Self Drive Boat Trip on the River Lot, France

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In July 2010, our family of four set out to explore the River Lot in the South of France. This portion of the River Lot is self-contained between Luzech on the west end and Larnagol on the east end. We chartered a 2 berth "Royal Mystique" self drive boat from Le Boat's base at Douelle, France.

Thursday, July 22, 2010: We had an uneventful flight to Paris via Frankfurt.

Friday, July 23, 2010: We arrived in Paris and picked up our car for the five hour drive to Cahors, in the Midi-Pyrenees. Our five hour drive turned into a seven hour drive due to holiday traffic. The great thing about France of course is that if you are tired of the drive, the rest stops are clean and have great food and strong coffee! We arrived in Cahors, a charming small city on the River Lot. We stayed at the Hotel de France, accross from the train station. Cahors has a beautiful 700 year old bridge called the Pont Valentre. The Hotel de France was functional, but nothing terrific. The staff and breakfast were terrific, but the hotel and rooms are vintage 1970s. Dinner at Lamparo in the old town of Cahors. After dinner, we enjoyed walking the Pont Valentre.

Saturday, July 24, 2010: The hotel arranged for an English speaking driver, Philippe, to drive us to the Le Boat base in Douelle, about 6 miles away. We stopped at the e-Leclerc Mega Market and picked up provisions for the week. The supermarket had all possible items a family would need for a week of boating, including rafts and extra towels. We arrived at the Le Boat base at Noon and loaded our gear onto the Royal Mystique, our boat and home for the week. Erica, Le Boat's base manager in Douelle, signed us in and an English speaking technician showed us everything we needed to know to operate the boat. The boat had two berths, 2 heads with vacu-flush toilets, and two showers. The galley was modern with a four burner stove, oven, broiler, and a full set of utensils. We cruised upstream for a "try out", then back downstream toward the base and met the Le Boat staff at the first lock for a lesson on how to operate the lock. The River Lot has only one automated lock and no lock keepers. It's "do it yourself." After getting a lesson on the lock, we hopped on our bikes (supplied by Le Boat) and picked up some fresh steaks and veggies to grill for dinner on the boat's outdoor grill. We then motored down stream toward the Luzech dam, the western end of the navigable portion of the Lot. We moored up at the water sports center near the tiny village of Caix and had dinner aboard. Another "Le Boat" group moored next to us, an extended family from Vienna and Salzburg, and we made fast friends and spent the week enjoying their company. It was an eventful but fun day.

Sunday, July 25, 2010: Up early for a bike ride to check out Luzech and the chateaus nearby. Luzech is a small pretty town with the ruins of a castle above. We bought fresh bread (soon to be a daily ritual) and enjoyed coffee and fresh bread on deck. We also biked to the nearby wineries or "chateaus", including the Chateau de Caix, a beatiful castle which is the summer home of the Danish royal family. We sampled some wine at several local wineries--Vin de Cahors or "Black Wine", which is 100% Malbec. Saw an early morning hot-air balloon in the distance. By mid-morning, we set off for Cahors, upstream and several locks from our location. We stopped for lunch on river near the Chateau Mercues, formerly the castle of the Cahors bishops, now a 5 star hotel and winery. After lunch, we went waterskiing on the river and moored for the night in downtown Cahors. We had dinner in the old part of Cahors again at Bistro Gambetta, right on the main square. Another great informal French meal.

Monday, July 26, 2010: Rain in the morning....our first and only battle with rain. Luckily, it would stop by 10:00 a.m. We woke up and traveled to a bakery for fresh bread. Lucky enough, this bakery also made fresh donuts, keeping the kids happy. We found our Austrian friends at a different mooring spot near the Cahors pool and our son hung out with theirs while we biked to the Intermarche Supermarket for some additional items. We then set off for Vers, our next stop. We stopped for lunch at Arcambral, and enjoyed lunch at Alhambra, a typical country bistro. We then toured the local brewery, Brasserie Ratz, and set out for Vers again. The weather cooperated and it was again hot and sunny. At Vers, there is a small beautiful village with a nice campground. We moored at the campground and observed lots of Europeans enjoying their holidays. The kids played soccer, baseball, frisbee, and swam in the river. We enjoyed a more formal french meal of casoulet and lamb at La Truite Doree in Vers.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010: Up early for a walk and of course, fresh bread. We then motored toward St. Cirq Lapopie, designated by French tourism authorities as one of the five most beautiful in France. We stopped for lunch on river and then for a swim in an isolated spot. We arrived near St. Cirq Lapoppie and moored up at a large campground with a sandy beach, bar, and small restaurant. We then hiked up straight up to St. Cirq, which takes about 45 minutes, and enjoyed the views and the ancient sites of this medieval town. On the recommendation of the locals, we hiked about 3 KM's to the town of Tour de Faure and dined at L'Oilo dinner, a brick oven pizzeria with outdoor seating, great views, and a volleyball court. This was the end of the line for us heading upstream. Though the river is open to Larnagol, Le Boat recommended turning around at St. Cirq and taking it easy going back.

Wednesday, July 28, 2010: Up very early today to head back downstream to Cabarets, home of the Grotte Peche Merle, or Purple Fish Caves. After getting our....fresh bread, we motored to the town of Bouzies, which has a nice marina with a pool. We left the boat and biked to the town of Cabarets, about 8 KM, and then hiked the path, 1KM straight up, to the cave entrance. After waiting in line 2 hours, we finally got entry to the caves. They were discovered in the 1920's by two young boys and have 30,000 year old cave paintings. After the tour, we grabbed sandwiches in Cabarets, had a picnic, and biked back to Bouzies. Before we set out for St. Gery, we enjoyed a swim in the pool at Bouzies, and some sun time. We then motored to St. Gery, a beautiful village with plum groves and a train museum, and moored up above the lock, an awesome country setting. We walked into town, about 200meters, and enjoyed a great meal at On Passe a Tabl in St. Gery. More duck, more cheese, more great french food and drink.

Thursday, July 29, 2010: Up early for a bike ride and....fresh bread. Set off toward Cahors again. Lunch on the river with a few swim stops. Arrived in Cahors to clouds and cool weather. Enjoyed the shops and cathedral and internet cafe. We tried to hit the public pool, but some weird French law requires speedos! My son and I declined. We discovered "Les Halles", the covered market and had dinner at Pub Au Bureau a "TGI Fridays" type chain for our only bad meal of the week.

Friday, July 30, 2010: Sadly, this ws to be our last day on the Royal Mystique. We left Cahors and headed downstream, under the beautiful Ponte Valentre, and stopped in the village of Pradines for lunch and a visit to Cap Nature, a zip line, ropes course facility. The guides were excellent, though their English was limited. We enjoyed the ziplines and ropes challenges. After that, we arrived back at the Le Boat base in Douelle, only to find all of the friends we had made all week, with everyone settling in to the idea that it was our last night. At Erica's (the Le Boat Manager) suggestion, we dined at Auberge Douelle, just over the bridge. We enjoyed the best moules frittes (mussels with fries) we had ever had and spent hours talking and enjoying wine and coffee with a French family we had met days earlier in St. Cirq. We even tried the foie gras de canard--duck liver on a pastry with garlic and apples.

Saturday, July 31, 2010: We turned the boat back to Le Boat at 9:00 a.m. and got a ride to Cahors from Philippe, the same taxi driver that delivered us to Le Boat one week earlier. We hit our last country market in Cahors and picked up picnic food for our six hour train to Paris.

This was an incredible family vacation that we will never forget. The scenery, people, food, wine, and activities were unforgetable.

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