Oct 01, 2011

We decided to give ourselves an extra 30 minutes in bed this morning before breakfast but with the temperature expected to be 30 plus today thought we should head off on our tour before the worst heat of the day as we had some areas we anticipated tramping around before we made our way back to here to explore further.



Les Jardins du Manoir D’Eyrignac

The ride today has been just awesome with a greater intensity of autumn colours visible in the forest foliage so a real treat. Our first stop was Les Jardins du Manoir D’Eyrignac which are privately owned gardens which have been in the same family for over 500 years and has over 80,000 visitors a year. We were happy to be here before the crowds arrived and enjoyed a peaceful coffee before we headed off.



Two Aussie bikers making their way to Rocamadour and yes it was a one way bridge

From here we headed off to find the village of Rocamadour with our first layer of clothing removed as it was starting to warm up and the visual treats just kept on rolling out in front of us from villages, individual cottages or manor houses and spectacular scenery viewed from winding country lanes. Just beautiful!



On the road to Rocamadour

Rocamadour was NOT a disappointment and we wound our way up to the Chalet and walked out on the ramparts for some spectacular Ariel shots of the surrounding countryside then had some lunch before heading back to Sarlat for some exploring of the village.



Rocamadour clinging to the cliff face

The market was amazingly still happening on our return so we had a circuitous journey to our garage as we had done getting out of town in the morning and after a shower started wandering the many lanes and passage ways which make up the town of Sarlat. Incredible.



Sarlat street view looking towards the Church which built in the 17th century on the foundations of an Abbey built in the 9th century

We finished our exploration at the Hotel Madeleine which was the hotel Norm and I were supposed to stay at last year had I not come off my bike in the second day into our trip.



Hotel Madeleine across a small park area

Bits and Bobs:

For the record, the temperatures are unseasonably hot here at the moment which we are benefiting from and supposed to hold out over the weekend with a couple more 30 plus days…….not sure what the forecast is after that but it doesn’t matter, we will enjoy it anyway.



As we left the hotel this morning we were surrounded by the setting up of market stalls so the ‘Bell twins’ bought themselves some matching hats which we appreciated at the gardens and elsewhere throughout the day