East of Padirac and about 9km from Bretenoux on the
River Bave, a minor tributary of the Dordogne, you come to the medieval
town of ST-CÉRÉ , dominated by the brooding ruins of the Château de St-Laurent-les-Tours
and full of ancient houses crowding around place du Mercadial. The two
powerful keeps of St-Laurent, partially rebuilt, date from the twelfth
and fifteenth centuries and were part of a fortress belonging to the
Turennes. In wartime, the artist Jean Lurçat operated a secret
Resistance radio post here; after the war he turned it into a studio,
and it's now a marvellous museum of his work, mainly his huge
tapestries but also sketches, paintings and pottery (mid-July to Sept
daily 9.30am-noon & 2.30-6.30pm; also two weeks at Easter; tel
05.65.38.28.21; €2.29). The site is spectacular at over 200m altitude,
with stunning views all round.
St-Céré has one very reasonable place to stay : Hôtel Victor Hugo , 7 av des Maquis, by the river (tel 05.65.38.16.15, fax 05.65.38.39.91, www.hotel-victor-hugo.fr ; €34-46; closed two weeks in March & three weeks in Oct; restaurant from €13.42, closed Mon). Otherwise, there's the Le Soulhol riverside campsite (tel 05.65.38.12.37; closed Oct-March) nearby.
Bikes can be rented from Peugeot Cycles, 45 rue Faidherbe (tel 05.65.38.03.23) - one of the best trips you could pedal is to the hugely pretty little village of AUTOURE , in a tight side valley, about 10km to the west of St-Céré. Much hillier but glorious country lies to the east along the road to Aurillac via Sousceyrac and
Laroquebrou.
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