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This was our last day at the Nadillac base. In the morning we drove 45 minutes or so to the caves at Gouffre de Padirac -- quite different to the last caves that we explored. At Peche Merle we got there early to ensure that we were among the 700 allowed into the caves each day -- in groups of no more than 25 at a time. Gouffre was caving on an industrial scale. Despite arriving only 30 minutes after the caves opened, we were around 200 or 300 back in the line and had to wait 1 1/2 hours before getting in. However, once in, things moved surprisingly quickly.
Around 500 steps of descent took us into the sink hole, from where we went into a wonderful Karst cave system. All the regular stalactites and stalagmites and the like -- but also a system of underground rivers and lakes. After hiking quite a distance, we arrived at a dock with several boats. Boarding these, we were ferried even further into the cave system, where we disembarked and hiked through a fabulous underground wonderland before returning to the boats and eventually taking elevators up to the top to avoid 524 steps.
After lunch we moved on to another cliffside town -- Rocomadour -- along with half of the tourists in France. Above the town was a bird center where we saw all sorts of large predators and also watched a display that included falcons, eagles and condors.
Next came the long descent past stations of the cross that pilgrims often followed upwards, from the base -- on their knees. Going down was certainly much easier. Part way down we came to the "Ecclesiastical City," a series of buildings that hugged the cliff and that were excavated into it. Below this was the old town itself. We climbed back up to the Ecclesiastical city and took the funicular up the rest of the way, before returning to Nadillac fof Kay's birthday celebration.
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