June 20 2008 Cahors, Midi-Pyrénées, France

We left Chateau le Verdoyer on Monday 16th in pouring rain and headed south for Cahors, hoping for better weather.  It cleared gradually and was dry when we arrived at Riviere de Cabessut, a pleasant site by the riverside.  It stayed dry long enough to set up camp, but then the heavens opened and we had thunder, lightning and a terrific downpour for the rest of the day.  The following day was still damp.  We went into Cahors but forgot to take our guide book with us!  We found an internet cafe where we were able to catch up with our emails, accompanied by the sound of dozens of teenagers playing noisy computer games.

In the afternoon we visited the Grottes du Pech-Merle, well known for their stone age graffiti.(Note from Lesley: John clearly doesn't share my appreciation of prehistoric art!)


Wednesday saw the sun, and we drove upstream along the banks of the river Lot, through amazing gorges, to Bouzies, where there is a towpath carved into the cliff face


then on to St Cirq-la-Popie, said to be one of the most picturesque villages in France, perched on a cliff above the river.  This is truly a beautiful area.

On Thursday we visited Cahors, this time armed with a guide book to help us through the Middle Aged streets (that doesn't sound right, but you know what we mean).  A remarkable town, known for its old bridge and of course its red wine.............!  

At last an e-mail has come from HSBC France, Caen branch, advising they have a card and pin for my account there.  Only three weeks late!  Hopefully it will be in Carcassonne next week.  Still no joy with wi-fi.  We have been to several places with it but my good old Sony veeayeeayeo will not connect.  I have bought another connector and so hopefully will be able to upload some pictures soon.

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