The Lot in September

No I don't mean I got the lot in September- rather that I went to the Lot region of France for an autumn break! Geologically there's not an enormous amount of variety - essentially it is fairly flat bedded limestone, incised by river valleys. Perhaps the beauty of it is the deep, steep sided gorges and even more, the amazing cave systems and karst that have developed.

Spotted horses at Pech Merle (www.pechmerle.com)

Unfortunately an amazing show cave I went to at Pech Merle, near Cabrerets doesn't allow photography but you can see something of it at http://www.pechmerle.com/ Apart from the beautiful stalagmites and stalactites there are some amazing cave paintings (my favourite was a pair of spotted horses) - which you can see in the flesh (unlike those at nearby Lascaux which have been closed to the public for years and where you have to make do with a mock-up.

The countryside around abounds in karst features such as sink holes - hard to photograph here because they tend to be deep, steep sided and filled with trees. This was at Planegreze and I liked the minimalist dry stone walling nearby. The totally unphotogenic sink hole is over the back,

Drystone wall at Planegreze

The outer defensive wall at Oppidum Murcens

The gorges have provided wonderful defensive sites for settlements, from the Gallo-Roman 'headland' site of Oppidum Murcens to medieval sites at Rocamadour and Saint Cirq Lapopie which cling to the sides of gorges.

Rocamadour sits on the side of the Alzou gorge, a tributary of the Dordogne

Saint Cirq Lapopie is built above the Lot river

A Borie - a drystone field shelter

What we didn't see here were the hectares of limestone pavements that are evident in the 'causses' to the east of here around the Tarn valley but even so it was a great place to see the effects of geology on the landscape.