It’s a rollercoaster experience walking through France’s most beautiful villages with ABC’s Mary Moody

While the group of Australians and two New Zealanders appreciated the beauty and food of this part of France (at least judging by their enthusiasm for donning nose bags each day), the main attraction was doing it all in the company of a woman who is a journalist, author and longtime French radio host. Australian Gardeningis a well-loved household name.

She did not disappoint. “This is definitely the only holiday where you walk with weights on your shoulders. exist…Maybe we should call this trip Mary’s Journey Through the Lotte,” she said at one point, referring to the area through which we were travelling. Later, “I like to think of this trip as a roller-coaster experience. So tomorrow we’re going to McDonald’s.” We didn’t do anything of the sort, of course, but it was very Mary Moody—playful, down-to-earth, mischievous, and endlessly fun.

The tour follows the Camino de Saint-James southwest to Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, just 8 km from the Spanish border, where the final leg of the Spanish Camino begins. Along the way, you’ll pass through the almost comically beautiful villages of Saint-Comedal, Conques, Rocamadour and Saint-Cirq-Lapopie.

It’s a journey, and we’ll slowly fill our bellies—like France’s controversial force-fed geese—with lentils, cheese, duck, wine, liqueur, Aligot (a cheesy mashed potato with a glue-like consistency) and whatever else is on hand. Meals range from rustic bistro fare to DIY market-bought picnic baguettes, simple dinners with nuns at a convent and extravagant gourmet feasts in Michelin-starred castles.

Visitors can visit the Laguiole Knife Museum, watch a truffle dog hunting demonstration (and tasting), take a guided tour of the abbey, and tour an Armagnac winery.

You know how some places are so stunning that you just want to turn around and say to the person next to you, “Did you see that, too?” Well, Rocamadour is one of those places. Before driving in (our beautiful boutique hotel is right in the middle of the village), we stopped at a viewing area on the outskirts. From here, we crossed a wooded valley and saw a seemingly haphazard collection of grey stone buildings clinging to a sheer cliff topped by an ancient monastery. It’s part of the local geology and looks like it just grew there. Or maybe it was a landslide that just happened to settle in a surreal way to form the shape of a village.

That’s when Julie from Melbourne said what I had said: “It keeps getting better. Every day I think, wow, this is the most beautiful French village I’ve ever seen, and then…”

Next up is Saint-Cirq-Lapopie, where we hike 10km along the Lot River and climb the hill to the village, which squats on a rocky headland like a stone crown. Voted France’s Favorite Village in 2012, Saint-Cirq-Lapopie is so incredibly beautiful, like a surreal movie set, that it’s almost impossible to describe. Its winding, narrow, maze-like streets and tree-lined squares are lined with restaurants, bars, cafes and shops in buildings dating back to the Renaissance and the Middle Ages. It’s the kind of place where you’d start looking through an estate agent’s window and wonder if maybe…

Moody guided us safely through it all with his quick wit, good judgment, a big heart, and endless anecdotes about life. Australian Women’s Weekly In the 1960s, he served as a reporter for ABC TV. Australian Gardening From 1991 to 2001, Moody wrote more than 40 gardening books and five memoirs— goodbye, Last Tango in Toulouse, Long hot summer, Sweet Surrender and An unexpected tour guideIn 2007, she produced a documentary for SBS about Lunch with Mrs. Murather 2005 book about the century-old history of a traditional family restaurant, Chez Jeanne, not far from Moody’s longtime second home in southwestern France.

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On a trip full of highlights, lunch at Madame Murat’s restaurant was the most memorable.

When we pulled into the car park after a stroll around Moody’s home in the nearby village of Frayssinet-le-Gelat, the restaurant was already bustling with people at lunchtime. The unassuming restaurant is a hive of local workers and tourists eager to sample Murat’s simple but hearty cuisine. The blackboard menu lists Mushroom Omelet, Foie grasand Duck ConfitOur set lunch included vegetable soup, country meat sauce, a main course of lamb stew, vegetable ratatouille and French fries, finished with homemade apple tart and ice cream.

As plates of vegetable soup and bottles of house Malbec (the local “black wine” that has been synonymous with the Cahors region since the Middle Ages) arrived at our long table, Moody explained that the tradition here is “Making Chabrol” . At first, I suspected this was another example of Moody’s wicked sense of humor – after all, Making Chabrol It translates to ‘drink like a goat’ – but it’s actually a time-honoured rural custom of pouring a little red wine into the dregs of soup and drinking it straight from the bowl. It takes a while to get used to, but soon we’re all wolfing it down like it’s made for us – although it may be a while before it makes its way onto Australian tables. Go ahead, give it a try. Drink like a goat. Mary Moody says no problem, and that’s good enough for me.

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Plane + Train
Several major airlines fly from Australia to Lyon Saint-Exupéry Airport, the closest airport to Le Puy-en-Velay, via Dubai or Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. The Rhonexpress tram (€16.30/$27 one-way) runs regularly from the airport to Lyon Part-Dieu train station. Ticket machines are next to the baggage hall, or you can book online. See rhonexpress.fr

From Lyon-Part-Dieu, the train changes at Saint-Étienne and travels to Le Puy-en-Velay, a journey of about 3 hours. Please keep an eye on the departure notice board in Saint-Étienne. View sncf.com/en