Celebrating the Fourth By Returning to a Prehistoric Time

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Today we biked short (Only 32 kilometers) to Cabrerets, in the Cele River Valley.. We had cycled up the valley of the Lot River to where the Cele enters the Lot and then into the Cele Valley. Anyhow, one kilometer up the side of the gorge from Cabrerets is one of the most famous caves in Europe, Pech-Merle Grotto. It has beautiful cave drawings dating from 25,000 to 20,000 years ago.

We thought we were going to have to cycle a three kilometer road uphill to the cave. But when we signed in at the campground, the host told us of a one kilometer walking trail that would take us to the grotto. We walked the trail to enter a prehistoric time. The calcite walls of the grotto sparkled with red and black drawings of mammoths, deer, aurocks, ibex, and bear. Hard to believe that some of the drawings were 25,000 years old. And footprints preserved in calcified mud and the claw marks of a prehistoric bear. A true trip into the actions of prehistoric man.

Since we arrived so early and were able to tour the cave this afternoon, we will not spend an extra night in Cabrerets, but will head out tomorrow for Figeac, France. A little about Cabrerets. It is on the bank of the Cele River nestled against a sheer cliff wall. Some of the homes are built right up to the cliff, sharing the cliff wall as the back wall of the home. Really a picturesque little French town.

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