bilboburgler

Mrs Bilbo has just convinced me to go with her for a week's sewing course in a country house 15 km south of Cahors. Ok, I can produce the odd watercolour, take the train to Cahors and drink myself under the table or take the train to Toulouse and visit the science museum (I've visited Carcasonne before). But what else should I do?

adrienne

I was going to suggest Albi but the train schedule doesn't look very good. Hopefully you will have a car to get out and about. By car Albi is 1.5 hours but by train 2.5 hours and good options seem to be infrequent.

annhig

take several good books?

learn to tat? [before you bite, it's like crochet]

what time of year?

bilboburgler

Early June, Mrs Bilbo broke her arms hangliding and ended up in Rochdale Hospital with all the 80 year old ladies who all used to tat (Rochedale was a tating centre) so unfortunatly I know the details

hetismij

Take up photography and go for long walks early in the morning then retreat with a laptop to edit the photos.

Hire a car and visit the area.

Read lots of books you've always meant to get around to.

Sunbathe.

Get drunk with all the other SOs dragged along by other sewing participants.

Or just sit and do nothing and see where your mind takes you.
My husband's Aunt was a great tatter. She came from Oldham.

Therese

She could take me instead of you. I'd quite like a quiet week in Cahors. Hey, I might even take the course myself.

annhig

Early June, Mrs Bilbo broke her arms hangliding and ended up in Rochdale Hospital with all the 80 year old ladies who all used to tat (Rochedale was a tating centre) so unfortunatly I know the details>>

I am therefore full of admiration for Mrs. B that she is still up for dangerous sports. all those sharp needles!

StCirq

Will you have a car? If you do - and I encourage it - there is so much to do around there. Lots of pretty villages to stop in, lots of wine and foie gras dégustations, probably a number of local events and festivals (check on www.whatsonwhen.com and the Cahors and other tourist office websites). And you're within a stone's throw of La Récré - the restaurant made famous in the book From Here You Can't See Paris, in Les Arques (also a great Zadkine museum there). Read the book and go for lunch or dinner.

kerouac

If you have a car, to Gramat to see the cattle market, go to the Gouffre de Padirac, walk around Rocamadour...

FrenchMystiqueTours

How about riding a bike along the river or going for a hike? I know there are some megalithic sites in that area that I enjoyed visiting if you do have a car. Agreed with StCirq that it a great area to get lost with a car exploring villages. Perhaps a visit to the famous cave at Pech-Merle? No lack of possibilities in this area.

BTW, that's totally cool how the Mrs. broke her arms. Not the breaking of the arms, of course, just the activity that caused it.

Underhill

Besides the fine cathedral in Albi you can visit the Lautrec museum, next to the lovely bishop's garden.

Rocamadour is a must when you're in the area.

tomboy

FrenchMystiqueTours: curious about the "megalithic sites ".
Can you tell a litte more?

bilboburgler

FrenchMystique she was younger then and fearless. Still breaking both arms (compound fractures) certainly slowed her down for a bit though she is still fearless (broke her wrist while being taught to ski at 50 on the nursery slopes. By the way never drive with a woman with a broken wrist for an hour on packed ice across the Finish artic circle. It's so noisy)

FrenchMystiqueTours

tomboy - I've only seen a few megaliths in this area and they are not really the most spectacular ones I've ever seen but I found the landscapes in which they were located to be inspiring. There are several megaliths in this region and they are all located on the Michelin maps. I saw two dolmens on a walking trail just west of Gréalou. They are not marked so you have to look at your map to see which trail leads off the road to reach them (the road is the D82, I believe). There is another a few kilometers west of here. Along the D802, which runs just north of Livernon I saw signs on the road indicating at least

FrenchMystiqueTours

.....let me continue (since I accidentally pressed SUBMIT). There were signs on the D802 indicating some more here. The landscapes here are with a sort of barren vegetation but situated high on a plateau with wonderful distant views of the surrounding countryside. There are 4 more about 15-20km northwest of Cahors with three of them located along one hiking trail. There are also a few other ones scattered about in a wide area between Cahors and Figeac. As I said, they are probably not the most impressive megaliths you will ever see but they would make a good complimentary visit if you were hiking in the area, or perhaps just driving by.

bilbo - I made the mistake of riding on the back of a skimobile while the Mrs. did the driving. She seemed unable to respond to my command to turn while we continued straight ahead towards a tree (which we soon after crashed into). She also shares your wife's passion for having accidents on bunny slopes at ski resorts. Still, compound fractures sounds a lot more painful and serious than merely breaking arms. Ouch!

Dr_DoGood

If you've a car then Figeac and Pech Merle are obvious destinations. Villefranche de Rouergue is an interesting town with a decent market on, I think, tuesdays and saturdays.
If you're in Toulouse (of which I'm a big fan) then for goodness sake don't miss the sculpture gallery (romanesque & medieval) in the Musee des Augustines on the corner of Rue Alsace-Lorraine and Rue Metz.
At Place St-Etienne you'll also find the bizarre Cathedral of the same name - my favourite in all of France - if only because it is so spectacularly a mismatch from different eras, as funds ebbed and flow so did the building and design work until now it makes absolutely no architectural sense at all... a complete and crazy gem.
The bones of the philosopher St Thomas Aquinas lie under the altar of the ravishing church of Les Jacobins, with its exquisite vaulting and impossibly slim pillars - attached is a beautiful peaceful cloister.

Underhill

Bilbo,

If all else fails you could go treasure-hunting.

bilboburgler

Underhill, must not make it a Hobit

bilboburgler

I thought you would like to know that I survived my time at http://www.chateaudumas.net/home/home.htm
The girls (12 of them with 4 from Texas and the rest from the UK or English but living in France) bought loads of lovely linen and cotton pieces from the second hand markets, remade them into interesting things and dyed them with woad. They even had a sort of sylvan clearing meeting with blue cloth hanging everywhere.

Anyway I survived by riding a bike into the beautiful countryside, surfing the net and eating some great food. If anyone wants to hear more about this place or the course then come back to me.

annhig

well done bilbo.

My DH and DS are threatening me and DD with a trip to Paimpol in August to the Sea Shanty Festival. Now I love a good sing song, but even I think that may be going a bit too far.

With your now huge experience, how do you suggest that DD and I cope with that?