Category: tourism

Cadillac: Start of our “Tour de France”

Town gate at Cadillac, near Bordeaux
Town gate at Cadillac, near Bordeaux

Today we start another adventure in France with a six-day bicycle ride from Cadillac, near Bordeaux, to Arcachon on the coast, riding through vineyards, visiting Chateaus and shady forests.

Le Chevrefueuille

Le Chevrefeuille
Le Chevrefeuille
Postcards dipicting some of the artwork in Font-de-GAume

We’re spending three nights at a delightful farm house, just a few kilometers from Les Eyzies. Nice to put our feet up after logging 100+ kilometers on our seven-day walking tour of the Dordogne. Already dreaming about where my feet might take me next.

We found this place through Rich Steves’ guide to France; not AirB&B as I mentioned in a previous version of this post. I’ll have to give this place a high rating; I’ll have more to say in a future post. We went into town for an afternoon tour of the Font-de-Gaume, one of the better known caves in the region. Photography is not allowed in the caves, so the best I could think of was to photograph some postcards that represent what we saw in the caves. Exquisite examples of poly-chrome Paleolithic art.

On to Loubressac

View of the town of Loubressac from our hotel, Le Relais de Castelnau.

Our walk today took us from Carennac to Loubrassec, logging 16 km walking through woods, across meadows and past the hamlets of French farmers. We took an un-planned detour when we got to the tourist location of Gouffree de Padirac. The literature says “the most famous cave in Europe.” The price was right, 12e, and there was no line, so underground we went for a 2 km boat ride on an underground river. A refreshing side-trip from the heat of the afternoon. Then back on the trial. Keep on walking. A dip in the pool at the hotel was a refreshing end to the walk, followed by a five course meal. Exquisite! \

From Paris to Meyssac

My travel blog is not going to be in Chronological order. We left Paris by train this morning and arrived in Meyssac this afternoon. Tomorrow we start a self guided walking tour of the Dordogne region; a tour offered through Macs Adventures. Stay tuned in for more info.

Death Valley Superbloom

Spectacular display of wildflowers in Death Valley

Desert Gold (camissonia brevipes), Death Valley National Park
Desert Gold (camissonia brevipes), Death Valley National Park

The news reports are calling this years wildflower bloom in Death Valley a “superbloom;” the best show in a decade. I was able to carve out a few days last week to make a quick trip. If you are going to Death Valley you might want to check out the park website page about wildflowers. There’s also a link on the page to check out the current conditions. Last week large sections of the valley were carpeted with Desert Gold, the bloom working it’s way north. The wildflower display will likely continue into April, as the succession of flowers takes place. It’s quite a site to see what’s usually bare rocky soil awash with yellow.

Some advice for looking for flowers; get out of the car and walk. I took a walk up a wash, and found a patch of flowers I wanted to photograph. When I stopped,  all I saw were the stalks of Desert Gold. I sat down on the ground to get a good vantage point, and while I was on the ground, I started seeing plants that I hadn’t seen when I was standing.  Many of the plants where just putting up flower stalks, with flowers yet to come later in the season.

I’ve posted a gallery of photos from my trip. Here’s a link to a selection of wildflower photos.

I’ll be posting more about my trip over the next few days, so stay tuned.