Rain day in the caves of la Cocalière

 

Oh irony when we leave to the south of France to find some heat (our motivation in winter)  and arrive after months of heatwave, draught, lack of water and forrest fires, ... we get a prediction of thunder storms frequently.   Indeed one of the evenings we were getting the first rain in the area since May so I was genuinely happy for the local people and the nature. 

On the next day with predicted rain, we drive to some nearby caves.   There were some recommended ones with a prehistoric museum but the website recommended ticket reservations and we couldn't manage to make any reservation. Fearing a big turnout on a rainy day, we went to Cocalière instead, which was closer.  

It was also quite busy and we got a time slot to go in 2 hours later. Fortunately, it worked out for us since we were there just before lunch, so we used the time to eat some of the cafeteria's fast food. And then we first walked on the outside interpretive trail where we could admire the erosion in the rocks nearby that explain also the evolution and constitution of the nearby caves. 

And then we could finally descend the many stairs away from the damp heat outside where the threatening clouds started to rumble, which made the waiting lines at the entrance a lot longer. 
We descended in a very cool world...literally but I also understand their claim to be among the top 5 wonderful caves from France.  It was really awesome.  

If you really love it: they have a hotel room glass cube in the cave which you can rent for a night. 

And cherry on the cake: we had to ride a little train back from the cave's exit back to the parking lot which was wet from the rain we had missed.  That's ok, the rain clouds reserved a downpour for us for when got out of the supermarket.  Thankfully we could change into dry clothes back at our little home and play some games inside while the water continued pouring down for hours.