I had just made a sandwich so that I had something to nosh on whilst writing this piece and I saw what looked like a piece of crust left on the breadboard, so waste not want not I popped into my mouth. Ooops, it was not crust at all but a shield bug - wow - hot AND peppery. Out it came, but there could bea future recipe in the offing; steak and hot pepper shield-bug sauce. Watch this space.
Back to the story - the forecast was good so we decided to drive the 100km North to Rocamadour and walk around the limestone gorges. Our route took us along the D32 which gave us an impressive view of the "Sanctuaries" with the village of Rocamadour below in the morning sun. Did you know that Rocamadour has 1.5 million visitors each year, second only to Mont-Saint-Michel?
Our walk commenced in the lower car-park of Rocamadour where we climbed steeply up onto the limestone causse. The leaves were still quite green so autumn has not fully arrived here. After a few kilometres we stopped for lunch before descending back into the The Canyon de l'Alzou that would take us back to the car. Reaching the canyon we were met with a dried riverbed but this is characteristic of limestone gorges where the river can disappear underground in the summer and re-emerge later in the year. There is a nice easy path that takes you past old mills that have fallen into disuse. The first we came across was the Le Moulin de Saut, it was barely put into use before it was burned down, possibly due to a flour dust explosion. Do not worry, you are safe from your flour shakers: the dust needs to be suspended in a cloud within a confined space, with enough air and some type of ignition. Interestingly, dust is still a significant risk in modern milling as well as coal mining.
The path continues alongside the cliff-confined dry river bed and there is relief from the sun from the many trees along the way. We came across a freshly renovated stone bridge which we called "bridge over the river quoi". I am sure it will be very welcome when someone fills up the river this winter. The final picture is a little round hut above the D32, unusually the road itself is not cut into the rock face for its full length but supported in places by arched sections that continue up to the top of the causse.
Nev
