I am such an early bird when I travel (well, all the time really...) and I was up at 6am, and parking the campervan at one of the Rocamadour parking lots at 8:30am. I had actually planned to get there early, as I wanted to get there before the tiny streets of this ancient village was full of tourists. I am glad I did too, as there's nothing quite like being the only person wandering around.
The parking for Rocamadour was all outside of the village, which made sense because the village itself was only just clinging to the cliff face it was built against; it would have been ruined with lots of cars and campers and motorhomes driving around there! I walked down the very steep pathway to the village, thinking that that was going to be fun to walk back up later once the day had started heating up! The path did give some great views of the church and village though, so it was worth it!
Rocamadour itself is well known, particularly among pilgrims, which have been visiting the church here for centuries. The present day church was built in the 15th century, but it is surrounded by parts of buildings that date back to the 12th century. As such, Rocamadour is a World Heritage-listed village. There are also several stories about the village itself and miracles performed here, all with quite a bit of uncertainty around them. It is part of the Santiago de Compostela route, so attracts people walking on this path through France too.
Being there early meant that I truly had the village to myself. I also had the church to myself too, and happened upon a priest doing his morning prayers (from which I backed away quietly).
I left the church complex and went to look around the village, which was just starting to wake up. There were many more people about now! The little village was very picturesque, with shops and boutique hotels and restaurants everywhere. Lots of ice cream shops too!
I left through the arch in the photo above, but not before watching a bus drive around the corner just outside the city walls - I don't know why it was going that way, there were much easier roads at the top of the cliff where I parked! But it was quite interesting watching it manoeuvre around the old stone buildings!
I walked back up the path to the parking. By this time, it was really rather warm, and it was a workout getting up there! I turned around and snapped this photo while I was catching my breath...
I got back to the car, parked thankfully under a tree, and head off for my next destination!
I've got to say, the road from Rocamadour to Bouzies was pretty crazy! Much of it was one-lane wide, with a low stone wall on one side (to stop you going into the Lot river) and low-hanging cliffs on the other. It WAS an amazing drive though, I'm just happy I didn't see anyone on the way!
I was driving through this area and it was full of white butterflies - I mean, they were everywhere! I saw some pretty houses and then a parking spot and I quickly parked up and jumped out, then got swarmed by the butterflies! I managed to convince them that I was not a flower (tough, I know!) and head on back to the houses I saw. What a wild place to live - it was basically in a gorge, with a narrow road out the front and very little other amenities nearby. But it was lovely!
I reached my destination, the village of Bouzies, and parked to go have a look around. You reached Bouzies by a one-lane bridge (again, very thankful that no one was coming my way!), and there was a lot of parking because it was right on the river, with all the types of water sports that that entails. I was there, however, for the so-called Chateau des Anglais, a castle built into the limestone cliffs surrounding the Lot river. It was built between the 11th and 12th century to be used as a refuge for the people of Bouzies should the village come under attack. I think you'll agree that it was pretty special.
I had a quick look around Bouzies but it wasn't a very big place, so jumped in the camper for my next destination: Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, which I'll cover in the next post!