Freewheeling in France – Part III, Dropping in on Dordogne
Dordogne valley of France is a historic and picturesque valley located just east of the City of Bordeaux in Southwest France. The complicated history of this area began by the divorce of Eleanor of Aquitaine from Louis VII King of France and marrying the new King of England Henry II, in 1154. By rights of his wife, Henry II and England then became the owners of the Dordogne and Bordeaux wine region of France and started the 100-year wars between the two countries. The region consists of fortified towns and castles across the river Dordogne, owned by France on the East and England on the West.
Our trip to Dordogne River Valley was part of a larger trip around the Iberian Peninsula. We stopped in the beach resort of Labenne in SW France, south of Bordeaux to visit the Perion family, our French friends from Lyon for the day. Then headed northeast to Le Buisson-de-Cadouin, to Domaine de la Marziane to start the bicycle trip.
The lovely owners of the Domaine de la Marziane have a beautiful Auberge and were willing to let us leave our car in their barn until our return. The next day we headed north across the river to Les Eyzies-de-Tayac. This was a 25 km and 150 m EG ride. Les Eyzies is where the Cro-Magnon museum is located. Here just outside of the town the prehistoric cave paintings of the Cro-Magnon dating back some 30,000 years, were discovered. The caves at Lascaux and Font-de-Gaume are located in the vicinity of town and allow visitation by appointment. We stayed at Hotel de France and visited the impressive museum just next door and Font-de-Gaume cave the next day and spent a couple of hours during the afternoon at the hotel pool.
From Les Eyzies we headed east to Sarlat-de-Caneda a 20 km and 270 m EG ride. Sarlat has a vibrant historic district with fantastic restaurants that offer a variety of local cuisines including their famous Foie Gras. Here we stayed at the Hotel Les Ramparts.
From Sarlat we headed south to the hill town city of Domme situated above the river Dordogne with great views to the north and west. This was a 15 km ride and an EG of 150 m. We stayed at the lovely and superbly situated at the edge of the cliff, Hotel L'Esplanade for two nights. In the center of the town, you can also visit La Grotte De Domme, which allows you to descend into the center of the hill and visit the amazing stalactites and stalagmites developed over centuries.
We headed west from Domme back towards Domaine de la Marziane. This was a hilly and very hot 40 km ride with EG of 500 m. Our route took us along the Dordogne river at times with views of the castles and we rode by Château des Milandes. This used to be the home of the famous entertainer and singer Josephine Baker. We had a lovely dinner of sautéed duck and vegetables with the owners at Domaine de la Marziane that night.
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