After Bouzies, I ticked off another Les Plus Beaux village, the lovely Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. It is situated on a hill overlooking the Lot river and the view, even from the parking area, was just divine!
The Lot is very reminiscent of the more famous Dordogne river with little historic villages perched along the majestic river. One of these, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie has thirteen (yep, thirteen) listed buildings, mostly old shops and workshops for merchants, but the entire town has a museum-like quality because all the buildings are old and in such good shape for their age!
After parking (thankfully, a lot of these really pretty villages have well-organised parking nearby), I walked along the path to the village, with this view to my left. You start at the top of the village and meander down to the bottom, and it took me a good long while to get all the way through the town as it was just so beautiful and photogenic! I stopped in the Office de Tourisme on my way, as I quite like to pick up a map of the town (sometimes they have good historical walks through the town and lots of good info).
It was about midday when I was wandering around what seemed to be the main square in the village, so I started looking at menu boards to see what was on offer for lunch. In the end, I chose a restaurant that was right on this square, as the menu offerings sounded delicious. A couple had left just as I walked up so I also scored a good table outside too! My meal was delicious, a confit duck leg with some roasted veg, salad and a sauce. AND a glass of wine, of course! I wish I'd noted the name of the restaurant though... oh well!
Fed, I kept on going down the path to the bottom of the village. It was so interesting, with different things to see almost on every step. I got to the bottom, then started chatting with this woman I saw trying to take a photo - I offered to help her and it turned out she was from New Zealand! She had caught the bus there for the day, which I thought was fairly plucky given that the village was in the middle of nowhere, and French buses in the countryside can't have been too reliable! She hurried off to catch the bus then I started walking back up to the top. That's the thing with these villages - once you've walked to the bottom, you have to turn around and go back up-up-up again!
I made it back to the camper, left the parking, and drove along the Lot river for about 2 hours. I stopped at Intermarche on the way to pick up some groceries, but I was aiming for another Les Plus Beaux village called Conques, just off the Lot.
The drive along the Lot was really really enjoyable. It is truly a lovely part of the world, and I would love to spend more time around there and the Dordogne just exploring. It seems everytime I go there, it exceeds all expectations.
I made it to Conques at about 5pm, although being summer it was still bright and sunny. I did, however, take note of the campsites along the river, and decided that I would spend the night at one of them on the way back. I scored a really good parking spot outside due to it being quite late in the afternoon. They had a system where you had to pay for parking to people in a booth on the way back. So I left the camper and went off the explore!
Conques is yet another of the Plus Beaux villages! I was certainly ticking them off today! It was a beautiful little village that also sits on the Camino de Santiago path, and the 11th century church is UNESCO-heritage listed. Conques also had lots of little narrow old streets off the main square, so I spent a good few hours looking around. It was lovely.
After walking back out, I dug my wallet out to pay for the parking... but it was past 6pm and the parking attendants had gone and so my parking was free! Happy days! I drove back out of Conqes (a little sketchy, quite steep with some narrow roads but I made it!), and head for a campsite nearby that I'd picked as I'd driven to the town.
I stopped for the night at Camping La Plaine, a little campsite on the Lot river that wasn't overly fancy but it was perfect. I parked and walked in to check in and was greeted by a very friendly German Shepherd, then a very friendly Dutch man, the dog's owner and the one in charge of the site. He could speak English flawlessly (as most Dutch can), then segued into flawless French. Very impressive. I asked for a site near the river, and he pointed out some good ones and I drove to one and parked up for the night. I had dinner, a little wine, and cracked out my Iced Vo-Vos (Australian biscuits care of a friend from home!) which I munched on while watching the river flow past. The perfect end to a great day.
Campsite: Camping La Plaine (no website). 10/10. Not fancy, but simple and relaxed with friendly owners. Pizza and drinks at the bar, though I didn't partake.