Sunday morning saw us nervously milling about waiting for the allocation of our mounts and after careful consideration both Patrick and the riders were happy with the choices made and we began bonding with our mates for the week.
Eventually we were on our way and following Patrick up the shady driveway and on to adventures as yet unknown.
Our path took us through wheat fields and oak forests, market gardens and nut orchards as we saw first hand what the beautiful Lot-Garonne region has to offer the palate!
We traversed gently rolling hills and valleys and the lush verdant green of the regions forests, mainly oak at this stage, provided a stunning contrast to golden fields of wheat.
After about 2 and a half hours in the saddle we spotted the “white van” on a shady forest track and Simon's beautifully prepared lunch awaited us. The white van came to signify 'relief in sight' as the week continued and the weather warmed up, providing a welcome respite for food, shade and toilet breaks!
Another long session after lunch meant that the pool at that nights accommodation was well utilised as most of us fell into it. Dinner conversation was a comparison of aches and pains but well washed down by our French compatriot Celine's wonderful tasting of her family vineyard's champagne.
In the saddle again for day two. More stunning scenery, small villages and churches whose history captivated the Aussie contingent not used to anything older than a couple of centuries at home. Today we also traversed part of the famous Santiago de Compostela pilgrim trail.
Once again though – with temperatures reaching 32+ during the afternoon ride – our next accommodation, Chateau de l'Hoste was a welcome sight.
Dinner was great, Jasper (also known as Barry), the golden retriever was gorgeous and best of all there was a wonderful pool. We were happy to discover we had consecutive nights here and would avoid packing up and negotiating stairs for another day.
Setting off the next day we learnt that we would be visiting a farm that produces Foie Gras – famous in this part of the world – and learning more about the process. Whilst most of us knew that it involved force feeding geese or ducks with corn to enlarge their livers, we didn't know the whole story. We learnt that migratory birds naturally increase their liver size eight fold before their long migratory journey and it is this capacity that is taken advantage of in the making of foie gras.
On this farm the ducks are fed twice daily with a variety of feeds which may include corn but also figs (which produce a slightly sweeter foie gras) and their special feeders massage their throats to get the large quantities of feed in – we are told that they do not have sensitive throats like humans and regularly eat small stones to grind their food anyway. Mmmmm.
They are then euthanased at two weeks of age and the livers and meat harvested as well as the feathers, so no part is wasted!
Finally, our palates were educated as well with a tasting and then a stroll around the shop which was stocked with a plethora of farm products.
Over the next four days our ride wound through more stunning scenery including sunflower fields not quite in full bloom, more forests of oak, chestnut, pine and other trees I was not familiar with.
We had some absolutely stunning settings for lunch including the bastide town of Tournon-d'Agenais.
The faithful Simon would be already set up with a beautifully prepared lunch and wine to revive us for the afternoon leg of the journey!
There was however, always plenty of time for a quick nap in the grass for those who needed one before setting off again.
The horses of course enjoyed their lunch and a well earned rest as well!
One afternoon we were treated to wine tasting and an informative talk about wine growing in the Cahors district, enticing several of us to buy some excellent rosé and Chardonnay – surprisingly quite a different style to what we are used to in Australia.
The horses however, were only interested in the local grass varieties.
Next, spectacular castles and I spend a day in the van with Simon ……