Rocamadour et Carcassonne

Tuesday, April 21: Rocamadour 

We were alerted to this stop by Hester's dog sitter when in Amsterdam, and also Cahors, our next stop. And so glad for it. 

We are in a lovely little camping spot, not too crowded, and with all the modern conveniences such as water, electricity and laundry! We have booked in for two nights... the first no driving day of the trip!

A few hundred metres west of us is a beautiful deep gorge with a series of 14th and 15th C pilgrimage chapels and a chateau stepping up the rockface from a pretty little medieval village.

And of course the compulsory selfie shot!

It took most of the morning into the afternoon to walk over to the chateau, and then descend various paths and stairs down into the medieval street lined with some quite nice quality shops and restaurants.

There is an elevator system to bring tourists back up, but that would be cheating, so we hiked up the trail back to the top.

Wednesday, April 22: Cahors

One rather minor little problem with moving from one amazing little town to another day by day, is that one town can perhaps not live up to the previous. Cahors was such a town. It certainly had it's 13th C bridge, and it's 15th and 16th C buildings, but they were not all in one central area, so required some long walks.

Thursday, April 23: Carcassonne

Carcassonne was one of our primary goals for this trip, having visited back in 2011 on a road trip from Spain. That visit was mid winter, and only a brief evening stopover, but is certainly was remembered for this visit.

The main attraction is the huge fortress on a hill, enclosing a vibrant small town of shops and restaurants. The fortress originated as early as the Gallo-Roman times, though was enlarged and renovated through the centuries, with a thorough rebuilding in the 19th C.

We arrived early afternoon after 3 hour trip from Cahors along lovely small byways, though tiny hamlets and past various chateaux and farmlands. We have settled into an "aire de camping" for the night, essentially a parking lot for 12 Euro, though this one actually has toilets nearby! What luxury.

We wandered over to the citandel amongst throngs of visitors. At first it had the feeling of a Disneyland, but we soon found quieter streets and byways.

And some relaxation...

We did discover that below the fortress, there were some interesting little street of the main town, and a 13th C bridge over the river Tarn, with spectacular view of the fortress. You can probably tell by the perspective that it was quite the hike down, and then back up later in the afternoon.

Tomorrow morning we have tickets to walk the ramparts of the fortress.

Friday, April 24: Carcassonne then Minerve

Back to the fortress this morning, this time for a ticketed entry to the inner rooms and the ramparts. But first, a coffee and patisse in a charming little cafe.

The walk through the 3 kilometres of ramparts took us almost two hours. There was interesting artifacts and history notations. Although the entire fortress was rebuilt in the mid 19th C, much of its history dates back as far as the first century AD, and it was an important element of various political and religious shenanigans through the middle ages into the 1700s.

We set off eastward after lunch in the van, though flat and open farmlands, mostly vinyards, to the town of Minerve. We had no idea what to expect, as we had just briefly noted it as a destination in a tourist brochure from Rocamadour. It turns out to be quite an amazing little town in an even more amazing setting. It is built on a rocky promontory in a dramatic deep gully, accessed only by a couple of narrow twisting roads, and a picturesque bridge. The narrow little streets comprised very high quality art and artisan galleries, and the requisite brasseries and restaurants. Not sure how they manage, because there were only few tourists here and there. It does seem to be a hikers destination, with some interesting looking trails down in the gullies, so maybe more of a later in the Spring destination.

We aren't sure where we are going from here! With Trump's mad king war in Iran, we are thinking we should get nearer back north in case the fuel shortages turn ugly. We'd like to be within a tankful of Amsterdam. 

Speaking of tankfuls, we have only filled the van twice in more than 1400 kilometres. I was thinking the mileage was phenomenal, and indeed it does consume less than 7.5 litres per 100kms which is pretty darned good for the size of van, and fully equipped. That is pretty much due to the diesel engine and 7 speed transmission. It does turn out to have a much bigger fuel tank than our previous vans, taking 55 litres when still readin a quarter full, so that also explains the long range between fillups.

So, some planning tonight, and our next destination will be a surprise to faithful readers, as much as to ourselves!