From Carcassonne, we had less than 100km to travel to our next destination of Toulouse, so decided to detour via Limoux on a rainy morning, and hope to see some more of this beautiful region. On my mind was the opportunity to visit some of the wineries this region is known for but, out of season, this was harder than we anticipated. The first and second attempts were closed for visits and tastings; St Hilaire, where the precursor to the more famous sparkling wine was discovered in another monastery was interesting to visit, but no wine here either. Our last chance was supposed to be open after 1pm so, on arrival, I was disappointed to see the doors shut yet again, but there was a note on the door advising us to call them and they would come and do a tasting. I called, hoping there would be some English understood; thankfully the person answering had very good English, and upon my reply of “yes” to his first question, his next comment was “are you kiwis?” – he was and recognised the kiwi “yisss”. So once again, we had stumbled across a random NZ connection in the middle of nowhere. We enjoyed a tasting across the range of wines made her, coming away with a nice Rose I could sip over the next few days.

Onward now through the rain to Toulouse, where our accommodation was close to the early reaches of the Canal du Midi. I wanted to visit the quirky Halle de La Machine where creatives have made large and small moving machines out of a range of seeming “junk”. It was interesting to see the larger hydraulic powered creature machines move - the spider was almost balletic with its legs and eyes, and the Minotaur was quite impressive as it rolled/strode down the causeway outside. The wetness of the day limited what we could explore outside, the city centre was interesting, but we didn’t enjoy it as much as we would have on a fine day.

When we watched the Tour de France on TV in 2022, one of the amazing arrival locations was Rocamadour, and immediately it became a location we wanted to visit. We were able to slot it in as we headed north from Toulouse, driving country lanes and spying beautiful villages on our way. Rocamadour did not disappoint- our accommodation, although not in the Old Town, looked towards the castle on the “roc d’amador”. We arrived early evening in rainy weather so were thankful for dry weather, despite the threatening clouds, the next day to explore this amazing location. We started high at the top of the castle and wandered downwards to the old town, enjoying the Sunday bells at the church and taking our time climbing back through the cobbled streets to our car, before starting off on our way north again. We had plenty of time, so planned a stop to explore the Gouffre de Padirac cave system. The brochure and online information gave no hint to the actual experience, which was well worth the entry fee, as we climbed down into the cavern below and moved into this amazing cave system, accompanied by the roar of the stream rushing along beside us. The paths were well formed and lighting gave us a great view of the rock formations and structures, until we arrived at an underground lake to take a boat ride across to explore another huge cavern deep below. We spent at least an hour (probably more) enjoying this natural feature before returning to the surface via a rickety elevator.

Our overnight stop was Limoges, and we arrived in time to have a quick wander of the main town before the night closed in. On our way out of town the following day, we had to stop and view one of the Limoges porcelain warehouses – such stunning wares but sadly, we couldn’t indulge. Onward then to Nantes, via Cognac and La Rochelle for brief stops to view these lovely towns, far too quickly. Our day in Nantes was again very wet but the town offered much to see, including another giant machine structure. Ultimately, we were headed for another brief housesit in the Loire Valley, and were thankful for a sunny day to travel via a couple of stunning chateau in Angers and Villandry. The gardens at Villandry were stunning to view from various view points. We got a chance to wander through Tours – being early November, the streets were fairly clear of the touristic buzz, but great for wandering and enjoying another beautiful French old town.

Our housesit hosts, about half an hour rurally from Tours, welcomed us to their quirky home and introduced us to two sweet dachshunds, our companions for the next two days. They were easy to care for and their owners made many suggestions for sights to see in the locality. The weather was changing and becoming more winter-like, so we appreciated a home fire and chance to catch up on home cooking and laundry. We managed to briefly explore chateaux close by, taking in Chateau d’Amboise, and viewing the magnificent Chenonceau from across the river. this was a brief introduction to the magnificent Loire Valley chateaux, and we hope to explore this area in more detail another year…? But now, we had another adventure to aim for as we moved further north to coastal France, to tick off another “must-see” as we counted down our days in Europe.