Another watermill
If you set off from the foot of Rocamadour, you will follow the (dried-up) course of the Alzou on a dirt track surrounded by steep cliffs and pass through the ruins of numerous other water mills. The Moulin de Sirogne, the Moulin de la Mouline and then the Moulin de Tournefeuille give us an idea of how important milling was in the past in this deep valley. Traces of the charcoal-making industry, now overgrown, can also be seen in the woods along the way.
Arriving at the Moulin de Tournefeuille, you begin the loop that takes you around the highest point of the hike, the Moulin du Saut. For much of the route, you'll be at the top of the cliffs, enjoying an uninterrupted view of the Alzou canyon and finally overlooking the ruins of the Moulin du Saut, wedged between two cliffs. Once there, you'll discover a multi-storey building that follows the contours of the rock. The water was channelled into a penstock to power the turbines that drove the millstones. The mechanism is no longer there, but it's easy to see how it worked.
This is a very interesting hike, because apart from the sporting aspect, it allows you to discover all these testimonies to the past, as well as strolling through an area classified as a Sensitive Natural Area by the Lot department and as a Natura 2000 site by France and Europe. A word of advice: in summer, the leaves on the trees prevent you from enjoying the best views.
