie chicken.  Dinner was rabbit biryani - you might think it a strange mix but it tasted good cooked in the Remoska.

Moving on today, it was a short drive to Tour de Faure.  We parked up and followed the path along the river for about 4km. It took us along the Chemin de Halage, which is a path cut into the rock.  Some of the wall has been carved and some of it is very smooth, no doubt help by the thousands of people who have touched it over the years.  The Chemin finishes in Bouziers and we stopped for an ice cream before reversing our route and taking a very steep and rock path up to the village of St Cirq Lapopie. The pale stone houses stagger down the steep hillside above the south bank of the Lot.  With its narrow cobbled lanes and half-timbered houses, it’s quite touristy with lots of expensive restaurants and grockle shops, a bit like Mont St Michel.  But it’s well worth a visit, although I would imagine it’s packed in summer.  Back at the van now, it’ll be a quiet night before we move on to a new area tomorrow, towards Figeac, as we gradually wind our way north towards the Dordogne.

Vers Municipal Campsite - river behind us

A meadow of strawberry clover

View of Vers from our 'lost' position!

Tour de Faure aire

Chemin de Halage

Wall carvings

St Cirq Lapopie

 

Vers on the Lot

Tuesday 1 May 2018 - Day 58

The weather’s better today and is forecast to improve gradually over the coming days.  I know I bang on about the weather but, living in a small van, it pretty much dictates what we do for the day and whether (no pun intended) we spend any time outside the van, or are cooped up inside, when three paces will get you from one end of the living space to the other.

Anyhow, we slept well at Puy L’Eveque and walked down to the small market by the Marie, just a few minutes away.  We bought some eggs plus some fruit and veg and another delicious loaf from the artisan boulangerie (Cathy snuck in a strawberry tart too!). We dropped these back at the van before walking down through and around the narrow streets and steep steps of the medieval centre of this small town, down to the river.  Our next overnight stop in Vers was plugged in but on the way we saw a sign for “Le Lac Vert”, so detoured off.  We passed the lake and drove through the small village of Catus.  Just as we were leaving I saw the small village market and noticed an aire over on the right, so we doubled back and parked up.  It was a lovely spot right in the heart of the village and by a small stream and weir, the stream leading down to pass the lake.  We followed the path down and walked around the lake before finding an old road leading up the hill through old oak trees and wildflower pastures.  It was a lovely walk, plenty of flora and fauna and no humans - just how we like it!  Back at the van we enjoyed an early main meal and a brew.  We thought about staying over, but we’d seen all we wanted to and carried on to Vers, although there are some lovely walks based around Catus, so we’ll probably return.

Vers is a lovely quiet village on the banks of the River Lot, with the D662 road running through.  The village is between the river and sheer, very high limestone cliffs that tower above the road; this is typical along the whole valley and we’ll explore more over the next few days.  The aire was a bit difficult to find; we found the area, but the actual parking spot wasn’t obvious.  We’ve parked on what was the old tennis court next to the closed railway station, with the platform just behind me and the railway lines beyond that.  We walked around the village (which didn’t take long) and up a steep path to a viewpoint looking over towards the river.  A few circular walks start at the church, so we’ll give one of those a go tomorrow.  As we walked around, we came across the quintessential sight of the locals playing boules (or pétanque) down by the river.  On the way around we found the municipal campsite, right down by the river.  It only opened for the season today but already had several vans on it.  This is an ideal location for walking and cycling, so we plan to move to the municipal campsite tomorrow and stay there a couple of nights.  I’ll have a cycle along the D662, which lies at the bottom of the cliffs and follows the river through several villages, with overhanging rocks and tunnels.  It’ll give me a chance to check out our next stops and even possible wild swimming spots if the warm weather does show up.  Tonight we’re staying on the aire; we’re currently the only van here but experience has shown that others sometime show up later in the evening. Someone is supposed to come around and collect the €5 fee - they’ve not arrived yet (now 2030) so perhaps they’ll come in the morning, but not too early I hope!  PS - Cathy enjoyed her strawberry tart with a cup of tea, sat on a wooden picnic bench on what was the station platform.

Puy L'Eveque and the River Lot

Vers from a viewpoint

Boules....or is it Petanque?

Vers aire

Cabin fever

Monday 30 April 2018 - Day 57

Nido’s parked up at a free aire in the lovely hillside medieval town of Puy L’Eveque.  I say it’s lovely as that’s what the guide book tells me.  I don’t know it’s lovely because we can’t leave the van for long….because it won’t stop raining!  We’re getting very bad cabin fever now, having been stuck in the van pretty much full time since Saturday afternoon.

It started to rain heavily late on Saturday night and continued all through yesterday.  Given this, there wasn’t much point in moving on, so we stayed in Castelsagrat.   The rain stopped for a while around 1600, when we snuck out to blink in the daylight and stretch our legs.  Even on our circuit of the village the rain started again - torrential, cold, sideways rain that soaked us from head to toe.  And for anyone that’s travelled in a campervan, you’ll know the misery of trying to dry clothes in a living space of 4m x 2m.  As we weren’t on electric hook up, after two stationary days and with zero sun to power our leisure battery via the solar panel, we had to conserve energy, so no heating. 

This morning the rain continued as we drove first to upload and unload fluids back in Montjoi, then find a garage to fill up with LPG, before driving to the aire at Castelnau Montratier, adjacent to a line of four old windmills on top of the hill above the village.  We attempted a walk but…you guessed it.  It was pretty remote, the small village road was surprisingly busy and locals kept driving in and out of the aire for some reason, so we moved on.  The Puy L’Eveque aire occupies part of a large open car park.  The Gendarmaire Nationale station is across the way, so we shouldn’t get any problem from the chavs in their ford fiestas that plagued the last stopover.  Cathy cooked a lovely, hot one-pot dinner.  I contributed by walking out (yes, in the rain!) to buy some delicious bread and bottle of Cahors wine - well we are in the Cahors region after all.  So it’s another early night with a good book; we’re starting to run out of things to read.  There’s supposed to be a small market here tomorrow so if the weather gods allow, we hope to pop down to buy some fruit, vegetables and meat and take a look around what appeared (through the rain) to be a beautiful medieval hill-top town.  Did I mention it’s not stopped raining…….?

Wandering around the cloisters

Saturday 28 April 2018 - Day 55

Nido’s parked up at another free aire, this time in the village of Castelsagrat.  We’re only about 4km from last night’s stop in Montjoi and earlier I heard their church bells ringing for evening Mass.  Our first stop this morning was the town of Moissac.  I’m not religious in any way, but I do admire some of the architecture and I have a particular soft spot for cloisters.  I like the symmetric form of the columns with the garden in the middle; I find them a peaceful place to contemplate and think. Walking slowly around and around the garden is very meditative. Usually, they’re too busy with other visitors to fully soak up the atmosphere, but occasionally I come across one early in the day.  The cloister and porch of the Abbey Church of St Pierre is a masterpiece of Romanesque sculpture.  It’s survived numerous wars, including the siege and sack by Simon de Montfort senior in 1212 during the crusade against the Cathars (another time in history that fascinates me).  The cloister adjoining the abbey surrounds the garden shaded by a very large cedar tree and it’s pantile roof is supported by 76 alternating single and double marble columns.  Each column supports a single inverted wedge-shaped block of stone, on which are carved animal and plant motifs, as well as scenes from the bible and the lives of the saints; every one of the 76 columns has an individual carving.  We wandered slowly around before climbing a steep spiral stone staircase to a large space with a vaulted roman ceiling, which overlooked the inside of the abbey.  The abbey itself had walls and ceilings covered in what, at a distance, looked like tiles, but were in fact one huge painted fresco.  

There was a large market in the town and we wandered about, buying a round loaf of Moroccan bread (deliciously light with a thin, crispy crust) and some cooked prawns from the seafood stall in the adjacent covered market.  We walked back to the van and drove to park alongside the river, enjoying our lunch sat at a wooden picnic table by the water.  Our next stop - here in Castelsagrat - was a return the way we came this morning.  We walked around the village - lots of the usual quiet streets with old, shuttered houses opening onto the road, some of them medieval.  The village square is dominated by covered walkways, under which there were several shops, including the post office, a restaurant, a tabac and a boulangerie - that’s breakfast sorted tomorrow!  We spent the afternoon sat on our chairs on the grass area by the van, enjoying the hot sunshine.  Cathy cooked a delicious ‘sweet and sour’ meatballs and vegetables and we sat out this evening, watching the swifts and swallows and some large dark clouds forming; Meteo France on Twitter are reporting an orange warning of torrential rain in three departments - and we’re smack bang in the middle!  Still, today was supposed to be cloudy but turned into a hot afternoon.  Tomorrow we’re moving out of this immediate area, heading north east towards the area around Cahors, where we hope to spend a few days exploring and maybe getting in some wild swimming if the weather allows. 

Castelsagrat aire

Entrance to the village square

Montjoi and a country walk

Friday 27 April 2018 - Day 54

Nido’s parked up at an aire in the ‘Village Fleurie’ of Montjoi. It’s a lovely place, on a hilltop with 360 views across trees and rolling countryside.  We left Saint Antoine and drove to Saint Nicolas de la Grave. The aire was right in the small town and it sounded interesting, as the chateau was once the home of Richard the Lionheart and the town was the birthplace of Mr Cadillac, who went on to form Detroit and kick off the car building industry in that city.  We had a wander around but it didn’t take long to do the circuit.  We needed some diesel and food, so we headed for an Intermarche not far away.  I eventually managed to fill with diesel, using an ultra-sensitive pump that kept thinking the van was full and cutting out - it took about 10 minutes to fill up, during which several other customers came along to also try, swore (in French I guess!), slammed the pump back in its socket and drove off.  The Intermarche was undergoing a major refit so was closed, the Le Clerc was a depot for picking up internet orders, so we ended up in Lidl! 

This brought us to Montjoi.  The aires book didn’t do it justice.  The village is on a hill, with the inevitable church (with a very loud bell) and an arched entrance to the main housing.  There were two small streets, running parallel to each other, with a view narrow alleys bisecting.  The terraced houses I would guess are medieval and the roads between cobbled. There are no shops or bars and the one restaurant - like the few art galleries - was closed until the summer.  We came across the village lavoir; there were lots of newts sat on the bottom of the clear washing pool.  A circular walk of about 8km was advertised from the village, following red signs.  We started off well but the signs soon stopped!  Luckily we’d taken a photo of the route so were able, after several dead-ends, to follow the route through fields, along quiet lanes and by a lake.  It’s easy to forget how lucky we are with Ordnance Survey maps.  

Back at the van, we enjoyed a hot shower and I cooked the dinner Cathy had prepped this morning - vegetable fajitas. When we arrived we were alone but two French A Class vans have since turned up.  Despite that it’s really quiet and peaceful - birdsong and the church bells.  Another lovely stop in a beautiful village in the French countryside.

Lavoir - or dhoby shack!

Montjoi - simply lovely

Sunshine in Saint Antoine

Thursday 26 April 2018 - Day 53

Nido’s parked up at an aire in the tiny village of Saint Antoine, just inside the Languedoc region.  It’s been a hot, sunny afternoon - a day to enjoy.  I walked into town this morning to buy some croissants and a baguette.  The town was just coming to life and the fair was starting to set up in the large car park adjacent to the bull ring, ready for the May Day weekend fete.  It was a typical sight in a typical French town.  Goodies bought, I wandered over the road for a coffee in one of the bars.  We enjoyed those croissants - our first in France this trip.  We said our goodbyes to Sandie, who was planning on staying a few more days to work on her book.  She was suffering from a very painful back she thinks due to a few long drives.  Hopefully she’ll recover quickly and there’s always an outside chance we’ll bump into her and Rosie again!

I made the schoolboy error of not checking the longitude setting on the satnav, so plugged in West rather than East!  I only realised when we started to turn towards the west coast; after pulling over and setting it right, our journey time increased by 2 hours! Lesson learned, particularly when on or close to the Greenwich meridian.  The drive took us through Armagnac country, with many small ‘domaines’ advertising tasting and purchase direct from them.  We passed through a number of small but lovely ‘Village Fleurie’, including a stop off by a lake for a cuppa and leg stretch.  It was hot by then so we changed into shorts.  A couple of other vans were parked there and one had a dog who clearly wasn’t getting enough attention from his owners!  He bought his tennis ball over to me for a game of throw and fetch, until he got too hot and flopped back into the shade of his own van.

We arrived at Saint Antoine and were the only ones on this aire, overlooking countryside.  We went for a wander around the village, which took no time at all as it’s tiny.  It was a staging post (and still is) for the Camino de Santiago de Compostela and the village used to provide shelter and food to the pilgrims.  The books still mentions a cafe, shop and restaurant in the village, but they’re all closed now.  But the history of the village was plain to see, with large gateways, towers and the church.  After walking around we followed the pilgrim path out of the village for a couple of kilometres, towards the next hamlet of Saint Cirice, which was even smaller than this one.  But it was very peaceful, the sun was shining and the birds were singing.

Back at the van Cathy made a lovely tuna salad and we sat outside under the awning to eat, finishing with a charentais melon we bought in Aire sur l’Adour.  It’s not yet the season for charentais (this one was from Morocco) but when the local ones are ready in late summer, they are the best, perfuming the whole van until we eat them over a bowl to catch the juice.  We were able to sit out until way past sunset; although a little chilly the sky was clear and the birds kept us company.  A little later a French van turned up, but there’s still only the two of us on this lovely, quiet aire in the middle of the countryside.  Tomorrow we don’t plan to travel far, as there’s quite a few aires around these parts and it looks like there’s some nice walks to be enjoyed.

Brew stop

Saint Antoine

It's very quiet here

But very pretty

It's on the Camino pilgrim's route

Lovely aire

Relaxed by the River Adour

Wednesday 25 April 2018 - Day 52

Well, we woke to….you guessed it….rain!  We were chatting to a couple parked next to us last night, who’d been away for just a couple of weeks.  They said the weather in France had been so good that they stayed on Ile de Re for five days and were enjoying the sunshine of Biarritz.  I bet they’re cursing the Jacksons turning up, towing the rain cloud behind them!  We had planned on spending another day on the coast, but instead decided to use the rain as an excuse to get some dhobying done.  I found an outside laundromat at a Carrefour supermarket, but the machines were quite dirty and it didn’t accept either of my cards.  So I found another about 700m away, this time a proper laundromat with a ‘lady that does’ inside, who does the service washes and ironing.  We were able to park right outside, albeit tight against a wall and Cathy went in to load up, while I researched some places to visit and stay on our way up through France.  By now it was close to lunch time and the small Thai takeaway next door was open and seemed to be doing good trade - sorted!  So while Cathy transferred our dhobying to the drier, I ordered us a chicken Panang curry and a pork pad thai.  Ten minutes later with the washing all dried and folded, we were tucking into a delicious Thai lunch, parked in a corner by a laundromat - that’s van life!

With the beach day abandoned, our next stop was a 2.5 hour drive and we eventually arrived at the aire in Aire Sur L’Adour (so good they named it twice!).  Cathy was in bed with a headache and bad back, so she didn’t see me do a double take as I drove in - there was Sandie Dunn’s van!  We met Sandie and her dog Rosie at Mikki’s Place in Portugal.  I wrote about seeing her book advertised on the back of her van, downloading it and laughing out loud - it was a great read.  I think she was as surprised to see me; there are over 3,000 aires in France, sometimes several within just a few square miles, so the chance of meeting up like this again are pretty slim.  We had a quick catch up over a brew before Cathy and I went for a wander along the path by the river Adour.  It’s a wide and fairly fast flowing river and a few fishermen (and women) were out, as well as several frogs (I mean of the waterborne kind!) making a lot of noise in the reeds.  We enjoyed a lovely walk along the river and a path that took us past fields and through a wooded copse.  With the sun shining and birds singing, we started to feel ourselves again.

Back at the van, we met up with Sandie again for a longer chat, sat outside the van.  We provided the coffee and she provided the Sambuca to splash into it.  We’ve been off the booze for a while, so this was a rare treat.  We caught up on where we’d been since we left Mikki’s Place and future plans.  Like us, she’s a Francophile but, unlike us, speaks fluent French - I’m going to improve mine.  Rosie enjoyed one of the dog treats we keep in the van for special visitors, gently taking it from my hand.  Rosie’s deaf and her sight isn’t good either, so she’s a bit wary when arriving somewhere knew, so hopefully this put her at ease.  Once we lost the sun Sandie and Rosie returned to their van. Sandie’s working on her second book - she’s up to 39,000 words so far and works on it every day.  We’ll look forward to reading it.  If you want to read her very good and funny first book, you can find it on Amazon here: We sat inside the van with a brew, reading and watching the sky change colour as the sun set.  The forecast for the next few days isn’t great, but we have some lovely areas to visit and great aires to stay on, including a couple of recommendations from Sandie.  So we’re feeling much more relaxed and looking forward to our month in France.

Parked next to Sandie's van

River Adour

Peaceful evening

Biarritz or Bust!

Tuesday 24 April 2018 - Day 51

Nido’s in an aire on the outskirts of Biarritz.  Why the long haul from Spain to here?  Well, when we woke up in Cabarceno this morning it was 11’C and cloudy.  When we arrived in Biarritz it was 23’C and sunny - that’s why!

I had originally plugged in an aire in Spain for one more night, but it was in the corner of a car park, with tall high-rises on one side.  Plus the weather still wasn’t great, so we decided to make a run for France.  It’s quite busy here but only a few minutes walk from a lovely beach, which was packed - I wonder if it’s holiday time in France?  We’re about 4km from the centre of Biarritz, so it’s not too busy.  It’s been lovely to take a walk in warm sunshine (with no gale force winds!), cook, eat and wash up with the doors open.

As it was an unplanned ‘run for the sun’ and we didn’t arrive here until about 1630, we’ve taken it easy this evening.  Cathy did some wild swimming searching and planning in France while I cooked (bought meatballs with a homemade tomato sauce and boiled rice).  So the loose plan is to make our way slowly north east, heading for the Lot region for some wild swimming, around Cahors and onwards to the Dordogne.  That’ll put us close to the house sit, which starts in mid-May for a week.  Anyway, that’s the loose plan.  We’re hoping to slow down in France, a country we’ve always loved as a place to relax and enjoy the countryside and beaches.

So only a short post today.

Quiet day in Cabarceno

Monday 23 April 2018 - Day 50

We decided to have a quiet day after the excitement of yesterday.  It’s a bit drizzly and misty. We needed some food and diesel so I plugged in the co-ordinates for a Carrefour hypermarket nearby, but they had a height barrier on the entrance, so Carrefour lost out to Mercadona. Shopping done, we drove just half an hour to our current stop in Cabarceno.  We’re parked up with a few vans, overlooking a small lake.  I think this aire is a first or last stop for those using the Santander ferry, which is only about 20 minutes away - there’s lots of UK vans here.  The aire’s on the edge of the Cabarceno Nature Park and by walking down the track at the end of the aire, we had a great view of the elephants in their large enclosure.  If you follow the track around, you'll get a unobstructed view, as the first part has a large wire fence. It’s quiet here and we’ve enjoyed listening to the birdsong.  Today’s been a chilling out day - reading, snoozing, blogging and planning where to head to next.  I suspect we may only have a couple of days left in Spain before we cross over back into France.  I had an email from the owners of the French water mill we’ll be house sitting in May, providing directions.  It’ll be a welcome break from the van for a week.