Blogs from Rocamadour, Midi-Pyrénées, France, Europe

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Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour April 20th 2019

Wednesday 17thApril Today we travelled from Mont Dore to Rocamadour. Along the way we visited the wonderful Gouffre de Padirac, a limestone cave that one accesses down a big sink hole, 74 metres wide and 33 metres deep. It was impressive to look down into the hole to see the people on the paths entering the cave. It's quite a descent down the hole to the cave, including the large stairway you can see in the picture. The cave is basically one long tunnel, which extends more than 20km. The tour takes in about the first 1km. The first stretch of the cave has no real decorations, following the underground river, but not subject to groundwater entering. Then one transfers into gondolas for a ride further into the cave – very interesting and different. Alighting from ... read more
Rocamadour
Château de Beynac
Rocamadour seen from the Monastery

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour September 20th 2017

Bob had found a Wednesday market at Martel, just 20 km away so an easy scooter ride. Air as cold as ice as we set off so both wearing 3 layers. We stopped first at Montvalant, a little hamlet with some nice buildings. We love the classic shapes and colours of Dordogne dwellings especially across the rooftops. Down the hill from there to the Dordogne. The road had a few more big trucks on than we prefer as Kisbee doesn’t like the slipstream and neither do I. We crossed the river at Gluges and said we would stop on the way back but needed to get to Martel while the market was still open. We saw the 7 towers of Martel as we approached. A very attractive view and the town itself proved to be even ... read more
Martel market (1)
Martel church
By the Dordogne at Creysse

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour September 19th 2017

Bob woke me in the early hours thinking it was raining and we had left the towels out ‘to dry’. Not rain but very heavy, down to the ground sort of mist and all the towels were totally soaked. So much so that I had to stick them in the campsite tumble dryer. Also Very chilly as no sun could get through that thickness of cloud cover so we hung about all morning, with Tandy’s heater on for a while until the mist lifted and the sky brightened. Bob got Kisbee out and we dressed in extra layers (think I’ll pack boots next September and certainly my fur lined fleece !) and after lunch set out for Rocamadour. Only 7 km but cold ones. At one point one of my legs was really hot as the ... read more
170919 Rocamadour (60)
The Black Madonna
170919 Rocamadour (30)

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour September 18th 2017

Started raining in the early hours and had to leap out of bed to retrieve my swimming things which were supposedly drying outside. Still raining as we left the campsite and set off for the Lot / Dordogne. Route was to take us through some lovely places and countryside but hard to see the scenery most of the way as we had either very low cloud or drizzle or heavy rain. Quite depressing really as forecast had shown it better further north but the nasty clouds just kept following us. Had a few bright moments with patches of blue sky when the rain stopped for a few miles but it soon enough started again. Discovered this morning that our surprise at seeing so much snow on the Pyrenees yesterday was justified. It has snowed there for ... read more
Rather a good tree tunnel
170918 Rocamadour (101)
Cordes sur Ciel

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour September 23rd 2016

Very lazy day today, Wednesday. We spent the morning at the campsite relaxing with our books (well Kindle in my case and Tablet in Bob’s). After a bit of lunch we headed down to the beach, Santa Margarita end, the holiday resort part of Roses. It really does have a rather lovely beach with a very pleasant promenade running behind, its full length. Lots of shops selling your usual beachside tat and cafes and restaurants galore. We had a very good swim as the sea was quite warm, once immersed anyway and perfect for swimming. Warmer than campsite pool so I made sure I swam enough to cover my daily pool lengths as no intention of freezing myself in the pool later. The sun hid itself behind a cloud but warm enough anyway so we lay ... read more
160923 Thegra (52)
160923 Thegra (58)
160923 Thegra (65)

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour September 16th 2013

Dordogne Valley in France – Rocamadour, Sarlat la Caneda, Les Cabanes du Breuil Village and La Roque Gaega, The road from Cahors to Rocamadour was narrow and hilly until we wound down into a steep valley, round a corner and then was confronted by the town of Rocamadour which appeared to cling to the cliffs above the Alzou River, 150 metres below. This river flows into the Dordogne River. Rocamadour has been a Christian pilgrimage site since the Middle-Ages and is now listed as one of the “Great Sites” of the Midi-Pyrenees region. The whole site is listed as UNESCO world heritage site. One of the chapels, which is built into the rock and contains the statue of the Black Virgin. We wandered and climbed up big stone stairs and zigzagged up the hill. At each ... read more
Rocamadour in Dordogne Valley (4)
Chocolate Shop at Rocamadour in Dordogne Valley
Rocamadour in Dordogne Valley (5)

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour July 18th 2013

A very long day. We were up at 6 and gone by just after 7 for in order to get to Lascaux by 9am to get tickets to the English tour of the Lascaux II Cave at Montigny. To get there we set the GPS and ended up going cross country through many little villages to get to the A89 motorway to speed our way east. Briefly, Lascaux II cave is a replica cave in every sense of the original right down to the last stone and bump. This is because the original cave was getting algae affecting the cave paintings. The main cave was discovered in 1940 by some young boys playing nearby when their dog fell down a hole. Down the hole they discovered paintings on the cave walls of horses, cows, bulls, deer, ... read more
Le Roque de Cristophe
Model Picture
Rocamadour Abbey

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour August 9th 2012

On Monday, we left Sarlat for Roc-Amadour, On the way, we stopped at Domme. It is a small fortified medieval village on top of a cliff. This affords amazing panoramic views of the surrounding countryside. We then went on to Roc-Amadour. Roc-Amadour is the third most visited pilgrimage sites in France because of its 12th century Black Madonna. The village is located in a huge ravine, and it literally climbs up the cliff face. The village is one three levels; the first is the town, the second (above the town) is the Sanctuary and the third (above the Sanctuary) is the Chateau. We were able to climb the ramparts of the Chateau, but we could not enter because it is privately owned. There are a total of seven chapels surrounding the Basilica of Saint Saviour, the ... read more
Roc-Amadour at night
La Vierge Noire
Fortified Wall and Gate of Domme

Europe » France » Midi-Pyrénées » Rocamadour September 16th 2011

Oh dear. Rain. Actually not a problem at all, just the sky unloading a couple of small clouds and once those were out of the way we reverted to glorious blue sky and hot sunshine. We are trying to catch some of this to take home with us in the Tandy garage as we hear that Staffordshire is in dire need of some warm, dry weather ! We left the Dordogne and headed East, in the direction of the Lot region. Only 40 miles in total to our next campsite so we stopped off in Rocamadour for a visit. As we had hoped there was plenty of space for our Tandy so we parked, visited the Tourist Information centre and acquired a map of the medieval town. Rocamadour is built up a cliff, best way to ... read more
Foie Gras in the making and lots of feathers
Rocamadour viewed from the Chemin du Pauvres
On the way down into Rocamadour




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