Cahors to Sarlat - A Big Ride!

Day 30. Cahors to Sarlat. Vendredi 12th.

This morning we packed up and set of (after the obligatary bread & cheese purchase from the markets!) leaving the very pretty town of Cahors and heading Northwards. We rode on the main road until we got through Mercules and then it was a big long hill (luckily there was an overtaking lane so cars and trucks wern't right next to us!) still on the main road. We got off it and headed towards the town of Catus, a more minor road with winding sections and a bit of up and down - beautiful riding through the fog. At Catus we were pleased with our progress (about 20km), so stopped for morning tea break - coffee and patissere (one of the best croissants we've had - made without butter apparently). And then looked at the map and noticed an even smaller road which appeared to mostly follow a creek. We decided to find this road (with the help of the guy behind the bar) and set off on the road towards Thedirac. It was uphill at first, but we had a lovely view of the valley in which the town of Catus sits, and there was no traffic to speak of. We cycled past old walls and lots of pretty trees. Then we came out into the valley which we would follow until lunchtime. Perfect riding - almost all flat, and beautiful green valley with some farms and just lots of trees - sometimes very dense and dark, others dappled all varieties of green, other times we could see down to the creek, and we saw farms with sheep and old buildings and new ones built right into the hillside. Really perfect riding - i think we sat mainly on about 25clicks, mostly just gently downhill. The mist had rising and it was sunny and cool. We got to the town of Salviac about 1pm and had our picnic lunch in the small town square, next to a memorial and church. We had a coffee to finish and then decided to keep on riding, to keep the legs moving.

We went on the main road to the next town, Domme, but it wasn't too main and was lovely riding - more valleys and hills this time, but great views most of the way and little traffic really. We got to the town of Cenac, which is right next to Domme, but Domme is up a _big_ hill. Now we'd done about 60km already today, so we were both feeling a bit tired. But we were right next to this town, which is an old bastide town, and still has most of it's 13th century ramparts and fortified gates, and a cave right under the town. So we eventually decided to attempt the climb - only 1.5km, but up quite a few metres! It was tough but worth it. The walls around the town are spectacular and we entered through one of the fortified gates. We parked just inside the town, as the roads were very steep! We went straight for the cave, and managed to get on a tour straight away. There were no paintings in this cave, just thousands of really beautiful stalactites. It was quite incredible. All shapes and sizes, room after room of delicate, chunky, strange shaped, some broken, some beautifully transluscent stalactites. And in all sorts of patterns, and some formed columns, the ceilings just covered with thousands of them, and in other areas, they just form along fractures in the rock. It was really beautiful. In the last room the guide turned off the lights and just shone his torch on a few different sectioons of the room - it was quite amazing and lovely to see them pointed out individually and when the lights came back on I was amazed again at how many there were, and all so different! At the end of the tour there is a lift which took us back up and to beautiful views over the Dordogne Valley. We soaked up the views for a while and then went back to the bikes for the ride - down the hill, across the valley, and then up a smaller valley to the town of Sarlat-La-Caneda. We got there quite buggered, after our 70km ride (my biggest yet on a bike, yet alone with luggage!!) and checked into a little hotel.

After freshening up we headed out to explore the town a bit and search for a dinner spot. Sarlat is a medieval town, and has been maintained and restored very well, so it's impeccable to look at, but doesn't have the same beauty that Cahors did. But it's still a pretty little town, and we managed to find a great restaurant (as advised by our trusty Lonely Planet!) - Alpine inspired with sliced meats, hot melted cheese & potatos, and I tired a traditional 'tartiflette' which was a cheesy potatoey dish, exactly what we nedeed after our big days' ride!!