Last day in France

Bridge at Cahors 

This morning we drove to the Lot Valley to visit Cahores, about an hour away. The old city was built along the side of the river and and is an interesting mixture of different building styles. Again there were lots of narrow, cobbled streets, with the locals going about their business. In there centre of the old city was another incredible cathedral. It had interesting domed ceilings and the small chapels along the side of the cathedral had beautiful paintings and sculptures. The leadlight windows were also pretty impressive. 

Unfortunately the weather wasn’t great, with rain and quite cool, but we were able to see most of the significant sights. One building had the most impressive wisteria we had ever seen.

We drove along the edge of the river and walked over the historic arched stone bridge. It is clearly a popular place in the summer, for river boats with a lock below the bridge to enable the boats to move up and down the river.

It was interesting to see how much green has appeared on the trees in the week we have been here. When we first arrived, you could see between the trees down into the valleys, now it is becoming more difficult. With the rain and mist this morning, it was easy to imagine that we were in England.

We came back to the watermill for lunch and then visited two of the churches along the ridge, above our valley, the tiny church of Notre Dame and the other larger one in St Pierre-Livron. Even exploring the country roads around the local area has been fun.

Ella, Annette and I walked about 5 km back from the Cascades waterfall, enjoying the sights and sounds of the river La Bonnette, over which the watermill is built.

We ate the left-over food for dinner, but still ended up with a pretty delicious meal. Tonight was spent trying to repack everything onto our bags - they seem to be shrinking. Fingers crossed that we won’t exceed the weight limit tomorrow!

It has been a delightful week in France - it is pretty hard not to love this part of the world.

Italy next!

Crossing the bridge at Cahors

Church on the ridge near the watermill

The cars ready to return

Along the road from the Water Mill house.