October 10, 2022
Cahors to Bouzies
After two full days rest -and a delightful time visiting Cahors with friends Adam & Patty- we were feeling good and glad to be back on the road.
We opted for the south bank routing that looked to have more small roads and retraced our route back to Arcambal, then cut onto a minor road that wound its way high above the Lot with fabulous views below. Then we crossed the river into Vers. Sitting on stone benches in front of an ancient church, we ate an early lunch and decided to continue along that side of the valley to Bouzies, where we could drop our bags at the hotel and continue on, unencumbered, to Pech Merle. The gorges are beautiful, deeply cut into the limestone and warm with the sun reflecting off the pale cliffs. Not much traffic at this time of year, so we rode side by side much of the time, along the Lot and then turned up the Cele valley and climbed for the final stretch. Pech Merle is a series of caves with beautiful and incredibly well preserved paintings from the neolithic. We had to take a group, guided tour, but it was well worth it to experience the caves and see the art. Our guide, Candice, explained that although most of the why, how and when of the cave drawings was speculation, there was one scientific fact: the charcoal lines on the top layer of one painting had been accurately carbon dated to 29,000 years ago. Meaning that the lower layers of ochre and black were even older. It was truly awesome to think that humanoids had painted these that long ago.
Back to Bouzies for a special evening, we were meeting up with fellow Cycle Blazers, Scott & Rachel Anderson and Susan Carpenter. Over dinner we traded tales of cycle trips past, present and future until we were the last ones in the restaurant. Tomorrow we will hike together and plan our varied, onward routes.
| Heart | 8 | Comment | 0 | Link |
Today's ride: 45 km (28 miles)
Total: 995 km (618 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 10 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
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