Author's product rating: 
| Advantages: |
Off the beaten track |
| Disadvantages: |
None |
| Recommend to potential buyers: |
yes |
** The initial idea **
Several years ago, my sister moved to the south western corner of France, to escape the rat race of life in the south western corner of London. She was nearing retirement, and her husband had had a major health scare, so the time was ripe for this move. I had only visited her once in France, and so it was time for me to travel down there to spend some time with her in her new life.
The area is in the Midi Pyrenees, historically called Quercy, before the French revolution carved
France into departements, but is now called Lot. It is an unspoilt area, with mountains and rivers, most notably The Dordoyne. Having said that, though, it has a huge history, including the Hundred Years War, plus various religious wars, which have left their mark on the area.
If you like castles, then this is the place to go!
** Preparing for the journey **
Having decided to go there, there is the small fact that I have little experience of driving in France, as I have only followed someone else, so didn't have to rely on my own navigational skills. My partner is a non-driver, and has dyslexia so can't map read. On discussion with various friends, they strongly suggested that I invest in a satellite navigation system as it would be difficult with all the country roads. It was mainly Paris that concerned me, having visited several times and witnessed the drivers there, which were scary enough as a pedestrian!
I bought an excellent Collins Road Atlas of France, which gives handy hints about road signs, and how to tell your insurance details to someone if you crash (very positive attitude!) etc. I also purchased from Amazon a Tom Tom One Euro Sat Nav, which has been my guiding light every since, both in France and in Britain.
I contacted my car insurance company to let them know I was going abroad, and to get the extra cover for the two weeks abroad. I also let my bank know (in case they thought my card had been stolen!) and I got European cover from the AA in case of breakdown. I like to be prepared for anything!!
The next thing to think about was the channel crossing. I am not a good traveller on ferries, but they are cheap. Balance that with the time element, and it would really extend the journey time. Decisions, decisions, but in the end I decided to use the Shuttle as it leaves from Cheriton which is about 30 miles from my home and is really easy and only takes about 20 minutes once you are on it, to get over to Calais. I booked this online through the official website, Eurotunnel.com, and was able to plan a journey time at the most reasonable expense. The cost of the shuttle depends on what time you go, so early in the day for outward journeys is more expensive than later in the day. On the return, earlier in the day is cheaper than the later journeys, and peak time seems to be about 6pm.
I also planned to spend a night in a Campanile en route, so that I didn't have to do the whole drive in one day. My sister recommended the Orleans (Sud) Campanile as a good stop-over, and this was also booked online. One night for double room was 65 Euros, but extra to be paid for a breakfast.
The day came, and all the preparations went to plan and we were off on our adventure.
*** The Journey ***
We drove off the shuttle at Calais about 10.45am, 11.45 local time, and were guided by the TomTom towards the A26 then the A1 towards Paris. These are the Autoroute numbers, but they share the route number with a green number E15 and E15/19. I can only assume that these were originally the equivalent to our A roads, but then became Auroroutes, so adopted an'A' number, too. Very confusing when you are not used to it, but it becomes second nature to look for both or all the numbers. At one point in Paris, the road had four different route numbers, so I was really pleased that I purchased the TomTom or I would still be on the ringroad now!
We journeyed around the east of Paris, so no good views, just the dirty suburbs. Then onward along the A10/E05 towards Orleans. We were limited in what we saw of Orleans as it was only a stop over, but we had an evening walk around the centre, and saw the huge cathedral, and some pleasant pedestrianised shopping roads. There were tourist
attractions about Joan of Arc, I seem to remember, but as it was evening, we didn't go in search of these. The local stone was sand stone, so the buildings were all a light colour, and clean looking. They are also rejuvenating the river front, and it promises to look more welcoming for tourists by next summer. Orleans was quite sprawling, so the trawl back to the Campanile was quite a long journey through heavy traffic, but not as bad as our cities.
After a long drive down the A20 / E09, Tomtom led us off the beaten track along country roads to our destination. The area was absolutely stunning with spectacular views which made me want to stop and take photos as we turned each corner. Small medieval villages peppered our way, which looked as though they had been untouched for the past century. It is hard to believe that people are living a modern day lifestyle in these villages, and it seemed a long way from Britain, considering it is one of our closest neighbours.
We arrived at the village that we were staying in, called Gagnac-sur-cere, in a Gite near to my sister's house. We already knew of this gite, but had we not booked this, there are several gites, and a new B+B in the small hamlet. This can all be found by 'Googling' the village.
*** The Tourist Interests ***
The Base
Gagnac (for short) was a garrison village, apparently, but there is no military presence there now. The main centre of the village has a large, imposing church which has the quirky feature of ringing each hour twice. I can't remember the reasoning, but I think it was so farm workers on the fields could be sure that they knew the time - they wouldn't want to miss their lunchbreak, I suppose!!
There is a small local shop, with a friendly man who could speak English which is always a bonus as my French is only good for some, and for others, I might as well continue speaking in English!
The gite was comfortable, with a fridge freezer, and washing machine. It was an old house, probably 17th Century, but the owners had recently refurbished it, and the plumbing was new, too, as it used to be sesspit drainage but now Gagnac has main drains. From the gite, we could walk down the road, and alongside the Dordoyne, and have a meal at the Auberge, a restaurant/hotel, but we were inclined not to, as they did not have a vegetarian selection. There was another hotel restaurant, and again, not good on veggie food. This was something that we had anticipated, and so had planned to go self catering so that we could cook our own food rather than rely solely on eggs and cheese.
There are ample walks to be taken from Gagnac, for the less inclined or the more seasoned ramber, and the gite owners had left a booklet of walks with points of interest, for holiday makers.
*** Places we visited ***
St Cere
The first place to visit was St Cere. This is a good sized town with restaurants, tabacs, shops, and various markets during the month. There was an evening market one Tuesday, and a local bar held a Jazz night to coincide with visitors once the market was shutting. There was also a pottery market one afternoon, with local traders.
My partner and I like art and generally find a gallery to visit when in a new place. In St Cere, there is an ongoing exhibition at the Gallerie d'art du Casino, free of charge, of the local artist Jean Lurcat (1892 - 1966). His main medium is tapestry, with surreal natural history art woven into the tapestries. They are very vibrant to look at, either as wall hangings or when used for furniture for the rich. He also did pottery, decorated with his telltale style of work. Interesting man, who knew all the famous artists of his day, including Picasso. During our visit to the gallery, there was also an exhibition of photography by Robert Doisneau. His are the black and white photographs of French life in the 1940's that you often see on adverts, greeting cards, etc.
In addition to visiting the gallery, Lurcat also owned and lived in a chateau overlooking the town, which he bought in 1945. We drove up the narrow and windy road to the chateau, and also paid to go in as Lurcat's widow opens it to the public each summer. The view was breathtaking, and also rather eerie! The castle was build in the middle ages, in common with most of the area, on the crossroads of three regions - Limousin, Auvergne and Quercy. These areas were important to the Occitan speaking people. Occitan is still spoken in some parts of the region, and is being encouraged again after years of being frowned upon. In the same way as Gaelic is spoken alongside English, so is Occitan. Back to the casle, though, and the panaromic views across the region gave a strange seniority to the people below, and you can imagine being lord of all you survey from this vantage point.
Collonges La Rouge
I first noticed Collonges La Rouge on my journey towards Gagnac, as it was all lying to the right of the road, down the hillside. The most remarkable thing was the colour of the buildings as they were all a burnished orange/brown, much darker than a terracotta, and different from the other villages around.
Collonges La Rouge is a tourist place, and has little to offer other than gift shops and food stalls. Very expensive, and very busy during the height of the season. Having said that, it had some charming old churches and towers, and they dated back as far as the 11th Century. The gifts were better than the gifts in UK shops, and you could buy some lovely items to take back home, so worth a visit if you were en route somewhere else.
Beaulieu
Now I know that we have a place of the same name in Dorset, which pronounces it 'Bulay' but in France, this is pronounced 'Bo-lio'. This is a nice town on the banks of the Dordoyne. On Monday evenings, there is an Organic (Agricole Biologique) market held by the river, outside a very large church. The church generally has exhibitions inside, so if you are getting hot, it is a good place to cool down. The market traders sell an excellent range of fruits and veg, cheeses, meats, hot cooked mushrooms (Champignon Paris, I think they were called) which are lovely and garlicky, as well as non organic items such as table cloths etc. I also bought some lovely hand made vegetable oil soaps.
Chateau de Castelnau-Bretenoux
Bretenoux is a small market town, and the market is held on Tuesdays. Typically French fayre at the market, plus household items, and the main visitors appeared to be the locals who prefer to purchase from the market than purchase the more generic items from the local Le Clerk supermarket. Tabacs a plenty, and so a nice cold lager or a Café Crème would finish the morning well!
A short drive, or long walk away and up the hill takes you to the Chateau. The grounds make a good place for a picnic and there are open air concerts through the summer in the courtyard. There was entry with tour guide only, and unfortunately, the guide only spoke in French, so I missed most of what was being told to me, but despite that, the castle had been kept in beautiful condition. It was still furnished, and the guide was young and very animated with her descriptions which were well received by the French visitors.
Cahors
We planned to visit Cahors before setting off to France, as we had seen it on the Tour de France (interestingly, the TdF journeyed through Maidstone two weeks previously). Cahors is situated on a loop of the river Lot, and has a large Cathedral (Cathedrale St Etienne) in the centre. A popular city with tourists, this is mainly due to a wonderful gothic bridge, which has three towers, and six arches supporting it. It was apparently such a good bridge, that the English were deterred from besieging the town during the 100 years war. We, by contrast, found it a lovely bridge and wandered over during a very hot day, whilst we ate an ice cream and listened to a busker.
Cahors also had a theatre, which we didn't go in, and a square with pavement restaurants outside. There was a great deal of building work being done so much of the centre was cordoned off. I imagine it will be a much better tourist place next year when it is finished.
Puy L'eveque
My guide book had Puy L'eveque on the same page as Cahors, and it looked so wonderfully cramped and urban, but also, so very French, that we had to go and visit. It wasn't a tourist place, and my sister had never been there, but we walked down the roads while dogs followed, and the local massive with their hoods up, shouted at each other and sped off on smelly scooters making me feel slightly uncomfortable. However, we wound our way down again to the river Lot and it was beautiful, with youngsters canoeing on the river. We found a bar, and had a cup of tea in the evening glow, and it was a really lovely spot. The buildings had been viewed from the opposite side of the river from the town, in my book, so I couldn't get the same effect but winding back up the hill through the alley ways was tiring but well worth the walk.
Rocamadour
If you really like tourist attractions, with a multitude of gift shops and over priced clothes and costume jewellery shops, then Rocamadour is for you!!
I think every holiday should include a real tourist experience, and this is the place for that. Rocamadour is named after a mythological hermit called St Amadour who found shelter in the rocks of the Alzou valley. As you drive towards Rocamadour, you are looking at the weirdest view of an inland cliff-face. There are many myths surrounding the reason why Rocamadour was built, and it is apparently the place for miracles to happen. There is a shrine to the black Madonna, and some link to Christ and Veronica who wiped the blood off his feet, who was led to this place. Who knows? But, many more 'pilgrims' have visited since, and spent lots of money! There is a place to park near the top, but we didn't know this. We journeyed to somewhere called L'Hospitalet, where lie remains of an 11th Century hospital (hense the name). We walked down through an old Hamlet, to the base of the 'cliff' and then started the long climb to the top where there was a Church with Ramparts to look out over the surrounding countryside. The climb was very long, and I was aching half way up. The path way zigzagged its way, and at each turn, there were Christian shrines to stop and look at, while you caught your breath. Apparently there is a lift, but that would be best left for disabled people or those pushing pushchairs. At the top, splendid view and again, a café and gift shops! While we sat at the café, we realised that there were coaches in a car park. It transpired that we could have driven further along the L'Hospitalet road, and I could have parked at the top by the church. That wouldn't have been so much fun, though.
The Gouffre de Padirac
Something for a rainy day, is a cave, and the most popular cave to visit in the Lot region is The Gouffre de Padirac. It is open from April to October daily and there is an entrance fee. When we visited (on a rainy day) the queue was so long, and we didn't have bored children, so we gave it a miss. However, my guide book tells me it is worth the visit. Apparently, on entry there is a bit of a trek past gift shops and photos, then you embark on a boat to be floated along for a while, then disembark and walk through some large chambers. You are then floated back to the exit. I have included this as there were adverts for these caves all over the region, so it would clearly be a good idea for a rainy day, but get there early!
Souillac
This was another, although less attractive town, to visit. We didn't do it full justice as we visited on a wet afternoon when the shops were shut. However, what we did visit, as a spur of the moment idea, was 'Musee de L'Automate'. What is this? I hear you ask. Well, it is a museum of mechanised toys dating back about two hundred years. The entrance was 5 Euros, so very cheap, but we had a wonderful time watching these marionettes dancing, or playing jazz. It wouldn't be everyone's idea of a good afternoon out, but as it was raining and we couldn't get into the caves, it was well worth the visit!
Figeac
During our stay, we became so used to seeing Medieval towns and architecture, we became complacent to their beauty. I suppose we all do it, and don't recognise the attractions on our own doorstep. A place that I planned to visit was Figeac. This is a large bustling town, again, with a combination of tourists and locals alike. I particularly wanted to visit as there was a replica of the Rosetta Stone which was the key to the Hieroglyphic language. Although it was a British physicist who had made a start with deciphering the language, it was a local Figeac linguist who actually translated it at the age of 32. He worked on copies of the stone, and there is a whole floor in an open square in Figeac where you can see it all written on the slate. Visitors can even walk on it, and photograph it once they have wound their way through the town.
On arrival at the town, we visited the Tourist information office, which was packed. The counter staff spoke most European languages, so were able to offer information and actually gave us a tour guide to work through the town to ensure we didn't miss any area that they considered worthy of visiting. Some were interesting, some less so, but I found the hieroglyphs, so I was happy!
**** Other Interesting Facts ****
This area of France has seen much struggling with the Hundred Years War, and various other religious wars, and it has had periods of severe poverty. In the past, the strong farming communities have waned with the industrial revolution, and the area had lacked financial viability. Now, though, and for the past twenty or so years, people wanting to escape the rat race who have been inspired by such books or TV shows as A Year in Provence, or The Good Life, have found the region very welcoming as compared to other parts of Europe. The locals, wanting their economy to improve, have welcomed the incomers to their small villages as it has brought prosperity through tourism and awakened it again. The new inhabitants have taken up the challenge of working the land in a similar way to the previous indigenous people and it is working for the area.
Each 'commune' (district) has devised a summer 'fete' celebrating a part of the local fayre. For instance, Gagnac had a 'fete au pain', as a local man bought a house then realised that there was a large bread oven in the garden. He got it into working order, then involved local school children to help with the baking of the bread and the fete was born! There is a fete for garlic, and pork, and all manner of strange ideas. It may seem contrived, but it has worked, and they are held in the summer for visitors to the region to attend.
**** Conclusion ****
If you have got this far, then thank you for reading this, the longest review I have written. As you can tell, I also fell in love with the region, and am quite envious of my sister for moving there!
We stayed for two weeks, but it could be done in a week, if necessary. You could also fly to the area, landing somewhere like Toulouse, which is cheap and quick on some airlines.
I found the local community very warm and friendly, and will certainly visit the region again.
My guide book, for those interested, was an Insight Guides 'Southwest France'. ISBN 981-234-924-3 and it had some beautiful photographs in it to really whet the appetite!
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