Day 32 – Market day and the Valentre bridge

Le Pont Valentre

Saturday is market day in Cahors. As we were only ten minutes walk from the market we grabbed our bags and set out for market. In some ways it was the first time we had had a good look at the town. The market was in the old quarter and it was very large.

The first thing that stood out on entering the market was the tables full of strawberries. I couldn’t resist as they looked really juicy and sweet, and they were. If only we could get such strawberries in New Zealand and Australia. We spent an hour or more wandering around the stalls getting things we could cook over the next few days. There was white asparagus for instance. We got a couple of sweet things for dessert and also a rather nice eggplant parmigiana from the traiteur. The vegetables looked very fresh for most part. We also got a rotisserie poulet. The poulet were being bought up by customers very quickly. I asked if I could have half a poulet. Yes, no problem. What size? Medium s’il vous plait. Again not an issue. The same for the cheese that we bought. So much choice!

Coffee after shopping at the market

Strawberries galore

After a coffee in the square nearby we went back to our apartment with our booty to put it in the fridge.

It was a nice day and so we decided to go for a walk around the town as far as le Pont Valentre. We passed an old mill that used the water of the Lot to power it. There was a weir in the river to divert the water and on the side a lock so that boats could bypass the weir.

The old mill

We continued following the river around the bend and came to another bridge (this one built in 1837) which is still in use. There is a little building on the town side of the river where walkers on the French Camino can do something. We saw a number of walkers calling in there as we walked onto the bridge.

The sign welcoming Camino walkers

We crossed the river at that point and followed the road around past a very large spring called the Fontaine des Chartreux that supplies the drinking water for the town and has done so since the 19^th century. In the Gallo-Roman era, this spring was a place of worship devoted to the water goddess Divona. There was a little pump house beside the spring and then a little further down was another pump house called the Maison de l’Eau that used to pump the water to the town. It used the Lot to power it like a mill. It was very ingenious.

Maison de l'Eau

Fontaine de Chartreuse

There were nice views of le Pont Valentre of which we took many photos. We crossed over the bridge then walked back alongside river to a nice place to see the activity on the water and have a drink. We watched a tourist boat operated efficiently by couple of young women. They were so cheerful in comparison to some men we’ve seen operating similar ventures.