Cahors to Monflanquin

May 14, 2019

Busier roads today

Today and tomorrow are our "wing-it" days with no accommodation booked. We have 3 days to get to Bordeaux where we do have a (nonrefundable) booking for the night before Al catches the train back to CDG.

Breakfast at the hotel was okay; there was granola and yogurt, but the croissants weren't too good. I took one bite and left the rest. So far, those at our chambre d'hôte in Les Éyzies have been the best.

We stopped at Cycles 7 on our way out of Cahors this morning and Al found some tires that suited him. We wound our way to the Pont Valentré and rode across them continued on the Lot cycle route until we were clear of the city. For the most part, the route was on-road and the traffic seemed heavy to us after our two weeks of riding such quiet roads. The scenery, however, was enjoyable.

Restored 17th century door, Cahors. We saw at least one other similar door, also restored by the local Rotary Club and the municipality of Cahors

Looking upriver as we cross the Lot to enter Luzech.

We crossed to the right bank at Luzech and traffic dropped until after Castelfranc and then it increased and increased to Puy l'Éveque. Although I'd planned to look around Puy l'Éveque (not sure why), we headed for the river, crossed it, and found a shaded picnic table near the water to eat the goodies we'd purchased in Luzech. Mounting up again, the traffic was significantly lighter as we rode through Touzec and crossed to the right bank to stay.

The picnic shelter. It should last a long time!

The picnic shelter even has eavestroughs!

I haven't mentioned the Cahors Malbec wines! It's also known as "black wine" due to its deep red colour and today we rode through lots of vineyards that produce it. We had an inexpensive version with our dinner last night and it was the best part of the meal.

The original plan had been to ride to Fumel today, but as we approached on the pleasant cycle path, we weren't attracted by the city (for no particular reason--we didn't even see the city). It was still early so we decided to go a bit further along our general route and picked Monflanquin as a destination (due to its location and medium size and accommodation possibilities). It was getting quite hot and I don't do heat well, so I'm glad we didn't decide to go further.

When Monflanquin came into view, my first thought was "that looks like an interesting place," immediately followed by "but it would be on top of a hill!"

Yes, it turns out that Monflanquin is a hilltop bastide town. The modern road up has a decent grade so it wasn't too difficult a ride (or it wouldn't have been if I hadn't run out of water). When we go there, though, the hotel we thought we'd go for had a sign that said "closed today". The same chain (Logis) has a second hotel that's not within the bastide, but we found a chambre d'hôte on Booking.com that was reasonably priced and in the bastide. Perfect!

Of course, when we got there less than 5 minutes after receiving the confirmation email, no-one was there. Okay, where to get a beer? Coming back a little while later, Nathalie met us and showed us to our room. It looks great!

Isn't it cute? The door opens right onto a quiet street and we brought our bikes right in.

I went for a walk and checked out the dinner possibilities while Al installed his new tires. There weren't many; half the restaurants in town are closed tonight. Because it's early season? Because it's Tuesday? Both?

We only needed one place to be open and we had a decent if not fabulous meal. Unlike most other evenings, this time we were the last diners to arrive (Monflanquin shuts down early) and many of the dishes weren't available. Oh well, we didn't leave hungry!

Flowers, Monflanquin. I think these are the same as we saw growing along the roads.

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Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 707 km (439 miles)

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