Day 11 of Travel in France was a long day on the road, with heavy rain, travelling from Corrèze to St Hippolyte du Fort – 365 km.
The mist was thick and low as we left Cayre and although it lifted as the road descended, wet weather was never far away. We climbed out of Aurillac on to higher, grassy hills, with the mist still low.
The first stop was in Entraygues sur Truyère, a mediaeval town at the confluence of the Truyère and Lot rivers and a stop on a pilgrim route. The sun was shining, and it was good to walk after two hours in the car as the old town on the river had lots of interesting sights.
The castle in Entraygues was built in 1278-90 by Henri II, Count of Rodez, and stands on the banks of the rivers, at the head of the town, overlooking the wharf for loading boats, the gabarres. The boats traded goods such as wood and wine downriver and were themselves broken up and sold for their wood.
The morning coffee café now filling with people sitting down to lunch, at 12.00pm!
We drove through the Lot Gorges, which I found rather disappointing, to find Estaing, one of Les Plus Beaux Villages de France, and it was beautiful. It was also an important stage on a pilgrim route.
We set off towards a darkening sky, and soon had to stop. A little later, near Severac le Chateau, we were forced to stop again. The rain was simply too heavy to allow safe driving.
Eventually we had the first sight of the causses outside Millau.
And then came the bridge.
The Causse de Larzac away from Le Caylar remains starkly beautiful and leads to the grandeur of the Vis Gorges.
A shopping stop at the SuperU in Ganges and we finally arrived at the gite in Le Pouget, outside St Hippolyte du Fort, in yet more rain!
You may be interested in
Entraygues
Gabarre trade
Estaing (and here)
The Estaing Family
Les Grandes Causses
I would love to hear from you!