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Coming out of Figeac on the road to Villefranche-de-Rouerge, you pass one of the so-called aiguilles , or stone needles, that used to ring Figeac. They are an incredible 8m high and date from the 1100s; no one knows whether they were milestones, boundary markers for the abbey, or something completely different. Some 20km further south, and west of the road to Villeneuve, is the village of FOISSAC , which has given its name to a local cave (April, May & Oct daily except Sat 2-6pm; June & Sept daily 10-11.30am & 2-6pm; July & Aug daily 10am-6pm; 40F/?6.10); in addition to a variety of weird and wonderful formations, there is an unusual prehistoric potter's workshop dating from about 4000 BC. To the east of Foissac, about 20km by a beautiful lane across the causse , you happen upon one of the most remarkable old villages in this corner of France, PEYRERUSSE-LE-ROC . The "modern" village sits astride the head of a narrow wooded valley: a tiny patina-ed huddle of long-eaved, half-timbered houses abutting the ancient walls. In the valley below, hidden in the steep woods, lie the remains of a medieval stronghold, abandoned around 1700, that once stood guard over the silver-rich country round about. It is only now beginning to be excavated. A cobbled mule path leads to the gate towers and on into the woods, where the stones of a Gothic church, synagogue and hospital stand roofless beneath an unscalable pinnacle of rock crowned by twin towers. A path crosses the stream and climbs along the overgrown bank to an ancient packhorse bridge and ruined mill. From here you can scramble back up the valley side to a bridge of rock where a vertiginous ladder gives access to the towers. For the moment at least, it remains a moving and atmospheric place.
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