Monday 20th – Tuesday 21st May Monday is a free day that allows the tourees to explore the region at their leisure. Eight of the group hired taxis that took them the 20 minute journey to the caves. The caves feature an underground train that takes you to the innermost caverns, where a walk is followed by a lift to get out. Another group ventured to the railway station at Souilliac for a 40 minute journey to the much larger town of Cahors. The remaining tourees stayed in Souillac undertook a variety of adventures, including visiting the abbey, touring the distillery where they make a prune based liqueur flavoured with walnut and walks along the Dordogne. Most of us also made a visit to Lidl for components for our packed lunches for Friday. Dinner at 19:00 was accompanied by a man and his electronic organ… An early Tuesday morning. Alarm at 05:20, packing, bag outside the hotel room ready for portage down to the coach, breakfast at 06:00. At 06:45 our coach collected us and delivered us to the Souillac railway station. The Toulouse to Paris train only stops for two minutes, and with all of us with reserved tickets in the middle of coach one it required rigorous planning to ensure a smooth, safe, timely embarcation. Fortunately, the train station had a plan of the train so I knew that coach one would be at the front of the train and I also knew the direction of travel. We […]
France
Sunday 19th May Following breakfast at 08:00 our coach collected us at 09:00 and delivered us to Martel for 09:40. This gave us an hour to explore this village. The coach then took us the short distance to Le Truffadou [the truffle railway]. Today was a steam day. Some days the trains are diesel hauled, but everyone prefers steam don’t they? With open-sided carriages and five tunnels steam does have its downside though! [See the Video of the day at the bottom of the post.] Carved into the cliffs of Mirandol, towering 80 metres (260ft) above the River Dordogne, this line used to run from Bordeaux to Aurillac, and took from 1880 to 1884 to build. It came into use in 1889 and competed with the boat traffic. The rails were taken up in 1917 to provide steel for use in the First World War. In 1919 the US government replaced them with American rails which are still here today. In the early days, the trains were used to transport truffles, for which Martel was outstandingly famous throughout France hence its nickname Le Truffadou. The line was closed in 1980, but in 1991 several enthusiasts were eager to preserve it, raised sufficient funds and worked hard to open the Martel-St-Denis section in 1997. From Martel we travelled to the amazing village of Rocamadour. Three hours free time allowed us the opportunity to: walk from the chateaux at the top; travel on the two lifts that join the three levels of […]
Saturday 18th, May Following breakfast at 08:00 our coach collected us at 09:00 and delivered us to Sarlat for 09:40. This gave the tourees three and a half hours to explore this lovely town. Saturdays feature a very large traditional French market which spreads throughout the cobbled streets of the town, which are all closed to traffic. Sarlat is principally a market town with a central square Place de la Liberte. The Cathedral is worth visiting dedicated to Saint Sacerdos. The main street is the Rue De la Republique. Exploring both sides of this main street leads you to courtyards and alleyways and cobbled hideaways. After meeting at our coach drop-off point at 13:00 we were driven the the wonderful village of La Roque Gageac. The village is set against a steep and sometimes crumbling cliff face. The village is on the river Dordogne. It is partly tidal and is fast flowing, its banks can be flooded in heavy rain. Speeds of 50mph are not unknown. The river was used for transporting goods from upstream to downstream. The Gabares were the original flat bottomed boats for transporting goods between the Massif Centrale and the ports of Bergerac. We took part in a one hour journey along the river in a replica Gabare. Our coach again returned us to our hotel in Souillac for 16:30, giving the tourees a bit of R&R time before dinner at 19:00. RailDiscoveries Tour Map: Video of the day: Selfie of the day: Recent Posts: […]
Thursday 16th – Friday 17th, May Today was an early start. Having stayed in a hotel in London overnight, I was up at 05:00. With no breakfast available in the hotel at this ungodly hour, I walked to St Pancras International railway station for a quick coffee before meeting and greeting the tourees between 05:55 and 06:55. All the tourees made the meet and greet on time. As I met each of them I handed over their Eurostar tickets and explained the security and border control procedures. Although we were booked on the 07:55 train, unfortunately it did not leave until 09:05. We arrived in Paris 1h15m late and were expecting our transfer coach to be waiting outside at the side of Paris Gare du Nord. Unfortunately, for various reasons our coach was absent. After waiting, and a few telephone calls, it was all down to Tour Manager’s plan B. All 25 tourees were bundled into taxis and a mad dash across Paris ensued. We arrived at Paris Austerlitz with only time for a quick pit stop before joining our train with two minutes to spare. It was a good job the RailDiscoveries planners had factored in a three hour transfer time, otherwise we would have missed our connection. A pleasant five hour train journey followed. We were met at our destination station of Souillac by our coach and transferred to our hotel. Dinner was at 20:30 followed by my welcome speech. Friday morning was a free morning, this allowed […]