Day 54 Sevérac and the Tarn Gorge

First task of the day was to go to the market in Sevérac, with me driving, to get supplies for lunch and the evening meal. The choice of breads and cheese in particular in this small place is enough to make you weep. R met his friend F as they usually do on market day and we had coffee together in the café across the road. Surprisingly for us, it is the norm here to have your coffee with the croissants you just bought at the market. We headed back to Favars by a different, less traveled ("guaranteed free of police") but equally charming route.

We had expressed a wish to see Montpellier le Vieux and we set out in two vehicles to go there. On arriving at the rim, we were just stunned by our first views of the Tarn Gorge below - at least 400m down to the river. The road down featured at least half a dozen tight switch-backs. Our route then took us along the river and we stopped at a spot where we could climb up stairs onto a rock for a great view of the rapids down below. Continuing along we were incessantly confronted by fabulous vistas of the rocky upper reaches of the sides of the gorge. It was somewhat reminiscent of Yosemite, but made more attractive by the presence of lots of green of different shades. 

We found a spot by the river to have picnic lunch and spread it out on top of a large raised concrete manhole kindly provided by the local water board (one presumes not the sewerage board). R talked to some Germans who were gearing up to go canoeing down the river, giving them his gite details for future reference while I amused the boys by skipping stones on the surface of the river. After the Germans departed Papa joined the game and showed how it was really done by skipping stones all the way to the other side. The boys were suitably impressed.

Continuing along, we drove up and down the side of the gorge several more times but we never did find Montpellier View, to R's frustration, as he had been there before. R had to be back home to welcome guests at 6pm so our options were limited. As our real desire was to do some walking, we were not that disappointed. We did have success with that, doing a very nice walk on a track along and above the Jonte river. Great views of the rock formations on both sides of the river. Earlier we had seen vultures (yes!) circling above the cliffs. We returned home along the same route.

Dinner was a regional specialty, Aligot - mashed potato with a special light cheese stirred in plus condiments, accompanied by a very good local fried sausage. Dessert was very tasty strawberries.