Hoofing it through Southwest France - By Ginny Beards      

Touring and tasting my way through the Cahors vineyards of Southwest France during the October grape harvest on "Gold,"one of Michel Amat's superbly trained and turned-out trail horses, was a literal and figurative "over the top" experience. From my unique perspective, la belle France became a reality, not just a corny travel poster slogan. Our group of six-4 from southern California, 2 from eastern Pennsylvania (making for interesting conversations and points of view)- traversed over eighty miles in 4 1/2 days. We followed beautifully maintained trails that provided frequent views of the meandering Lot river framed by its golden leafed vineyards and each day tasted wines at the major chateaux of the Vignoble of Cahors. The experience was unique because in my part of Pennsylvania, we do not see much Cahors wine which is deeply colored and made of 70% Malbec grapes.

Between daily tastings, we walked, trotted and cantered through truffle-oak woods, passed pre-historic dolmens, marveled at the construction of two hundred year old conical stone shepherd's huts called "garriotte, " and each evening tumbled well fed and wined into bed in a charming country hotel or chateau. The final night featured the 13th century Chateau de Mercues which while no longer the residence of the Bishops of Cahors remains faithful to the grandeur of its past in its sumptuous accommodations and dining room.

We commenced our 5 to 5 1/2 hour riding days around 9 am each morning with petit djeuner featuring superb bread, croissants, and steamy cafe au lait. Mounting our already groomed and tacked horses at 10 am, we would ride through the gorgeous, uncluttered landscape (no trash, no discarded refrigerators etc.). We rarely traveled on roads, following instead France's well marked trail system which we shared with the occasional mountainbiker or clam-shell adorned pilgrims working their way towards the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Compostella, Spain.

The riding day was broken-up by a leisurely dejeuner that simply appeared en plein air under the walls of a bastide, castle, or-on the one drizzly day-under the antique market shed of St. Martin-le-Redon, a geranium festooned village on the Lot. Colleen, Michel's wife, provided these incredible picnics which featured all the gems of the terroir-wine, cheese, pate, foie gras, mache salad and, at this time of year, fresh figs and plums. The dejeuner routine was great fun and went like this. 1. Dismount, loosen girth, remove bridle, tie horse to tree. 2. Stretch legs and scope-out the picnic site before washing hands from a canister that Colleen had set up. 3. Plop down at the picnic table to an opening aperitif of, of course, fruity, deep red Cahors wine. After eating, depending on our locale, we might take a walk, inspect a medieval village, or visit a chateau. It was La Belle France for 6 straight days!

A litany of magical names and places-Beauzeil, Puy l'Eveque, Castelfranc, Luzech, Douelle, Mercues-runs through my mind as I remember those sunny and crisp days with my palomino "Gold," and with Michel, Colleen and Texas, the faithful German Shepherd who guarded our horses and tack at night and trotted happily beside us all day. Traveling by horse with Michel takes the stress out of both riding and touring. It would be difficult to find his equal as a horse tour group leader-he is enthusiastic, good humored, in-charge but totally tactful, and an impressive horseman. His mounts are impeccably schooled and never piggish or ploddish. The luggage was in our hotel rooms each evening even before we were (Colleen at work again). Thanks to the Michel/Colleen team on the Lords of the Vineyard tour, all we had to do was ride, imbibe, and admire.