Finally it's not raining!!

Tuesday 22^nd May

Well today we woke up to another grey day but it wasn’t raining so we decided to visit the last two of the most beautiful towns recommended to see in the Lot region as well as famous castle called Chateau de Castelnau which were all very close to where we were staying.

When we got to the first town called Loubressac it was 10 degrees but about 5 degrees with the wind chill factor. We had four layers of clothing on at this stage. It was foggy so the photos are not as good as we had hoped. Loubressac is perched in limestone plateaus overlooking the Dordogne River and two of its tributaries. It was a fortified village in the Middle Ages and also has a small castle not open to the public. From here we drove a few short kilometres to a beautiful village called Autoire. From all of the 5 most famous villages within the Dordogne region we both felt this was the most fascinating village.

Autoire is nestled in a deep gorge surrounded by limestone cliffs and surrounded by what should be a little stream called the Autoire as well  but due to all the rain we have had it was a raging river! We have had about seven inches of rain. Back in the 15^th and 16^th Centuries this region was where the rich bourgeoisie chose to live and there is also a lovely old Romanesque church in the village.

We drove to the highest point above the gorge to view the waterfall and then we realised there was also a track that took you to the bottom of the gorge as well. We investigated them both. The top had steps that usually allowed you to walk up but because of the rain the steps became a waterfall in themselves. From the bottom track we had to do a lot of rock hopping and hanging on to tree roots and branches to enable ourselves to get to the main waterhole where the water fell from the top. Gary managed to get to a point to take a photo over the edge where there was a strong wind caused by the force of the water hitting the bottom of the waterfall and noise of the waterfall was incredible, I stood back a little as I didn’t want to get sucked into the bottom of the rock pool but it was really invigorating to walk there to experience this which is probably quite rare due to the fact that we have had so much rain.

We wanted to go kayaking but I don’t think this will be an option for a few days as the creeks are running torrents at the moment. We might look into hiring some bikes tomorrow.  From here we drove to the beautiful Castle.

It was around lunch time so we ate cheese, salami and salad crackers waiting for the Castle to open because everything closes for a couple of hours around lunch time in this district.  We paid an entry fee of 7.50 Euros each which included a great guided tour but unfortunately we were only given an A4 sheet to explain everything in English. 

The Castle known as Castlenau-Bretenoux was build in the 13^th century and eventually became a home of a lord in the 18^th century. In 1896 it was purchased by Jean Moulierat who donated it to the State shortly before his death. He was a famous opera singer and he decorated it with art and furniture collected from all over Europe from those times.

The Castle wall is 250 metres long and included six semi-circular towers with a deep dry moat and it like all Castles was build on the highest hill overlooking the village called Prudomat.

So all in all we have had a very interesting day from freezing cold to climbing up waterfalls to being guided through medieval castles. Our biggest job now is to plan tomorrow and send this blog to you so you can once again share in our adventures.  Hope you are all well, love Chel and Gary xx

The cold street of Loubressac

Leaving Loubressac

 Autoir the next village

Typical streets of Autoir

 Now we have seen all of the 5 most recommended villages!

Leaving Autoir

The waterfall from the top of Autoir

 The Castle

Having lunch waiting for the Castle gates to open!

A school group on an excursion re-enacting medieval times with the Castle's Resident Court Jester