Trip to the Gironde - Limoux to Rocamadour

Our friends Ruth and Andrew go on an annual motor-home tour of Europe. John and I were lucky to be able to jump on to part of their road trip in the Gironde area around Bordeaux. We decided to check out a few place en route to the meeting place.

We left Limoux early in the morning and travelled north past Carcassonne to Mazamet on the Montagne Noire. Mazamet is a

small town, once rich from wool and now in the swan-skin business – who would have guessed?

After meandering through the countryside we arrived at Penne and visited a 12th century Chateau, another remnant from the Cathar period. The chateau is precariously on a mountain spur and is famous for surviving an early crusade raid. The ruins have been sympathetically restored and the dungeon, ramparts and castle still remain. There is a “medieval” restaurant next door that serves “ye olde boar” and mead but as it was a hot day we decided not to partake.

We attempted to leave the tiny town but the GPS kept taking us to a road with bollards much larger than our small hire car could attempt to run down. Frustrated and now swearing at the still calm GPS voice

we realised the same route was going to get us at the same dead end so we “free-ranged” back to a road that the GPS liked more.

After driving through numerous picturesque towns we got back on the motorway and drove north to Rocamadour.

Rocamadour is another of the “plus beaux villages de France” – 156 of Frances' 32,000 villages belong to this organisation – and it truly deserves its title. We almost gasped aloud as it came into sight around a bend.

The village, in the Lot department, is situated on the side of a gorge above a tributary of the Dordogne. There is a medieval village part way up the cliff face, a complex of monastic building above that and modern building on top of the cliff, all connected by winding and worn

stairs.

Rocamadour has attracted pilgrims for centuries. The village was named after the rock/cliff upon which the main church was built and St Amator (the man who wiped Jesus’ face on the way to the cross or possibly a hermit or perhaps a Bishop from the region) thus Rocamadour. It is classed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO as part of the St James’ Way pilgrimage route.

Still suspicious of the GPS we followed the instructions to enter a gate onto the cobbled streets of the old village. Ignoring the curious looks of the thousands (maybe hundreds) of tourists we continued the three very long blocks of souvenir shops to our hotel to find that this was, in fact, the only way to the car park.

We decided this was a “must see again” place and settled in for a quiet drink and dinner in a restaurant overlooking the gorge.

Next: Trip to the Gironde – Rocamadour to Sables D’Olonne