Flashpacking the Lot Part 2
Cahors to Bordeaux
Day 1: Cahors to Villeneuve-sur-Lot
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| Cahors to Villeneuve-sur-Lot: 10 kms longer than expected! 😁 |
We set off from Cahors in cool overcast conditions in the middle of rush hour with parents dropping kids off at schools in the middle of the city. Almost as bad as the traffic pile-ups caused by the well-known private girls' school on Davey Street! 😉
It was a while before we extracted ourselves from Cahors and the bit of city sprawl to the west and there wasn't much to record for a while, but when I saw a wonderful reminder of the masonry and bricklaying skills there were employed in days gone by that were supporting the railway line alongside the Lot, I thought it was worth a short video:
Not long afterwards other nice things started to appear alongside the road:
... and even with the very dull light the river itself still looked very beautiful ...
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| Low cloud hung over the river for much of the morning |
The road alongside the river was fairly narrow at this point and we didn't see any other traffic for a while. Even when a dividing line appeared and it looked like there might be more traffic it was still very quiet ...
Conditions were pretty cool so we decided to have an early stop when we rode into Luzech and spotted an excellent cafe. Bikes parked ...
... and a nice little bit of self-gratification ...
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| There is no doubt that I ate far too many Pain au Raisin on this holiday 🙄 |
Even though we stayed quite close to the river for the whole day, the Eglise Saint-Laurent felt isolated somehow from the its banks (if you look at the bigger version you will be able to make out a line of pigeons sitting atop the mûr cloché) ...
I rode around to the other side of the church hoping to get a good picture of the mûr cloché (belltower ... or should that be bellwall?) but I couldn't get back far enough.
Suddenly, for what seemed to be days (probably because it was) a couple of cheerful fellow bike tourists appeared out of the gloom ...
I quite liked the way this small power station on the river seemed somehow to both contrast yet complement the lovely agrarian scene behind ...
Another little village showcased its very pretty church ...
... and a very showy little Fiat ...
Nearby this stone shed showed its age but still looked very serviceable ...
We detoured off the main road to have a quick look at this church ...
... and then there was a quiet bit of countryside where we stopped to savour the peace and quiet and a church bell began to toll in the distance. Listen for the sound ...
At what should have been almost exactly the halfway point of our day's journey was the town of Puy-l'Évêque across the river ...
... where, according to Google, there were supposed to be a couple of brasseries open, so we crossed the river only to find they were both shut. We detoured to a hotel but they were only serving full meals so we settled for a coffee and filled our water bottles. Back across the river we went looking for a couple of cafes that were also supposed to be open but they were both closed too. 🤔 After this bit of faffing about ...
... we got back on our route and continued to Touzac where we were supposed to cross a bridge to the other side of the river ...
... only to find the bridge was closed for maintenance, meaning we had another detour of about 8 kilometres ...
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| Bridge closed! Go back and around ... |
Back on the other side we got onto a bike path and into a bit of forest with quite a lot of oak trees in it ...
... and enjoyed a bit of riding along the pathway strewn with leaves ...
... and finally came past the other end of the bridge where we had been turned back ...
As you can see, by this time the low cloud had lifted and there was much blue sky about. Fields filled with sunflowers appeared ...
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| (click to see a more panoramic view) |
By this time we were pretty keen to get to the lovely old city of Villeneuve-sur-Lot ...
... which I personally think was the nicest place we visited on our way down the river.
After finding our accommodation, showering and putting on some clothes we went for a stroll across the river ...
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| Classic medieval architecture in this part of the world |
... in search of a pre-dinner drink ...
... and some dinner. For dessert I couldn't go past the chocolate souffle ...
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| (Psst: Not only was the souffle great, the coffee was one of the best I had while we were in France) |
... and neither could Di resist some chocolate goodness ...
Afterwards we strolled around the city a little to admire some attractive and very well-preserved buildings ...
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| Eglise Saint-Catherine |
... before heading back to our accommodation and bringing to a close the most interesting and - despite a couple of setbacks - enjoyable day of our tour between Mende and Bordeaux.
Day 2: Villeneuve to Marcellus
In which the Lot joins the Garonne
and we get our first taste of extended canal riding
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| Villeneuve to Marcellus ~ 85 kms |
With the forecast indicating a very strong likelihood of real rain, we left Villeneuve-sur-Lot under threatening skies, but before exiting the city Di got this photo ...
For the first kilometres we managed to stay dry, and I followed Di as we negotiated our way out of town and back onto the Velo Route. A bit before rejoining the Velo Route we rode up to this roundabout between 8 and 9 kilometres into our journey ...
October is breast cancer awareness month in France, and everywhere there was stuff in pink decorating the landscape, and the French really love using bikes so I thought this would be a fitting photo to add to my Strava posts and this blog.
While I was stopped taking this photo Di continued on through the roundabout and rejoined the Velo Route just before the town of Casseneuil at which point she missed the slip road that follows the Velo Route across the river ...
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| Whoops! |
I wanted to include this photo because it shows how easily - in this case at least! - she was able to rejoin our route, thanks to the technology in our handlebar-top bike computers.
Naturally, after stopping for the photo I assumed she was still ahead of me, but when she didn't catch up on the other side of the river where I expected to find her waiting, I powered on with the chase but then it occured to me that just maybe she missed the turn and went straight through into the town so I stopped and called her thus finding out she was in fact behind me so I waited until she caught back up.
Another few kilometres down the road we crossed the river again after it had just started to rain gently. Di decided to pull over and put on her parka but I thought it just might stop and I hate getting steamy inside a rain jacket (it was actually reasonably warm with the humidity) so I left mine on the bike. Di took this photo of me while I waited patiently for her to rearrange her wardrobe ...
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| Waiting (more or less) patiently |
Of course just a couple of kilometres up the road it started raining properly. I stopped yet again and managed to get my parka on just before it really hosed down. We continued in quite a downpour for four or five kilometres and then the rain stopped quite suddenly, allowing us to take off our raincoats as it was fairly warm.
A few more kilometres up the road we passed a man who was in the process of harvesting walnuts with his massive nut harvesting machine and I had to stop for a photo as I'd never seen anything like this before ...
While taking that photo I noticed just near my feet a splash of colour ...
We continued on for several kilometres in overcast but not unpleasant conditions, stopping occasionally to photograph things of interest ...
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| Large low barn with an unusual tower feature at one end |
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| Pity about the tree and décheterie, both which mar the view across to the church |
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| Yet another quite impressive country estate |
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| Maybe this was a railway bridge back in the day when there was still a railway line running here |
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| You'll notice some nice architectural elements in this photo if you look at it enlarged |
While stopped, I noticed how filthy my cycling shoes had become after riding through heavy rain and dirty roads, and was glad I hadn't brought the new shoes I'd got just before we left home ...
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| Hmmm. I wonder if these shoes will ever come clean again ... |
Just after the 46 kilometre mark we crossed the Lot for the last time, then rode into the town of Aiguillon where we thought we might get lunch. There was an eatery called "Bistrot le Basilic" right on our route but, like many places along the way it was "temporarily closed". A lot of food outlets along or near the River Lot, and even more so for the Garonne, seem to have either restricted hours after peak tourist season - or in the case of eateries alongside the canals, are completely closed after the end of September until the Spring comes around the following year.
Not totally surprised, we pushed on, crossed the Garonne and then the Canal Lateral de la Garonne where I paused to record this image ...
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| First view of the Canal Lateral de la Garonne |
... and detoured into the town of Damazan, where it looked like there would be a number of eateries to choose from. Our experience riding into these towns was that usually on the central square (where the mairie is most often situated) ...
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| The town square in Damazan was very quiet, with two out of three restaurants closed |
... there are a number of good bistros/restaurants. In this case - perhaps because it was the weekend - it was very quiet. There was one high end restaurant open but they weren't particularly keen to welcome a couple of scruffy-looking cyclists and wouldn't allow us to park our bikes on the terrace - despite the weather being wet and no-one was sitting outside - so we poked around the town, and saw that just about everything was closed except a fast-food and takeaway joint calling itself "Bonne Dégustation" ...
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| In no way shape or form "Bonne" |
... where we found something to eat. Di ordered what was supposed to be a kebab but she couldn't manage to ingest even half of it, despite being quite hungry. I managed to down most of what it was that I had ordered but have otherwise erased the experience from my memory.
As the graphic above shows we crossed back over the canal, then followed it for the rest of this day's ride. Riding along a canal was still a relatively novel experience for us despite the bit of canal riding we'd done from both Sarlat and Bergerac, so we took quite a lot of photos for the rest of the day, and I shot a bit of video. Much of the riding was like this ...
Not long after getting on the path alongside the canal I experienced my first puncture of the trip ...
There was quite a lot more to see on this canal, probably due to the fact that it's not far from Bordeaux and it's a lot larger than the sections of canal that we experienced on the Dordogne ...
The weather overnight had been quite stormy and must have brought down these two saplings ...
... which we removed before continuing our ride, initially northward and then towards the northwest.
It was interesting to see that there were quite a number of boats on the canal that were in need of some TLC, including this rather large yacht ...
We saw our first canal lock for this part of our trip which clearly would not accommodate any craft with very much width ...
We started to see people enjoying a bit of social rowing ...
... and generally enjoyed very pretty viewing and easy riding for the rest of the day's journey ...
... before detouring off the velo route and arriving at a campground that had a few cabins and glamping tents. You can't tell from this satellite image ...
... but the campsite is less than 100 metres as the crow flies from the canal ...
Di had booked a small cabin for the night, which was quite cosy and had enough space that we could squeeze our bikes in out of the weather once we were ready for bed. We knew we wouldn't be able to get an evening meal, so we'd picked up some bread and cheese the day before and got a couple of tea bags when we booked in.
Thus a rather spartan evening finished what had been a fairly interesting day and quite a contrast to our ride the day before.
Day 3 ~ Marcellus to Bordeaux
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| Loaded and ready to go! |
The last day of our tour from Mende to Bordeaux began with a marvellous breakfast which we'd ordered upon arrival and was delivered to our cabin. Two baskets filled with thermoses of hot coffee, orange juice, yogurt and fruit, bread with jam and butter and even a pastry each. A brilliant way to start the day and the best breakfast we'd had since leaving Mende.
Here's what our day ahead looks like ...
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| Marcellus to Bordeaux: 81 kilometres |
Given that it was a very cool morning and we didn't have a long ride ahead we opted for a slightly later start. Here's a picture of Di after cinching her seat-tube bag in place: let's roll!
Our first 25 kilometres for the day would follow the canal to where it finishes, then cross the Garonne and ride on the north side of the river until we arrive in Bordeaux and cross the river into the city. It was interesting that the route crosses the canal quite a few times in those last 25 kms. If you notice that we're on different sides of the canal, that's the explanation. Not sure why the original towpath would have been built that way but there you have it.
With the cooler morning came a clear blue sky and a terrific last day for this tour. Here are some early images along the canal ...
The rowers looked so good when they were moving. When I saw this lone guy stroking the water I had to shoot a short video ...
The variety of craft tied up along the shores of the canal continued to amaze me. Cleary people from a very wide range of lifestyles and incomes made use of this sort of pastime. Here's a small and pretty basic canal boat with a tent on top of it ...
... and a bit of footage showing what canal riding is like for anyone who hasn't been there and done that ...
A few more photos along the canal before we leave it behind ...
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| Canal side living |
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| I had a really nice exchange with these ladies who were enjoying themselves immensely |
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| Nearing the end of the canal and our last glimpse of this amazing wall of colour from the plane trees |
Across the Garonne we went and within 7 kilometres found that the route I'd drawn up came to a dead end, despite having used a map that shows cycling routes. Euro Veloroute 3 should have continued at kilometre 32 according to this Google satellite image ...
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| Google pretends this imagery is from 2024. It isn't. |
... and this OSM cycle map ...
... but all that was there was a narrow dirt track suitable only for mountain bikes or, in French parlance: VTTs.
Just as we were scratching our heads and wondering what was what, this fellow came along ...
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| A local in the know |
He was walking the route alongside the canal to check it out for a planned walk with a club, and let us know that the bit from the east that he'd been along wasn't anything like he expected either. So, back to the main road we went, letting Garmin re-route us in the general direction we wanted to go and we were back on route in three kilometres.
The rest of the riding was straightforward and I must say it was nice to be back on the open road again ...
We had pinpointed the town of Cadillac-sur-Garonne as a likely place to find lunch but when we rode past this enticing looking entrance with people walking in and the menu on the board ...
... just a few kilometres before arriving at that auspicious sounding town, we did an about turn and parked the bikes.
In we went to inquire whether they had space for us and, after the waitress checked with the chef, we were ushered to a table right next to a window where we could see the bikes once we moved them into place. After ordering the simplest option on the menu the next piece of business was to select something to drink. I really felt like a rosé to go with meal and just couldn't go past this one ...
I'm sure that some readers will twig to why I had to make this choice, but if not (or even if you do!) check this out. 😉
We both had the omelette, fries and salad that was great value ...
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| A perfect lunch for the day. (My glass of rosé is just visible on the right; Di opted for OJ. 🙄) |
The wonderfully accommodating waitress was happy to take a photo for us ...
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| Looking at this, I'm even more grateful that we were let in! |
... and we both finished with a Crème Catalan ...
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| Who's the happy girl, then? |
The rest of the ride was just a delight ...
There was one last moment of special interest as we rolled through some fields of sunflower plants. We'd been seeing mass plantings of sunflowers for weeks and weeks, all in various stages of ripeness but some very black. Occasionally there was a field that had been harvested and for the first time we came across a harvest in progress ...
It was good to finally see it actually happening before our eyes.
Before long we were into Bordeaux and managed to find the way to our accommodation without too much trouble. One of the first orders of business was to get our cycling kit washed so it would be ready for use again in a couple of days ...
... a big thanks to Di for organising that so efficiently! 😘
Afterwards, we went for a stroll and a drink, but I'm sorry to say there's not really anything to show for that except this cherub ...
... which just goes to show: IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BIKE!
So, I hope you enjoyed reading this second and final instalment of our "Flashpacking the Lot" bike tour.
I've got two more blogs to do before I'm finished recording our 2024 French sojourn:
- the return journey to Toulouse with our friends Michel and Brigitte, and
- our hike along the second half of the Sentier Cathare from Quillan to Foix
À la prochaine! 😀
