I had a bit of a lay in today, didn't get up til gone 9 and it was half ten before the van was stowed and I'd done a lap of the town on the bike to make sure I hadn't missed anything. I hadn't.
It occurred to me as I trundled North East that I hadn't happened upon an interesting bridge in a while and that made me a little sad.
Cahors is a lovely town/city or certainly appears to be, I saw a couple of novelties on my cytour (a new word I'm coining to describe touring a location whilst on a bike) firstly that strung through the main streets of Cahors is a high ropes course, fixed between lamp posts and the tress that line the roads, you can even buy a lofted guided tour. Secondly Cahors is miles from the coast, barely out of the foothills of the Pyrenees and extremely central, it does however have a large river running right through it (with an old and pretty albeit boring bridge) so a local entrepreneur has decided to create a beach only the riverside, importing sand and laying out sun beds, very clever. I greatly enjoyed my short stint in Cahors but I needed to press on.
The route to my overnight stop in Vers ran parallel with the river and slowly made its way towards the head shed of the watercourse. Upon arrival I was immeasurably pleased with the Aire, a grassy, park-like area with not only a toilet but what heaven is this ? a serviceable shower ! I cooked myself a decent lunch, following my own advice from yesterday's downtrodden mood and set about exploring Vers, there isn't a lot of it but what there is needed to be seen. Some amazing views up and down stream, high rock faces that edges the valley carved by the river over centuries stood like impending bookends, a river at the base so clear it puts glass to shame and yet another disproportionately large church. The French do appear to love a big church !
The Aire was, upon further investigation, part of the grounds of the old railway station, the station itself having now been converted into a quirky but very desirable house. The tracks are still laid and not altogether overgrown, I'm not sure when or why they closed the line but as there is only one road along this valley floor it must have dealt quite an economic blow to Vers and almost doesn't make sense. Sightseeing aside there isn't a lot here any more, there are several closed businesses and a couple of others who appear to be struggling, it would be a shame to see this place collapse but it would be even more of a shame, I think, to let it become commercialised.
On a completely different note the van has developed a squeaky brake pedal, I've dosed everything in WD40 and left it soak, I went in search of some free WiFi to poach as I'd been out of contact with the great wide world
for a few days and to my great sadness I learned that Robin Williams has taken his own life. The class clown, the mimic, the frustrated genius both comic and observational, the depressive, the alcoholic, the drug user, the boy who refused to grow up, the sole reason I know where Boulder is, the sole reason I watched a Disney film on my own, the sole reason I understood divorce and visitation rights from a view point other than my own, the sole reason I'm glad we don't have to have 35mm film developed any more and the sole reason I have listened to Martha Reeves and the Beach boys in a 90 minute period and above all a man I could relate to on so many levels, an inspiration, an icon and a man that will be sorely missed by so many.
O Captain, my Captain.
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