My hosts in Bach were kind enough to let me take a sandwich and banana from the breakfast spread, because there is nothing in the 19 km (12 miles) between Mas-de-Vers and Cahors – not even a bakery or épicerie in Bach or Mas-de-Vers.
The last place I’d been with a grocery store was Limogne, but – as is common in most towns I’ve been through on this trek – the store was closed from 12:30 pm to 3 pm, and I’d arrived around 1 pm. So I was getting low on snacks as well.
Fortunately Cahors is a larger town, and even though places still close in the afternoon for a couple of hours, I have an extra day here. So I have laid in a few days worth of snacks for the coming week. The further I get along on the trail, the more I find that in addition to siesta time and mid-week closures, things are closing for the season. The one épicerie I passed on the way to Figeac earlier in the week had closed the day before, while the owner took a vacation.
Anyway – I made it to Cahors. And will ya check out that 14th century bridge! Started in 1308, Pont Valentré wasn’t completed until 1375.
There is a legend that when the bridge was under construction, the foreman was frustrated with the pace of building and made a deal with the devil to get it finished in time. Then he tricked the devil to get out of the deal, so the devil sent a demon to loosen a stone from the tower every night so the bridge would never be finished. When the bridge was renovated in the 1800s, the architect Paul Gout added a little stone imp to the tower as a nod to the legend.
