We always seem to give in to the temptation to buy a container of ice cream just before we move on. We resisted the €2.50 single scoop cones but then gave in and bought one litre of coffee ice cream the last day for just a bit more. We had some before dinner and some after but there was some left, which came in handy in our morning coffee as our milk had run out. There was still enough to make iced coffee for the road! Instead of bubble tea we had crunchy coffee as it had whole beans. ;-)
The long drive was broken with stops along the way in the Departement of Lot. Rocamadour is a pilgrimage site built into 150 metres of vertical cliff beneath a 14th C. chateau and, yes, Henry Plantagenet was here too, for a cure.
He really got around, but then that isn't surprising as he was the king of England and most of France!
A short distance away we waited almost an hour to descend 103 metres to the underground caverns of Gouffre de Padirac, accessed though a chasm. You travel in boats along an underground river and climb stairs to view the spectacular formations.
On to our Airbnb for the night near Cordes-sur-Ciel north of Albi and one of Tarn's best-preserved medieval villages. We rewarded ourselves with dinner at the top and a bird's eye view. The next morning Isabelle gave us a delicious breakfast and warm send off. We made a stop in the provincial town of Albi with its huge brick Cathedrale Ste.-Cecile and view of the river near the Toulouse-Lautrec Museum, which we gave a pass because of time. There were many kilometers to travel through some very beautiful pastoral country with sheep in the meadow, cows and horses in the field.
Rocamadour 
Cathedral, Albi
River Tarn, Albi
le pique-nique
I wish I could say the rest of our day went as smoothly. Yesterday and today made up the fourth public holiday (yes, really!) this month, Pentecost (Whit Sunday and Monday). So stores have been closed on May 1, May 5 (Ascension Thursday), May 8 (VE Day, 1945), and now today. The upshot today was later in the afternoon ALL French people were on the road travelling home, except those still crowding the centre of Nimes celebrating their 5-day feria de Pentecost as we passed through, missing the bypass :-(. We managed to finally get out of town, but headed in the wrong direction, going north instead of East and back south through Avignon. Yes, we know GPS would have helped here but it wouldn't have helped us when we arrived at our rural destination outside Eyragues near St.-Remy-de-Provence to find there were multiple homes with the same address. The property had been divided into four but they didn't change the numbers. It was a matter of trying every driveway. Here's where a functioning phone would have come in handy too. As Lionel said on learning we were travelling without phone and GPS, "It's an adventure!" Suffice it to say it was one of our most trying days but we didn't quite lose it with ourselves or each other...close though. Then we went to the only store open for more wine and a little food.
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