On our way from Beynac to Carcasonne, we made three stops: Cahors to see an ancient bridge, St Cirque, and Albi (no photos). Somewhere between Albi and Carcasonne (I think), the road signs pointed one way to Carcasonne and our GPS, another. The signs seemed to take us East to go South while the GPS, hey, it was going direct – don’t quote me on the directions, but you get the idea. We decided to follow the GPS route.

Yeah, it took us through a wilderness preserve / national forest in the Black Mountains. Over 20 kilometers of hairpin turns which took you from light-blocking forests to open passages where the sunlight would suddenly blind you. Oh, and the speed limit – 90 kph (55 mph). Thankfully, Matt’s an amazing driver and we passed almost no one going on the opposite direction on this road which was really only wide enough for 1.5 cars. We survived – Matt just complained of shin pain the rest of the day from all that shifting.

We stopped in Cohors not to view the not-exciting modern town but its famous ancient bridge. We had a bit of trouble figuring out if it was actually walkable from our randomly-selected parking space (it was, about 2 km away from where we parked) but eventually found it a little ways past the train station. I can’t say it was a favorite attraction but, hey, a quick and worthwhile stop on our long trip that day.

Matt says his favorite small town we visited our entire time in France is St Cirq and I’d have to agree. Little shops on steep passageways and gorgeous views of the land below.

The other place we visited that day was Albi, specifically to visit a very old gothic cathedral – perhaps the oldest in France but maybe I’m getting my churches mixed up. We weren’t allowed to take photos so you’ll have to believe me when I say it had some nice paintings and a rather ornamental choir.