Fayew

Hello Fodorites,
My family and I have returned from our 12 day European excursion - 6 days of which we cycled through the Dordogne region. I wanted to thank everyone for the advice prior to our trip and thought I'd spend some time updating my trip report. My family and I kept a trip journal during our vacation so I'll share some excerpts from the journal and add helpful information if I can.

Day One - Drive from Paris to Souillac with a stop at oradour-sur-glane
The train we needed to take to Souillac was having routine track work done so my family decided to be adventerous and rent a car for the trip. No problems at CDG getting a car but I must say the traffic around Paris is a nightmare! Wish I would have asked the forum before I left! We were traveling on a Saturday, late morning so did not even think about traffic - took 2 hours to get out of the city. After that the traffic and roads were wonderful. Since we were driving we decided to stop in oradour-sur-glane, the French town that was wiped out during the war. The town was left 'as is' and was truly an interesting stop. Over 600 people (including women and children) lost their lives that day. It was a very depressing but interesting visit. All visitors while we were there were very respectful and you could feel the silence. I definetly recommend a stop in the town if you are in the region (very near Limoge).

We departed oradour-sur-glane and started making our way to the Brive airport to return our car and meet our guide and ran into our first problem - street signs! Really they are hard to find so we completely missed our turn in Limoge but did manage to find our way back to the highway. We were making great time and made it to Brive with 20 minutes to spare - so we thought. Mistake #2, don't use Google maps as your only source for travel! I downloaded a map but it took us to an airport that closed 5 years ago....now we were lost and a bit panicked. My son was able to communicate with a nice local man and he gave us directions to the airport.... It was still very hard to find but we managed to get there with about 2 minutes to close (for the car agency anyway). On to the biking.

We used a tour company called Cyclomundo to organize our trip for us and they were wonderful! The advanced communication was effective and our local representatives, Sebastian and Christine were wonderful! My only negative comment about the company is we paid extra for racing bikes for the 4 of us and were persuaded to take touring bikes for two of us and were never refunded the additional cost of the road bikes. Oh well!

We were setup with our route and our bikes and off we went to a lovely 4+ (do you count the cheese offerings as a course?) course dinner at a small 'inn' located in Souillac called the Vielle Auberge. The food and service was great - our first introduction to the local speciality, duck. We also shared a bottle of local wine. What a nice way to end a hectic day. The Inn was old but the rooms were spacious and clean. Our first visit to the French countryside and life couldn't be better!

Day 2 - we ride from Souillac to Laval
Our first day of cycling was an eye opener! We were not expecting the big hills (or small mountains...) but we were all in good shape and conquered the day. As this was our fist exposure to the countryside we stopped at every little house and church we saw. We rode through Bourzoles, Barbeyroux, Eybenes, eyvigues, and Salignac on our way to Laval (a small hamlet). We didn't stay too long in any one place and I really don't have much worthwhile to say about any of the places we stopped. We did go to the gardens of Eyrignac and really did not think it was worth the extra kilometers we rode. In fact, this was the only stop where I found that the service was poor. We did our best to be respectful and spoke in French to our waiter - he barely acknowledged us, brought 3 of the 4 meals together and did not come back with the 4th until we stood to leave about 1/2 hour later! After this treatment I decided we were not going to support the gardens so we opted out of the garden tour (I think the boys 13 & 17 would have been bored anyway).

On to our hotel in Laval, Hotel Coulier. Again the hotel was very quaint and had large, clean rooms. We were greeted by two very friendly labs and the proprietor who spoke very limited English (which was perfect since we wanted to practice our French). There was a pool out back that overlooked some cows and the beautiful countryside. Dinner was very good again and it seemed like a lot of the locals frequent the restaurant. After our 3 hour dinner (standard for our trip) off we went to bed so we would be rested for our ride the next day.

------ I will continue with day 3 later----- enjoy!
Faye

uhoh_busted

Was this tour for just you four, or part of a small group? How many in the group? I'm looking forward to your report. We've traveled through the Dordogne a couple of times and loved it.

FrenchMystiqueTours

I've been waiting for your report Faye. You forgot to bring Michelin maps! Did we all forget to remind you about getting those maps? But enough about the maps, I'm interested in hearing about the rest of the trip.

taconictraveler

So far, very good, Faye. Thanks. I couldn't do a bike tour now, but we are going to Dordogne in September, so this will be informative.

We were planning to go to gardens, such as Eyrignac, but I guess we'll skip eating there? Are the gardens worthwhile, even tho you didn't do the tour??

bilboburgler

ttt
I just love this type of holiday, keep it coming

Fayew

Here are some replies to the questions, then I'll continue on with my report.

uhoh_busted: In response to your question about individual tour or small group. We decided to go it on our own so it was just the four of us. That said, cyclomundo offers group tours as well - including a guide. You can even get full SAG support where they have a van with you during the ride. We wanted to be on our own and loved it. We did find a nice German family was on our same route and it was very nice to see them at the start and end of every day.

FrenchMystique - you are partially right about the maps. I did forget I had them! I had packed them so well in my suitcase and then completely forgot I had brought them.

Taconic - Before deciding to go to the gardens I might ask the experts on the forum. We had a bad experience but it could have been a bad day for the restaurant? The pictures looked pretty but since we were with 13 & 17 year old boys I don't think they would have been interested.

Next post will be more trip notes!

Fayew

Day 3 Laval – to – Les Eyzies
A very long (48 km, 7 hours with several sight-seeing stops) but wonderful ride. Many small lovely towns including Jayac (stopped and marveled over the live peacock and turkey roaming around), Saint Genies (loved the view from the top of the town and the old church hidden behind the buildings!), La Chapelle Aubareil, Valojoulx (stopped here and ate our picnic lunch - very relaxing and lovely town square with a pretty bird sculpture), Saint Leon (a must see! interesting streets, church, beautiful little village nestled right in near the river). We stopped and bought lunch at noon in a little store we found on the way - ate cheese, bread, grape juice, and croissants. All for under 10 euros for all four of us. The day was exactly right – everything anyone would imagine small villages in France would be.

In terms of sight-seeing we decided to go to Chateau de Losse instead of Saint Christophe, which may have been a mistake for our family. The chateau was beautiful but we waited over an hour for a tour and since it was in French it wasn't very interesting for us. In retrospect I would have stopped at the Chateau and looked around the gardens, skipped the tour, and spent some time at St. Christophe, which is a cliff site that was inhabited from the paleolithic age to medieval times. The photos on the website look a little 'cheesy' but when we rode by on our bikes it looked truly awesome.

In Les Eyzies we stayed at the Hotel France. It wasn't my favorite hotel (the staff was very shy and a bit standoffish) but the pool was the best we experienced. Ate wonderful meals - Saddle of Rabbit (13 yr old), Duck 'pot pie' (17 yr old), lamb (Hubby), & some sort of fish for me. The food was very different from anything in the states and very good - although 4 course meals every night made it tough to watch my waistline! Breakfast was bread & cheese with choice of choloat or café along with fruit, yogurt and often hard boiled eggs. I truly enjoy the lighter breakfasts served in Europe. I wasn't particularly fond of the coffee in most of our hotels. It seemed like it was freeze-dried - like a 'sanka' here in the States. We didn't mind though and I enjoyed the espresso at the small cafes.

excerpt from my husbands journal: "Les Eyzies is one of the cities renowned for its ancient cliff dwellings and prehistoric finds and really gives one a feeling of time eternal. As I look at the holes in the cliff walls and imagine people used to live in there. Some of the holes (caves) have been updated and actually passed a fort built right into the side of a cliff using the cave as a part of the fort. A river runs through this valley and makes it fertile and green and the cliffs rise about 300 feet above the valley and our hotel is built into the start of the cliff."

Day 4: Les Eyzies - Font de Gaume
Spectacular cave. The cave (Grotte de Font Gaume) is the only cave still open to the public that has cave drawings with more than one color. The pictures are red (iron oxide), black (mg oxide) & mixtures of the two for browns. I was truly amazed at the detail they drew - I had no idea they etched out the rock first and filled it in with the dye. No one really knows why they made cave drawings.

We also enjoyed walking around the town of Les Eyzies. There is a nice museum in the town but unfortunately it was closed the day (Tuesday) we were there so we didn't get to experience it first hand.

A few other observations in general - I loved the charm of all the local Inns. We stayed in rooms with shutters every evening and were able to leave the windows open without fear of flying insects. I'm not sure if this is true of all of France but for this region we didn't experience any bug issues at all! The ice cream is so much better in France - maybe because we were vacationing? I doubt it though, just tasted 'fresher'. Many of the roads we cycled on (cyclomundo did a nice job keeping us off the busy roads) seemed more like wide bike paths. And there aren't any 'street' signs. Just signs pointing to the next village - thank goodness our route guide was thorough so we knew which way to go. It is easy to see how the French were able to confuse the invaders during the war - just remove the street signs!

I think that will do for today. I'll write about Sarlat, Vitrac, and our Dordogne canoe trip on my next update.
Faye

StCirq

This is making me *homesick*! Sounds like a fabulous trip.

I really do wonder what those Font-de-Gaume tourguides are up to, though, since you're the second poster to report in the last two days that FdG <<is the only cave still open to the public that has cave drawings with more than one color.>>

It's just not true. The cave right next to my house in St-Cirq has polychrome paintings, and it's open. So does Combarelles and Pech Merle and Chauvet and a host of others. Have to wonder what other "fibs" they're telling.

Agree about the ice cream - it's because of the quality of the cream.

Fayew

St Cirq - that is too funny! Maybe they have translated something incorrectly? The cave is really great, even with the fibs!

Trip was fabulous - truly a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Leely2

What an interesting way to travel. How fit are you all--all experienced cyclists, I assume? I am not asking to be nosy, promise. I am a pretty fit/active individual, but I don't cycle regularly so I wonder what type of training something like this might take.

I found Oradour sur Glane very moving. Thanks for writing about it.

StCirq

Cripes, I've had a home in the Dordogne for almost 20 years, and I would never get on a bicycle and roam around! People who do this are both very fit and very brave and I applaud them. The terrain is hilly, there are lots of crazy drivers on the small roads, and...well, it just terrifies me. Kudos to Fayew and her crew!

twk

We met some folks doing a cycling tour in La Roque. They said that they were only doing one day in the Dordogne region, as it was was not as conducive to cycling as some other regions, like Provence. From behind the wheel, that certainly appeared to be the case--roads were a lot wider, and flatter, in Provence than in the Dordogne. Of course, Provence was just flooded with cyclists, whereas they were more of a rarity in the Dordogne.

Fayew

Leely2 - We are all in 'decent' shape. I have to admit I only cycled 2x this year prior to the trip so the first day or 2 was tough but still enjoyable. I would recommend a bike trip for all levels. Just work with the tour agency to make sure you get on one that meets your needs. We did take many breaks going up the hills but when you have all day to go 30 miles it isn't bad at all!

Regarding the Dordogne for biking - we loved it and Cyclomundo did a great job keeping us on the less traveled roads. Most days we saw very few cars so it was not bad at all, the roads were narrow though. We thought about Provence but it did not seem as interesting as cycling through the area of prehistoric caves and castles involved in the 100 years war. With teenage boys this was the right trip. My husband and I will likely do a more leisurely tour next time!

Back to my trip report - day 5 & 6!

annhig

ttt 4 leter

Fayew

Day 5 - Les Eyzies – Sarlat – Vitrac

Well, we left Les Eyzies very early in the morning as our hope was we could make it to the Sarlat market before it closed. We were under the impression that the ride was easy and flat. We looked the area up on map-my-ride and it seemed tame enough and that coincided with what we had been told so we left smiling and cocky with the plan of covering 24 km in two hours. Our hopes were dashed 4k into the trip as we hit our first climb, oh well we assumed it must be the only one, the downhill felt nice as we were sure it was flat the rest of the day. Not so, we went up to the ridge top then down to the river then over the ridge then down to the river then turned and met another ridge then down to the river then finally we climbed an entire mountain for this area and descended to Sarlat. Each ridge must have been a 300-500 feet high usually in a 5% grade so about 4k up then 3-4k down then 4k up…etc. Hubby and I rode in the lowest gear at a pace marginally faster than you could walk a bike for most of the climbs. The race bikes are geared better and can climb easier but wouldn’t have rode it this far with their lack of comfort.
On an interesting note the French resistance were active in this area and we rode by some forests and valley slopes where they hid. It is impenetrable landscapes and must have served them well. There were two monuments along the way.

We did arrive in Sarlat (a very busy tourist town with scary traffic) for the market and we were amazed to see the 9th century village. The market took up most of the streets and was extrodinary with all of the fun items you could purchase. We thought we had to be the only people from the US but soon realized there were people every where speaking English.

Visiting Sarlat if you are in the area is an absolute must. People still live in the city center from the 9th century and I could not believe how well preserved the entire city was! The church had flying buttresses the Roman and Florentine influences could be seen in the buildings. The food was fresh and different from home. We had a marvelous time touring the city. The one scare we had that day was my husband thought he'd been pick-pocketed. The city was very crowded and we had been warned so many times by so many people to keep track of wallets, credit cards, etc that I guess his imagination just got the better of him! Turns out he'd stowed everything in a small zipper pocket instead of his zippered bag!

After 4 hours in Sarlat it was time to move on to our hotel, which was located in the Vitrac Port so back on the bikes we climbed. The ride to Vitrac was uneventful and we were all ready for a swim and a nice dinner. In Vitrac Port we stayed at the Hotel Plaisance which was the largest of all the places we stayed. The rooms were well appointed and clean, the pool was lovely, and dinner was very good. They even had traditional French dancers entertain us at dinner. I believe this was my favorite hotel although I didn't think the staff was as friendly and sociable as the Ville Auberge in Souillac. The next day we were offered many cycling options but decided a nice canoe trip on the Dordogne was in order!

Day 6 - The Dordogne River
Good thing we were not set on cycling as we woke to a downpour. We were told that the region was suffering from a drought so we were happy to see the rain; up to this point our weather had been ideal for cycling. At about Noon we decided it was time to check out the canoes so off we went to the river. It turned out wonderful; we paid $64 euros for two canoes and a map and 16km of the Dordogne to explore. We started slowly and found the silence of the river enthralling. Birds were calling all around us and the stream was carrying us along at a pleasant pace. The first stop was La Roque Gagnec, a village built into the side of a cliff where Sarlats bishops took sanctuary in troubled times. We tried to get all the way up to the pre-historic caves but we were denied so we had lunch at a pizzeria and enjoyed the informality and non-duck options (we loved the duck but by this time we were ready for something a little different!). We then got back on the river and headed towards Castlenaud. This castle dominated the valley and river passage and was an important stronghold in the 100 years’ war. From the river we scaled the paths of impressive 600 feet almost straight up. Above us loomed the castle outfitted with cannon and trebuchet. It was very impressive and looked like a true castle from the romantic period. While we read about Castlenaud we discovered its rival – Beynac. Beynac was just three km down river and historically the enemy of Castlenaud. In fact both castles changed hands many dimes during the 100 years’ war. Well if Castlenaud was impressive, Beynac was superior. The entire town started from the river and rose 750 feet above the river in less than a km. The view and command of the river was spectacular and the size and scope of the fort and church were amazing. I wish we had given ourselves more time to explore each of the cities but we needed to get our canoes back in by 6PM. I highly recommend a visit to each of these places. My one regret was that Domme was not easy to access from the river as it was one of the cities I really wanted to see.

Well, with 1.5 KM left to paddle and only 15 minutes to do it in we zipped down the Dordogne and returned our canoe at the rendezvous point. Another lovely day full of memories!

Day 7 - Vitrac back to Souillac
Well, it was time to come full circle and complete our journey. Our last ride we were somewhat melancholy to be leaving the valley of the Dordogne behind. We only went 34 km on our final day and there weren’t that many hills. Not many places of interest to stop either. Just a couple villages. I did buy a pear shaped glass piece for my collection of art. We watched the glass blower for a bit but the boys were anxious to keep moving. (Note: glass blower was in Carsac - http://www.souffleur-de-verre.com/ where works of Yonel Faure are sold ). We rode through Montfort (strong mountain) and La Roc – small town. Very quiet ride – some traffic. By this time in our trip I think we were getting used to the terrain and also growing accustomed to seeing old villages, old churches, and narrow roads. We barely stopped on the ride and day 1 we would have been oooohing and aaaahing and snapping photos non-stop!

That ends my trip journal from the Dordogne. The next day we said goodbye to our new friends from Germany and boarded a train for Paris. Now that we are back home and have returned to work we are missing the days of biking and the experience of a different culture. The Dordogne is an amazing area - so much to do and see! I hope to return someday!

Hope you all enjoy the journal and it is helpful to anyone planning a visit to a less touristy area in France.

Faye

StCirq

Wonderful report.

Your history professor checking in here - pretty much the only thing that was in what we now know as Sarlat in the 9th century was a monastery. Although the town had alternating periods of prosperity, plague, war, and isolation (the last right up until the late 1800s, when it was referred to as La Belle Endormie - Sleeping Beauty - because of its remoteness), what you see in the old town now is mostly 17th-century architecture.

Had it not been for André Malraux, famous author and de Gaulle's Minister of Culture, it might have remained a backwater forever. Malraux completely renovated the old quarter in 1962, right down to the gas lamps and salamander emblems.

Leely2

Wonderful, thanks for the information and report. I visited this area about four years ago and just loved it. We had a rental car and I remember thinking how much fun it would be to bike (or go riding...). I bet you felt every hill!

klondiketoo

Really enjoyed your report. Merci!!!

annhig

yes, thanks for sharing.

Italyagain

Thanks for the report. I am in awe you did it. St Cirq "talked" us out of biking to Montignac for which I am eternally grateful (her description of tortuous being apt), and an outfitter even told us the ride from Les Eyzies to Sarlat was hard, so we opted for a car. When we drove some of those narrow back roads around Les Eyzies, I always feared for the cyclists because of the crazy cars speeding around all the bends.
So I am glad we did not do what you did, but am in awe that you did, and that you enjoyed it.