Eating the French way

Exploring the Lot and surrounding villages in the south west of France has incorporated a varied experience of eating…or so it feels as our tummy’s are extending with the lunch time menus followed by pastries, cheese and baguettes for an evening snack….

However this has meant visits to many of the surrounding villages …. And seeing the place while we are here!

Monday was threatening rain…slightly overcast as we set off towards our luncheon destination….

Across the newly restored (red) bridge into the small village of Touzac

This being a one lane two way, plus bicycles and walkers bridge….meant Kevin had to stop clear of the bridge and I walked back onto it…

The calm before the storm? looking back up the river towards the lock…

And sharing the bridge with numerous vehicles racing across….red means go as fast as you can here in France!

As all restaurants in France open sharply at midday and close at 2pm – there is a small window for eating, we were a little early at the riverside venue for today’s degustation, so we stopped and strolled through the village of Grezels…

The Main Street was partly closed as road works are happening (but not on a Monday!) and the town was almost like a ghost town…

The church….high on the hill…

And steps devoid of handrails…

While many old stone buildings are showing their age, this house stood out as having been given some love recently….however, the only sign of life here we saw were…

Butterflies and bees…and a very old lady on the stone bridge as we headed back to the car….praying for us….bless her….maybe she was telling us not to overeat!

We now were on time for the lunch rush….and arrived at the riverside cafe….in the middle of a field along with other people who seemed to come from nowhere…but first a cappuccino….

Carolyn made the mistake of asking for a cappuccino not Cafe crème…and of course received her coffee Sunday!!!

Here there was a set lunch menu…as with a lot of French lunchtime options…mushroom soup, followed by a charcuterie plate, main course of a stuffed tomato, and dessert! All devoured within a very short period….the sun had come out…

As we ate and watched kayakers racing down the river….needless to say we rolled out of the restaurant and into the car….for a scenic drive home…through the old town of ….

Puy l’Eveque….with its colourful umbrella Main Street…again very quiet after the holiday period now nearing the end of August.

The view from the terrace at the top of town

We then headed to supermarket and home for an afternoon nap after our huge lunch…

Tuesday was BBQ day at home with friends of Roland’s from Australia…which meant another trip to the supermarket …. Hoping the predicted storms held off, which they did until a slight shower in the late afternoon…

Yesterday was lunch outing (no surprises) with another friend in the area …. Carolyn and I decided to take a walk before eating and walked along the riverside to Fumel town…poking around in a couple of shops until Kevin and Roland collected us at 11.30am

Fumel once again under the threat of storms…

Lunch was in a Thai restaurant at Prayssac…another village closer to Cahors…on the menu Ondina (their friend) chose frogs legs….

A lot of work and lots of legs!

We then dropped her home to her village of Castlefranc and had a grand tour of her garden…

Red sunflowers!

And 3 metre high sunflowers – one stem with many heads!!!

Castlefranc is on a subsidiary river that runs into the lot river….and a wander from Ondinas house took us through and past some very picturesque quaint (and old) lanes and bush and houses.

The main road and bridge through this village is about to be closed for refurbishment…can take a few years….

So that means Ondinas sleepy little lane will become the main route!

Upon leaving Ondinas we headed up the other side of the river to the village of Albas…perched precariously high on a rock cliff above the river…

Albas highs…

And lows…at water level the dam

And beach area…there are a few designated swimming areas along the riverside where there is no current!

Once again the promised thunderstorms had held off and arriving home at 5pm, we spent a pleasant couple of hours in the garden…until it wasn’t….the rain has come down overnight and the thunder is still rolling…this doesn’t bode well for the weekly market in the nearby (walkable to) town of Monsempron!