France – The Dordogn – Cahors and Gramat

We departed St Sylvestre Dur Lot on the morning of the 8th September and drove towards the town of Gramat.

The landscape here is agricultural, corps of corn, sunflower and cabbages with cattle grazing in some fields.

Near the village of Sauz we drove past wineries, fruit orchards and lovely old farm houses

We arrived in the town of Cahors around lunch time and soon discovered parking was at a premium after a while found a motor home parking area just outside town. After a picnic lunch we set off on the path along the river toward the old city.

Cahors is a 12th Century fortified Bastilde town now the capital of the Lot department in south-western France.

Cahors – France
Cahors France

This is an interesting location with the town surrounded by the U bend in the river Lot which forms a natural moat. The cliffs and the river are a formidable defensive barrier and would have made any attack difficult. And today seriously limits the parking spaces available!!

After a kilometer or so we walked across the bridge into the old section of the city and on through narrow alleys past shops and small cafes to the Lot river on the other side of the town.

Here we crossed the unique 14th century Valentre Bridge over the Lot river. The Valentre Bridge is the symbol of the town. Building on the bridge began in 1308 and was completed in 1378. There is a lock under the bridge and watching a pleasure boat pass through the lock kept us amused for a while.  We walked back through different parts of the town stopping at shops and the post office on the way back to the Hymermobile.

Valentre Bridge – Cahors

Back on the road we arrived in small town of Gramat early evening. After settling into the aires which was only a 300m from the town.  We took our evening walk was around the small town centre and visited the old church. The town centre of Gramat is pleasant rather than exciting. There are a sprinkling of cafes and interesting things to see when walking around, chief among them is the 16th century clock tower. There also some medieval houses with attractive decoration. 19th century townhouses are around the town central square.

Gramat
Our home in Gramat

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