Bicycle
Touring France 2001
The
Three Rivers of France
A cycle tour along the Dordogne, Lot & Tarn Rivers
Freda White in her classic travel book on this region said that
a visitor to this region of South West France would cry 'Now I know why they say
"la belle France"!". It is truly one of the best parts
of France with beautiful rivers, rugged cliffs and gorges, spectacular cliff top
castles and more than its fair share of the "plus beaux villages"
(prettiest villages). It is a region that has been popular with tourists for
years and during the peak holiday season from mid July to mid August, the roads,
hotels and campgrounds are packed with holiday makers. Avoid this time of the
year and you will have quiet roads to pedal along and a wide choice of
accommodation.
(Click here for a map of our route).
Detailed maps for the whole route are available by clicking on the appropriate
links in the day to day narrative.
We arrived in France in the last week of August and after a few
days in the delightful cities of Bordeaux and Périgeux recovering from the long
trip from Australia we were ready to start cycling.
Part 1 - the Dordogne River
Day 1 - Périgeux to St. Léon-sur-Vézère - 69km
(Map of the
route from Périgeux to St: Léon-sur-Vézère)
I
t was a very hilly day with lots of climbing. This
meant for a slow day's riding.
After leaving the campground we our way out of town through several
kilometres of large warehouses and shopping centres. At least the French have
handled this type of development much better than the Americans. They have
managed to keep their city centres vibrant and alive while allowing the
development of large suburban shopping centres on the outskirts of the cities.
After leaving the main road, the D5 at la Roquette, we followed an
attractive, small, tree-lined road along the banks of the Auvézère River. We
re-joined the main road for a kilometre and had our first steep climb before
turning off to reach the delightful village of le Change. The windows of the
vine-covered boulangerie opposite the church were full of delicious
pastries and it didn’t take much to convince us that we should stop here for
an early morning tea. The door to the bakery workroom stood open to the street
and a small dog was asleep in the doorway with his head on an open bag of flour.
We bought delicious fruit tarts for our morning tea that we ate in a pretty park
by the river. The bread we bought for lunch was some of the best we've had in
France.
The road climbed steeply to Blis-et-Born and then climbed some more before we
finally dropped steeply down into St. Pierre-de-Chignac. St. Pierre was listed
as a "plus beau village" in one of the books we had read and we
had detoured to visit it. It turned out to be rather unattractive with very
heavy traffic on the N89-E70 highway thundering through it. We had to follow
this road for a short while and were extremely happy to get off it after a
kilometre. On the way to St. Pierre we crossed over the construction of a new
motorway that will eventually take most of this heavy traffic. Maybe then there
will be more incentive to spend some time in the village. We stopped for lunch
in a field just after leaving the main road.
The road climbed very steeply for several kilometres to St. Geyrac. Many of
the roads we were following were so small that they were not numbered and weren’t
signposted to the next village. They only had signs to the nearby farms, which
made navigation rather difficult at some of the junctions. We knew what
direction we should have been heading and just tended to take the road that
seemed to be heading that way. After St. Geyrac, we followed the D6 into
Rouffignac. The church here dates back to the fourteenth century and is the only
building to survive the reprisal burning of the village by the Germans during
World War II. We were starting to get tired from all the climbing and stopped at
the café for a pleasant cool drink before plunging down the hill to Plazac.
Unfortunately, as we turned onto the D45 the road again climbed steeply, very
steeply. It was a case of what goes down must go up and we more than re-gained
our lost altitude. Just after the ruined tour at la Vermondie the road dropped
steeply down to the Vézère River at Thonac.
Well that’s the climbing done for the day or so we thought. It was then
just a short three-kilometre ride along the river to our destination at St.
Léon-sur-Vézère. That wouldn’t be anything to bother us. Just as we left
Thonac the road climbed again over a ridge running down to the river. It wasn’t
a very long climb and wasn’t particularly steep but after telling ourselves
that the climbing was over for the day, it seemed quite hard.
Old stone houses in St.Léon-sur-Vézère
St. Léon is a very pretty town, a plus beau village, crammed full of
honey-coloured stone buildings and dominated by the church and two small
fourteenth and fifteenth century châteaux. The church was originally
part of a small abbey, founded in the twelfth century and which itself was built
on the ruins of a Gallo-Roman villa. The municipal campground was a rather
strange place on the banks of the river. Stretched along a reach of the river,
the narrow campground was in rather bad condition. Too many people had stayed
there over the summer and most of the grass had died. The guardien’s
office was in the Mairie on the other side of the road. The sanitaire
was on the other side of a small road leading down to the river with the
entrance to the showers from the village square.
Rain started falling just as we were about to start preparing dinner.
Fortunately it didn’t last long and we were able to cook and eat our meal
in reasonable comfort. After dinner we walked the short distance to the shop of
the artisanale glacier and member of the master ice cream makers guild of
France. He must have had a bad day as he seemed to be one of the most miserable
people we have come across, but his ice cream was superb.
Later in the evening it started raining heavily. It sounded like it rained
all night but a lot of the noise probably came from the water dripping from the
branches of the trees above the tents.
Day 2 - St Léon-sur-Vézère to Cadouin - 44km
(Map of the route from St.
Léon-sur-Vézère to Cadouin)
A
fter crossing the Vézère, we climbed through
forest with delightful views towards the river. As we approached la Roque St.
Christophe, we had a great view of the rock with its dozens of caves and
chambers gaping like the eyes in a skull from the rock face. The rock was used
as a fort when the Vikings rowed up the river and was occupied by man for
generations before and after. The remains of cave dwellings can still be seen in
a number of places. At Tursac, not long after joining the main road there were a
number of houses built into the cliffs, some of which appeared to be still
occupied.
We had an undulating ride to les Eyzies-de-Tayac where we stopped for morning
tea. Les Eyzies is a popular tourist town and is the centre of a district where
caves containing some of the most important discoveries of man's early history
in Europe abound. Within a relatively short distance from here there are well
over 100 major prehistoric sites. We stopped for morning tea on the bridge over
the Vézère River but found the town too touristy for our liking.
In nearby Campagne, we stopped to take some photos of the fifteenth century
church and château and started talking to a friendly local resident who
had dreamt of cycling around the world until illness stopped him. We then had a
fast ride into La Bugue where we reached the tiny supermarket just as they were
closing for lunch. After a race to buy things for lunch we made our way down to
the river for a pleasant lunch of bread, cheese, pâté and tomatoes.
Old house in Limeuil
We rode through fields of ripe maize and sunflowers for the few kilometres to
another of the plus beaux villages at Limeuil where the Vézère joins
the Dordogne. A very pretty village of yellow sandstone tumbled down the
hillside with houses leaning impossibly on the buildings below. It's obviously
very popular with tourists as there are a number of large car parks and several
souvenir shops, but we didn't see a food store, big or small. David followed the
signs to the gardens which had a panoramic view of the confluence of the two
rivers and the "crooked" bridge crossing both of them but decided that
he would put up with a lesser view from lower down rather than pay the 60FF
entrance fee charged.
After crossing over both the Vézère and the Dordogne, we had another steep
climb for several kilometres before dropping down to the delightful village of
Cadouin centred on the 12th century monastery. There seem to be a few English
people living here and it is easy to see why they like it. Lots of attractive
yellow sandstone houses line the few narrow streets. The tiny square is
dominated by the huge bulk of the monastery. Part of the monastery has been
given over to a youth hostel. It seems to be really attractive place to stay and
we almost wish that we were. However the camping ground is very pleasant,
terraced with large plane trees shading it and with views over the town. Lyn and
Helen went shopping for dinner and on the way back picked a few un-ripe grapes
from a vine over-hanging a fence. As she did so, a deep English voice boomed out
"Please don’t pick my grapes!"
Day 3 - Cadouin to Castelnaud-la-Chapelle -
45km
(Map of route from Cadouin to
Cénac)
The cloisters at the monastery at Cadouin
T
he boulangerie opened at eight and we were
some of the first customers buying the warm crunchy baguettes. After
breakfast and packing up we made our way into the village. The abbey was open
and we went in to have a look around. Cadouin used to be a major pilgrimage site
with pilgrims flocking to see the holy shroud used to wrap around Christ’s
head. A priest who had been on one of the early crusades had brought it to
Cadouin. Richard the Lion Heart and several French kings are among the famous
people who kneeled before the shroud. Scientific tests in the 1930’s and 1980’s
proved that the cloth was made a thousand years after Christ’s crucifixion.
Not surprisingly, Cadouin dropped off the pilgrims’ route after this. There
was some magnificent brightly coloured stained glass behind the main alter.
Through a glass door there was a tantalising glimpse of the spectacular
cloisters of the abbey. The cloisters were to open at ten, so David decided to
visit them after we went to the bicycle museum.
Described in the Michelin Green Guide as the biggest in France, the bicycle
museum was smaller than we had expected. It did have a wonderful collection of
old bicycles including a Draissiène once owned by Victor Hugo, a bicycle owned
by Jules Verne and the bike that was ridden to victory in the first Tour de
France.
We finally left town about eleven and had a pleasant ride for the six
kilometres to le Buisson-de-Cadouin on the Dordogne. After crossing to the right
side of the river we headed on lovely quiet roads through Bigaroque and Coux to
St. Cyprien. Again we just made it to the supermarket before it closed for
lunch. As we were not sure about what would be in the shops at
Castelnaud-le-Chapelle or if indeed they would be open on a Saturday afternoon,
we also did our shopping for dinner. When we did reach Castelnaud, we found that
the small shop there had as good a range of produce as the small Casino
supermarket we went to in St. Cyprien.
After leaving St. Cyprien we climbed steeply up to Berbiquières, a tiny
village dominated by a large private château. Shortly after we dropped
steeply down to the river at Allas-les-Mines, we had a magnificent view over the
valley to the castle high on the cliffs at Beynac. The ride along the river
valley was very pleasant with lovely views over the valley to the châteaux
and villages on the other side of the river.
While we were sitting having a late afternoon cup of coffee at the
campground, Helen and David decided to ride to the cliff top castle of
Castelnaud. It was a long steep ride up to the château from where there
is supposed to be one of the best views over the valley of the Dordogne. We got
there at half past six only to find that as from today, 1 September, the château
was closing at six and not seven o'clock. We did get some good views but not the
famous one towards Beynac. Well, at least we didn't have to pay 38FF either
which is what it cost to enter the château.
Day 4 - Castelnaud-la-Chapelle to Cénac -
20km
T
he morning mist still filled the valley as we set
off towards the village. The château, high on the cliffs, was bathed in
brilliant sunshine one minute then hidden in the swirling mist the next. We
crossed over the river and rode towards Beynac. The mist slowly cleared as we
rode the four kilometres and the village shone in brilliant sunshine by the time
we arrived. We left our bikes at the foot of the steep street and slowly walked
up past the picturesque, fifteenth to seventeenth century stone cottages lining
the narrow lanes. The only people about seemed to be other tourists; the locals
having either locked themselves inside or gone elsewhere for the day.
From Beynac we retraced our route to where we crossed the Dordogne and then
rode the two kilometres to la Roque Gageac, another plus beau village
stretched along the road in a narrow ribbon of stone cottages dominated by the
huge overhanging sandstone cliff that gives the village its name. We reached the
village a couple of minutes before a cruise on the river was about to leave. We
quickly locked the bikes, bought tickets and rushed onboard. The cruise on a
replica of the gabares that were used to carry cargo on the river, lasted
about an hour and took us nearly back to Castelnaud where we enjoyed a
spectacular view of the village and château that we would not have had
otherwise. The views of the river and the village of la Roque were quite
delightful.
La Roque Gageac on the Dordogne River
As it was Sunday, we had decided to have lunch out and after some discussion,
we headed towards Cénac, our destination for the day. We hoped to find a
restaurant or auberge that was less touristy than the ones in la Roque.
We made the right decision and had a delicious five-course meal in a small
restaurant in Cénac not far from the campground. Noelene and David had Bloc
de Foie Gras de Canard for an entrée. This differs from pâté
in that it is more than seventy per cent foie gras and very rich.
After lunch and setting up our tents in the pleasant municipal campground on
the banks of the Dordogne, we rode the two kilometres up to Domme, a medieval bastide
or fortified village, which is described as one of the jewels of the Dordogne.
It was packed with tourists and not very pleasant. Only the view from the
ramparts over the Dordogne valley made the climb up to the village worthwhile.
It was now September and the main French holiday season was over. With crowds
like the ones we experienced, it would not be a pleasant place to visit during
the main summer holiday period.
Day 5 - Cénac -
36km
A
fter a lazy morning we set off along the river to
Vitrac from where we headed north to the medieval town of Sarlat. It had been a
chilly morning and mist covered the river and valley for several hours. After
the mist burned away, it became a lovely warm sunny day.
The road climbed slowly up the river valley to Sarlat and we were soon
embroiled in the heavy traffic leading into the town. Sarlat is supposed to be
one of the best-preserved medieval cities in Europe and has lots of attractive
old stone buildings lining the narrow streets and lanes. While the town dates
back to the founding of a Benedictine monastery in the ninth century, most of
the buildings in the old town were built during the fifteenth century. As
expected there were lots of tourists there. It must be horrendously crowded
during July and August. We spent some time wandering around looking at he
buildings and shops. A gypsy band was playing in the main square. We saw several
groups of touring cyclists on their way through town. All of them looked as
though they were staying at chambres d'hôtes or hotels as they were not
heavily loaded.
After lunch we headed towards la Canéda where we found a bike path built on
an old railway line that headed down to the Dordogne at Carsac. There was a
beautiful old church on the outskirts of the village where we stopped for a few
minutes. The road then wound around the edge of the cliffs slowly climbing till
we reached the Cingle de Montfort, one of the tightest bends on the Dordogne.
There were expansive views over the river and the countryside. Canoeing along
the river is a popular activity for visitors and every time we stopped to look
at a river view, there were always a number of brightly coloured canoes making
their way down the broad gentle river. A short distance later, we were in
Montfort where the impressive château stands in a dramatic setting over
looking the river. After a couple of kilometres, we turned to cross the river at
Vitrac and retraced our morning’s route back to Cénac.
To Part 2 - the Lot
To Part 3 - the Tarn
To Part 4 - the Corniche des Cevennes
