Rocamadour, now this was a surprise.

Rocamadour, now this is a very interesting trip on a day out.

Today we decided to drive out of the Dordogne area and over to Lot to check out the cliff side village of Rocamadour.

There is no two ways about it, this village is a stunner. When the village first comes into view the first thought was, French building genius aside, what loony would design a village up a cliff face when he could settle for building atop the cliff?

Who knows what goes on in a medieval architects mind–set?

If you check out the attached photo you will note a Chateau carved into the rockside halfway up the cliff.

This little number is referred to as Notre Dame de Rocamadour, The Chateau – Sanctuaires, basically a religious shrine.

As you wander around this Chateau you stumble on any number of chapels dedicated to Christ and his many minions.

That is, until you come into the last chapel on the right which, believe it or not, is dedicated to Rugby (as in, ‘give it a boot Robbie!’)

As proof that I wasn’t hallucinating I have attached a shot of the display cabinet filled with assorted rugby jerseys.

I had hoped for a better shot however just after we had entered this shrine to the oval ball, in rushed a Spanish tour guide with maybe thirty very noisy retirees in tow. This over-hyped tour guide then started impersonating a back line player passing a ball whilst at the same time screaming some kind of Spanish version of an aroused commentator at the top of her lungs.

This wasn’t a big chapel.

The tour guide had the lung capacity of a large glass blower.

What a performance!

Enough of that, down to the highlight of the day.

When we arrived at the Chateau car park, we were confronted with a seemingly endless stream of Pompiers arriving for a celebratory lunch in the outdoor restaurant. All in pale blue uniforms they resembled a humanoid army of wode coloured ants.

And, yes even I know the literal translation of the term Pompier, however in the real world this expression covers all emergency rescue crews not just firemen.

We arrived at about noon and left at least a couple of hundred Pompiers to settle in as we went off exploring.

As we wandered away from the restaurant area I reminded Julia of a restaurant we frequented in Beaune (Burgundy) back in 2010.

This establishment was run by a brother and sister who, without a word of a lie, resembled behemoths. When these guys served us our daily Menu order both the Alcorns and our friends the Bartley-Smiths, had the overwhelming feeling that we had been transported into the seventies flick ‘Land Of The Giants’.

That aside, every day these giants hosted the local Gendarmes who dropped in for lunch inclusive of a couple hours of steady drinking. Watching cops down two litres of rouge over lunch prior to hitting the back roads of Burgundy left a lasting impression.

So, with that thought not far from my mind, off we set to explore the Chateau and town beneath it.

Two hours later, we are back at the car park level, atop the cliff and proceed to the restaurant.

What confronted us was almost beyond belief.

Slouching around the outdoor tables were hundreds, yes hundreds of completely wasted emergency service crews.

I was so amazed I actually forgot to take a shot of the scene. We then settled in for a leisurely gourmand lunch. Meantime these dudes (and dudesses) just kept on partying.

Sometime around about four we exited left, nicely timed to coincide with the mass exit of any number of public servants whose motto in some parts apparently referred to ‘the saving of life’.

And this they inadvertently did, by way of us making the logical decision to wait until these guys had driven their emergency service vehicles out of sight before firing up our rental.

I have to tell you that whilst we waited it out under the safety of a nearby tree, no less than six of these vehicles managed to bang into each other. The guy on the right in the photo at the back of the van, shortly after this shot was taken, proceeded to walk directly into the tree on the right, poking himself in the eye and in a rage, lashed out and ripped the culprit branch off the tree.

It was classic.

I just love these Frogs.

They just listen to a different drummer.

Cheers