This week we visited the
cave paintings at Pech Merle in the town of Cabrerets in The Lot. www.pechmerle.com.
The caves were discovered in 1922 by a young
lad aged 16. They had been remarkably
preserved for some 25,000 years. The
first tours of the caves began in 1926. We
were lucky that the season has just started and we ended up having our own
personal tour. Clementine, our tour
guide, spoke excellent English and her enthusiasm for the caves brought them to
life. The highlight for me was seeing a footprint preserved in the clay where someone had trod 25,000
years ago. Clementine told us that the
caves were the wettest she had known in her ten years working there because of
the very wet winter they have experienced. The caverns were filled with gigantic
stalagmites and stalactites. We watched rivulets of water running down the
rocks forming the next layer of calcite before our very eyes. Unfortunately I wasn’t allowed to take any photos,
but you can see some of the paintings on the website. Well worth a visit and good value at 10
Euros, but better to go out of season.
We also had a delicious lunch in La Roue in
Cabrerets – 13 Euros for four courses for the menu du jour.
I wish I'd had an English-speaking guide the times I've toured the cave! It's amazing, isn't it?
ReplyDeleteIt really is amazing and exceeded our expectations as we had heard it was very touristy. Our guide recommended the Grottes Prehistoriques de Cougnanc (near Gourdon) so that's the next one on our list!
DeleteYou've certainly been around during the past few months! We've been a couple of times to Pech-Merle but not for some years and I'd love to go again. But you're quite right about going out of the high season as it's absolutely heaving.
ReplyDeleteApparently, there are other caves along the Célé Valley that contain wall paintings but they're privately owned and not open to the public.
That's interesting about the other caves along the Cele Valley - shame they are privately owned, but hopefully it means they are protected. We find the Cele Valley very beautiful. We did a great two day walk along the variant of the Camino there last year (Fiegac to St Cirq Lapopie) The route passed by Pech Merle, but it was July and so too busy. We promised ourselves we would go back hence the reason for last week's visit - it was worth the wait.
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