Cele Valley question

[Camino Chrissy]

I will be walking the Le Puy route in June, adding in the Cele Valley variant. After arriving in St. Cirq Lapopie, should I retrace my steps and continue the route going through Pasturet, or continue the route past St. Cirq down to Bach. Both routes join at Cahors. Is one more beautiful, harder, easier, longer, shorter? Not sure which one to plan on.
Thanks for any opinions and suggestions!

 

[shefollowsshells]

I don't remember comparing the two, so no advice on your certain question.
Did want to add this variant in my opinion was amazing!
We loved Cirque P...and loved our stay at the campground there down the hill.

 

[Dave]

I will be walking the Le Puy route in June, adding in the Cele Valley variant. After arriving in St. Cirq Lapopie, should I retrace my steps and continue the route going through Pasturet, or continue the route past St. Cirq down to Bach. Both routes join at Cahors. Is one more beautiful, harder, easier, longer, shorter? Not sure which one to plan on.
Thanks for any opinions and suggestions!

I haven't done both, Chris, so I can't speak to the Bach option. I've heard there's a famous restaurant in Bach, or somewhere in the area, so that might appeal, though that approach will add a number of km to your walk. I had a great overnight in Pasturat--one of the top few meals I had anywhere in France--so I can recommend that.

I have an aversion to backtracking along the same route, so we decided to follow the D662 highway along the north side of the Lot past the Gite Les 2 Vallées in Conduché, ultimately crossing over the Lot just after St. Cirq. This worked well for us because a) there's a grocery store on the north side of the river, which was convenient, and b) we were staying in the camping, which is right on the other side of the river. I can't fully recommend the approach--there's not much of a shoulder and there's a stretch through a tunnel that might find unnerving--but it never felt unsafe. The real benefit to this approach was getting a better perspective on St. Cirq. Walking along the towpath, you get a cool experience, but you are hidden from the town. On the other side of the river, though, you get this!

 

[edandjoan]

We retraced our steps and stayed in Pasturats. Just past Pasturats there is a "short cut" to Cahor. We followed the green markings. Day 15 of our Chemin blog show a photo of the sign.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

I haven't done both, Chris, so I can't speak to the Bach option. I've heard there's a famous restaurant in Bach, or somewhere in the area, so that might appeal, though that approach will add a number of km to your walk. I had a great overnight in Pasturat--one of the top few meals I had anywhere in France--so I can recommend that.

I have an aversion to backtracking along the same route, so we decided to follow the D662 highway along the north side of the Lot past the Gite Les 2 Vallées in Conduché, ultimately crossing over the Lot just after St. Cirq. This worked well for us because a) there's a grocery store on the north side of the river, which was convenient, and b) we were staying in the camping, which is right on the other side of the river. I can't fully recommend the approach--there's not much of a shoulder and there's a stretch through a tunnel that might find unnerving--but it never felt unsafe. The real benefit to this approach was getting a better perspective on St. Cirq. Walking along the towpath, you get a cool experience, but you are hidden from the town. On the other side of the river, though, you get this!

View attachment 38523

Thank you, Dave, for such a detailed reply. I will surely take a close look at this option.

 

[Camino Chrissy]

We retraced our step and stayed in Pasturet. Just past Pasturet there is a "short cut" to Cahor. We followed the green markings. Day 15 of our Chemin blog show a photo of the sign.

I just googled your blog to read, so thanks!

 

[Jill81]

Hi Chris,
I can’t answer your question about the choices beyond St Cirq but if you are planning to overnight in Marcilhac-sur-Célé which is a day or two before St Cirq, I can highly recommend the Gîte de Galance. It’s a large, very new gite run by a friendly couple and the food is excellent. I stayed there in October while walking the Célé with my dog and had the luxury of a private room with ensuite facilities for the two of us for €24.50.
http://www.gitedegalance.fr/

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Hi Chris,
I can’t answer your question about the choices beyond St Cirq but if you are planning to overnight in Marcilhac-sur-Célé which is a day or two before St Cirq, I can highly recommend the Gîte de Galance. It’s a large, very new gite run by a friendly couple and the food is excellent. I stayed there in October while walking the Célé with my dog and had the luxury of a private room with ensuite facilities for the two of us for €24.50.
http://www.gitedegalance.fr/

Thank you for the tip! I'll make a note of this Gite in my guidebook.

 

[sharon w]

We retraced our steps. It is not far and is along the river. The Cele Valley is beautiful.

 

[Luka]

I did one stage in the river. In a canoe. Was nice to let the arms work for a day instead of the legs ;-)

 

[kayagee66]

I'm not keen on retracing my steps, but it is an extremely nice riverside walk. I rented a kayak in Marcilhac (there are a couple of companies, I needed to book the evening before for the next morning, but it was end of season) Really good, but I did 25km and I could hardly lift my arms that evening.
The owner of the gite de Galance had leaflets, and will help with the booking if needed.

 

[BlackRocker57]

I will be walking the Le Puy route in June, adding in the Cele Valley variant. After arriving in St. Cirq Lapopie, should I retrace my steps and continue the route going through Pasturet, or continue the route past St. Cirq down to Bach. Both routes join at Cahors. Is one more beautiful, harder, easier, longer, shorter? Not sure which one to plan on.
Thanks for any opinions and suggestions!

I strongly recommend walking to Cahors via Pasturat ... no need to retrace ur steps ... there is a superb accommodation by the river at Béars [after Pasturat and before Cahors] to break the journey

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Chris,
I walked this route in 2004, YIKES, but I have checked out my journal and can add a few things. I walked back to Bouzies to continue on the Cele Route. It was only, I think, a 4 km backtrack. I don't like backtracking either, but this was a good decision, IMO. The gite in Pasturac was very nice and the walk from Pasturac to Cahors along the Lot Valley was really pretty.

So, here are some random notes from my journal.

If you like cave paintings, the ones in Cabrerets (11 km before St. Cirq) are very interesting and I can't even begin to fathom that someone painted them 20,000 years ago. We spent the night in Cabrerets, went to a morning tour of the cave, which all four of us loved, and then continued on to St. Cirq. We stayed in Hotel L'Auberge du Sombral, a cute place if I remember correctly, but it may be long gone by now. St Cirq is VERY touristy -- we met a woman there who told us that only 30 people actually lived in the town, and there are a lot of buildings, so it is pretty clearly a showcase kind of place. (Would love to hear what you find 15 years later). I remember our dinner in St. Cirq, we walked with a Belgian guy a little way out of town to a place he knew called L'Atelier. My journal notes that it was an excellent meal, and had a lot of duck in various forms, so you might want to see if it's still around.

The next day's walk was also very short, 18 km from St. Cirq to Pasturat, but my journal reminds me that we really liked the gite and had a good time there. It was the Gite Charazac. The guy in charge had done all the work himself, it was clearly a labor of love and he was a very attentive host. I would love to know if he is still there.

From Pasturat to Cahors is about 22 km. My journal notes that there is a place on the trail where you can choose to stay low or go up high, I took the high route while my companions stayed down. I wrote that the way up was really nice, but there was a steep and rocky descent to Cahors. Nice view from the top, though.

I know that a lot of people like Cahors, but I didn't. We took a rest day there and I just didn't click with the town. I remember a nice covered market, though. We stayed in a nice old place, Hotel Terminus. It had a one star Michelin restaurant, Le Blaandre but we didn't eat there. But truth be told, I would not spend a rest day here again.

And now I've started reading my journal from Cahors to Moissac, ahh that is such a wonderful walk. You are going to love it Chris. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Camino Chrissy]

Hi, Chris,
I walked this route in 2004, YIKES, but I have checked out my journal and can add a few things. I walked back to Bouzies to continue on the Cele Route. It was only, I think, a 4 km backtrack. I don't like backtracking either, but this was a good decision, IMO. The gite in Pasturac was very nice and the walk from Pasturac to Cahors along the Lot Valley was really pretty.

So, here are some random notes from my journal.

If you like cave paintings, the ones in Cabrerets (11 km before St. Cirq) are very interesting and I can't even begin to fathom that someone painted them 20,000 years ago. We spent the night in Cabrerets, went to a morning tour of the cave, which all four of us loved, and then continued on to St. Cirq. We stayed in Hotel L'Auberge du Sombral, a cute place if I remember correctly, but it may be long gone by now. St Cirq is VERY touristy -- we met a woman there who told us that only 30 people actually lived in the town, and there are a lot of buildings, so it is pretty clearly a showcase kind of place. (Would love to hear what you find 15 years later). I remember our dinner in St. Cirq, we walked with a Belgian guy a little way out of town to a place he knew called L'Atelier. My journal notes that it was an excellent meal, and had a lot of duck in various forms, so you might want to see if it's still around.

The next day's walk was also very short, 18 km from St. Cirq to Pasturat, but my journal reminds me that we really liked the gite and had a good time there. It was the Gite Charazac. The guy in charge had done all the work himself, it was clearly a labor of love and he was a very attentive host. I would love to know if he is still there.

From Pasturat to Cahors is about 22 km. My journal notes that there is a place on the trail where you can choose to stay low or go up high, I took the high route while my companions stayed down. I wrote that the way up was really nice, but there was a steep and rocky descent to Cahors. Nice view from the top, though.

I know that a lot of people like Cahors, but I didn't. We took a rest day there and I just didn't click with the town. I remember a nice covered market, though. We stayed in a nice old place, Hotel Terminus. It had a one star Michelin restaurant, Le Blaandre but we didn't eat there. But truth be told, I would not spend a rest day here again.

And now I've started reading my journal from Cahors to Moissac, ahh that is such a wonderful walk. You are going to love it Chris. Buen camino, Laurie

Thank you, Laurie, for such detailed, great information...awesome!

 

[BlackRocker57]

Hi, Chris,
I walked this route in 2004, YIKES, but I have checked out my journal and can add a few things. I walked back to Bouzies to continue on the Cele Route. It was only, I think, a 4 km backtrack. I don't like backtracking either, but this was a good decision, IMO. The gite in Pasturac was very nice and the walk from Pasturac to Cahors along the Lot Valley was really pretty.

Peregrina2000 ... fyi l’Auberge du Sombral is still open, now run by the daughter of the original proprietors, and a real delight [I stayed there just a few months back] ... also the Gite Charazac at Pasturat ... but we walked on to Béars [18kms from Cahors] and stayed at a beautiful place there right by the river and with a superb uninterrupted view of the river and the mighty cliffs ...