In between playing golf in the pouring rain on Wednesday and under a boiling sun on Friday I had my one and only day of real tourism this summer.

Humble lodgings

 
I left our humble lodgings in the Château de Salles overlooking the golf course and set off along a now and then picturesque route to Figeac. 

Artisan at work

Narrow lane

It's a lovely little town with a medieval centre of narrow lanes where artisans have plied their trade for centuries.
 

I’m not the first Scotsman to have been charmed by the place although unlike Mr Nicolson I moved on after lunch.

Early Scotsman in figeac

Imposing medieval edifice

 I made a fleeting visit to this imposing medieval edifice a few miles from Figeac.  The fact that I once met the owner’s daughter on a train journey between Edinburgh and Glasgow didn’t seem altogether a good excuse for penetrating beyond the private property notice at the gate.  That’s a shame because I’m sure we could have had a cosy chat over a glass or two about the pleasures and problems of having a second home in France. 

Rodez cathedral

But perhaps not, so I set off on an only occasionally now and then picturesque route to Rodez.  The town has a cathedral which you can see from miles around but otherwise is possibly not worth the detour.  The cathedral is not tumbling backwards by the way.  I don’t know how they get them straight on the postcards.

Big hole of Bouzou

The road back to Vezac was much better value touristically and I stopped off at various spots including one called something like “the big hole of Bouzou”.  I don’t think I’d fancy living on either the edge or beside the fetid stream at the bottom but it was very impressive.

Vezac view

Returning to Vézac I got stuck into a special festive Alligot dinner.  The main course consisted of sausage (remarkably unfatty) in an onion sauce served with cheese rich mashed potatoes.  It was delicious but none of my French friends could explain the connection between the Alligot of the dinner and the Alligoté of the lovely bottles of Bourgogne that I buy now and then.

Golf course view

And the golf?  Well I didn’t distinguish myself and certainly won nothing to go with my champagne but thanks to the arcane juggling that is the handicap system I stayed still.  This means that over the season I have trimmed one neat digit from my handicap, in contrast to the previous five seasons in each of which I have added a digit. 

So it's all (minus one) left to do.