Faycelles
The Vía Podiensis
Faycelles is a perched village clinging to a cliff edge between the Lot and Cele valleys, about 7.5 km from Figeac. At 321 m, the views from the cliff edge are spectacular, stretching across the Lot valley and on clear days as far as the Auvergne mountains.
The village has been settled since the Paleolithic. The church on Place Gaillarde was built on the ruins of a medieval castle, and the Tour Gaillarde, a small round tower on the cliff edge, is the last fragment of that castle, destroyed on Richelieu's orders in the 17th century.
La Petit' Pause is the key stop here: a cafe-restaurant with five rooms and a terrace overlooking the valley. This is the first reliable food and lodging after Figeac on this stretch.
Human occupation of this site goes back to the Paleolithic, with evidence of Neolithic and Roman-era settlement. The medieval castle that once stood at the center of the village was ordered destroyed by Cardinal Richelieu in the 17th century. Only the Tour Gaillarde survives.