Grotte de Pech-Merle
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Discovered in 1922, the Grotte de Pech-Merle (mid-Jan to March and Nov to mid-Dec by group reservation only; April–Oct daily 9.30am–noon & 1.30–5pm; tel 05.65.31.27.05, www.quercy.net/pechmerle; mid-June to mid-Sept €7, rest of year €6) is less accessible than the caves at Les Eyzies but still attracts sufficient visitors to warrant restricting numbers to 700 per day; it's advisable to book at least a day ahead in July and August. It's well hidden on the scrubby hillsides above Cabrerets, which lies 15km from Marcilhac and 4km from Conduché.The cave itself is far more beautiful than those at Padirac or Les Eyzies, with galleries full of the most spectacular stalactites and stalagmites – structures tiered like wedding cakes, hanging like curtains, or shaped like whale baffles, discs or cave pearls. On the downside, the cave is wired for electric light and the guides make sure you're processed through in the scheduled time. The first drawings you come to are in the so-called Chapelle des Mammouths, executed on a white calcite panel that looks as if it's been specially prepared for the purpose. There are horses, bison charging head down with tiny rumps and arched tails, and tusked, whiskery mammoths. You then pass into a vast chamber where the glorious horse panel is visible on a lower level; it's a remarkable example of the way in which the artist used the contour and relief of the rock to do the work, producing an utterly convincing mammoth by just two strokes of black. The cave ceiling is covered with finger marks, preserved in the soft clay. You pass the skeleton of a cave hyena that has been lying there for 20,000 years – wild animals used these caves for shelter and sometimes, unable to find their way out, starved to death in them. And finally, the most spine-tingling experience at Pech-Merle: the footprints of an adolescent preserved in a muddy pool. The admission charge includes an excellent film and museum, where prehistory is illustrated by colourful and intelligible charts, a selection of objects (rather than the usual 10,000 flints), skulls and beautiful slides displayed in wall panels. There's a gîte d'étape (tel 05.65.31.27.04; closed Nov–Easter) and a campsite (tel 05.65.31.26.61, fax 05.65.31.20.47; closed Nov–March) close by at CABRERETS, a tiny place that also has a pair of two-star hotels: the Auberge de la Sagne, 1km outside the village on the road to the caves (tel 05.65.31.26.62, fax 05.65.30.27.43; €30–40; closed mid-Sept to mid-May), which has a pool and an excellent restaurant (eve only; menus at €15 & €20); and Les Grottes (tel 05.65.31.27.02, [email protected]; €30–40; closed Nov–March), down beside the river, also with a decent restaurant attached (€13.60).
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