Tuesday 10th. Back in Cahors and the Lot Valley

The journey to Cahors is not a long one but we still set off fairly early and spent our time on small roads among the vineyards.

We decided to make the detour up to the village of Tournons d'en Agenais.  Td'A is a lovely bastide village with fabulous views over the surrounding countryside.  It is part of the pilgrims route to Santiago de Compostella according to the large church.  The small square is charming and full of pots of flowers.  We stopped for a coffee (along with some other Brits) .   I have a feeling it is one of the villages in our books on the prettying villages in France and I can imagine it deserves that accolade.

We arrived in the Lot valley at Puy l'Eveque and we have definitely stopped here before but felt it was worth another stop,   However, along with Condom it seemed to have suffered slightly from the recession in France as many of the shops were closed down.  However, it was nice to wander round and we had some good views of the Lot below.  We headed out for our lunch just across the bridge to a cafe on one of the banks of the Lot.  We both opted for a salad de Quercy which inevitably comprises pâté de fore, walnuts and smoked duck breast and very good it was too.

We finally reached Cahors and found our hotel with the help of the trusty Satnav.  We were staying in a Kyriad just outside the town.  This is a new hotel chain to us but is perfectly serviceable although lacking in character, but just the thing for a last minute stop where the only purpose of the room is to sleep in it.

After checking in we headed into the town for a wander around and to find a suitable spot for dinner. The first port of call was the famous Pont Valentre which is a lovely fortified bridge across the Lot and is just as beautiful as when we first saw it some 40 years ago.

We then went back to the central square and settled down to a typically meal of the Quercy variety, the LLW's Mer et terre plate comprising the inevitable pate de foie and smoked salmon whilst I had Ris and Rognons de Veau - all delicious for a routine centre of the square restaurant.