Cycling in Europe and other adventures

Place Capitole     The temperature had begun to make itself felt on our trip to Chateau Haut-Monplaisir.   When we packed up the car to leave for Toulouse it was already very warm.   Fortunately the car had air-conditioning making it pleasant in the car.   As usual we took the non-tolled routes.   I had intended to stop in a small town called Montauban but I managed to miss the turnoff and before we knew it we were on the Autoroute preventing any U-turn. Instead we stopped at an Aire for a bite to eat and coffee.   I took the opportunity to charge the car. It was quickly up to over 80% charged by the time we returned to it.   Using that charger was one of the easier ones.   We easily found our accommodation.   Bev was not that happy with it as it was rather tired and it was lacking the small touches that make it feel nice to stay in.   We were also comparing it with our lovely unit in Cahors. ...

  Chateau Haut-Montplaisir    Our Airbnb host apparently worked in the wine industry and in our early communications he had offered to suggest a winery or two to visit.   I took him up on the offer and he suggested two places   After communicating with Mathilde we agreed on a time on our last day in Cahors.   It dawned a beautiful clear day in Cahors and was promising to be rather warm.   We were not due at Chateau Haut-Monplaisir until that afternoon. The chateau is near Puy St Eveque and it would have been good to combine the trip with visiting that little village but we had already done so not knowing that proximity of the two.   Coffee in Cahors Instead we went for a walk into town for a coffee.   I have included a couple of photos of the town from the bridge we frequently crossed over as the light was so different to the first photos I had taken.   We set off earlier than we needed just in case we had some difficulties finding...

    Wednesday is another market day.   We had got a bit light on veggies and as the market was back in town we wandered into the ancien quarter to see what was available.   Since we were leaving in a couple of days we just needed sufficient to get us through that time and perhaps enough for a night in Toulouse our next port of call.   The market was about half the size of the Saturday market but for me it lost none of its appeal.   We both needed a haircut.   On the way we called into a coiffure and with a bit of broken French and the help of a client who understood some English Bev was able to secure an appointment that afternoon.   I decided I was looking a bit untidy as well so planned to have a haircut too. There was a barber nearby.   He spoke no English at all and seemed somewhat disinterested in what he was doing.   However, in the end with a bit of my broken French I was able to communicate what I wanted and ...

   Our next adventure was a walk to St-Cirq-Lapopie which has been rated as one of the most beautiful villages.   We were advised to park our car in Bouzies and walk to St-Cirq-Lapopie.   It was a nice drive along a road that followed the Lot. The route took us through two picturesque little villages Vers   and St Géry. We   stopped at St Géry to get a bite to eat from a boulangerie that Bev had spotted. The village also boasted the cleanest and nicest public toilets we had experienced in our travels.   The very clean toilets Bouzies is a little village of 88 inhabitants.   The only part we were interested in was the start of the walking and cycling route to St-Cirq-Lapopie.   However before we left there were a couple of photo opportunities. The main ones being a very interesting single lane iron bridge across the river. Behind it in the cliff   there looked like there had been built into cliff a house of some sort. ...