I drove a long way from Carcassonne that afternoon. It was cooler and so I thought I would knock out some of my driving in the more favourable conditions. I felt like I was running behind schedule, and I wanted to spend as much time as I could in the Loire (chateaux you know!).
I was driving down the little departmental roads to both avoid big cities and peage (toll) autoroutes. And it was also SO beautiful – I went up through the mountains along the D118, pausing at Caudebronde to take a photo of the sunflowers, through Les Martys and down the D54, then on to the D964 going through some tiny villages. One of the best days of driving I had – windows down, going through gorgeous places, hair blowing in the breeze. I got to Cahors after almost 4 hours of driving and fuelled up, both with petrol and a cup of tea. Then I was off again.
I drove through a place called Catus – it must have been nice because I pulled over to the side of the road to make a note of it on my phone! And the same with Degagnac. I also saw a gorgeous abandoned chateau on the side of the D6. Then I finally stopped after almost another 2 hours of driving at a place called Daglan, and a lovely campsite run by multi-lingual Dutch people. I'd made it to the Dordogne.
I'm absolutely going to do that drive again one day. It was just the best.