Walking the Lac du Causse

We were up and away early this morning as it was much warmer when we woke. This also meant we left before the man came to collect the €8 fee for the overnight parking - to be honest we felt that was a bit steep considering the Flot Bleu which is used for emptying our waste tanks and filling with fresh water was out of order.

A short drive back into the Correze brought us to Turenne. Another of the Plus Beau Villages de France, this pretty hilltop town is topped by the remains of a former castle. All that remains is a couple of towers, one of which is occupied by the current owners, and some of the original walls. At their peak in the 15th Century to viscounts of Turenne ruled over a vast feudal domain containing over 1200 villages. This was one of the most powerful estates in France which, until Louis XV bought the viscountcy, raised its own taxes and minted its own money. 

We squeezed Kiki into the official motorhome parking - getting out will be interestingly - and set out to explore the town. We worked our way up to the gates of the castle at the top, passing lots of pretty stone houses with slate roofs clinging to the hillside. The streets were narrow, winding and in places really steep! On reaching the top we circumnavigated the castle and made our way back down to the village square. More narrow streets took us back to Kiki.

We extricated ourselves from the parking area - there was a slope downhill followed by a 90deg turn into a narrow track running uphill between high granite walls. A longer motorhome would have really struggled to get out.

Our next destination is the Lac du Causse which is a few km north. We followed some winding county lanes through the undulating countryside until we approached the village of Le Soulier.. There is an Aire de Camping Car at the edge of the lake on the other side of the village. Unfortunately as we turned into the road leading to the lake we came upon a 2.5m height limit sign. A jogger saw our situation and said - in English! - it’s ok you should be able to get through....

It turned out that there was a house with a low roof which protrudes out over the road. It would have been easy apart for the fact that as we approached the narrow part a car appeared round the corner. I tucked Kiki in as far a I could leaving just enough room for her to get through. She was probably the most hesitant driver we’ve come across and inched her way through. Two weeks later, when the road was clear - the next car backed up for us - we swung out around the protruding roof and made it through.

The motorhome parking is usually charged but the barrier was open meaning it’s free today. We found a nice spot for Kiki with a great view across the lake and had coffee. We then set out on the 7km loop around the lake.

Completing the loop we returned to Kiki, got out our chairs and had a leisurely lunch sitting in the sun. After lunch we repeated the walk around the lake this time going in the opposite direction.

We returned to Kiki where we had our evening meal before settling down for the evening.