We are enjoying a leisurely morning here in Le Bout de Lieu, near Cabrerets. Our Chambre d'hôtes, "Un Jardin dans la Falaise" we highly recommend. We have a large room with a perfect view of Cabrerets. We are also perched under the rock face that these towns are clinging to, so it's an interesting location! Breakfast is at 8:30, which is very late for a pilgrim, but today we only have 11 km to walk to reach Saint Cirq-Lapopie. We will stop at the Pech-Merle caves on the way.
Since my last post we have had two days of walking (that should be hiking!) in this valley. We had been expecting to walk along the Cele River, which is meandering through the valley, but instead we have climbed high up onto plateaus and pathways perched on top of enormous rock faces. It is a good workout, as there are many ups and downs in a day. We have passed several villages, some in the process of restoration, where the buildings are actually built into the rock face. The trail at one point took us under a large stone wall high up on the rock face, that we were told was constructed during The Hundred Years War by the British, as a defence against the French. There is a sheer drop of several hundred metres in that area, so it must have been challenging to do the construction! We met a nice older French man up there, who loves hiking in this area, and he told us about the history of the wall, as well as warning us to be very careful on the trail due to the steep drop! Fortunately it has been beautiful weather....I would not want to be up there in a storm!
Having some trouble posting Russ's photos, so will try doing it in a separate post. Stay tuned!
Posted with Blogsy
I have also imagined that the Cele River variant wandered down flat by the river. Is there just the one route, and do you have to go high? Or is there a lower alternative? Margaret
ReplyDeleteWe followed the GR651 route in the MMD, and there was no other route in the book. Another pilgrim we knew opted to walk the road one day, but said it wasn't near the river either! The best day for us was from Espagnac to Marcilhac- that made the whole Cele route worthwhile in our opinion! The day after that had much less to see, other than the village of Sauliac which was picturesque.
ReplyDeleteLinda
Thanks for that info. This route is on my 'might do' list one day. I had imagined it would be quite flat and easy, so it is good to know it isn't quite like that!
ReplyDelete