September 9th, 2006

Since we forgot to stop at Gouffre de Padirac, a well known cave, yesterday on the way from Rocamadour, we fixed that mistake today by climbing back up the Causse via a quiet side road and went for a tour of the caves. The Autoire valley climbs much more gradually at the beginning but once you get  pass the village of Autoire, the road kicks up and reaches for the edge of the Causse about 250m above.

The caves are deep in the ground and they took us down via 2-stage elevators for about 100m. Then we went on foot for a few hundred metres before boarding skiffs for about 500m before finally alighting for a guided tour. The main chambers are up to 90m high and some of the stalactites reach almost to the floor.