The only reason I post a trip report is to encourage people to post about the area I’ve visted.

Please hijack.

i was being courteous with my responses to unrequested comments. I was not attempting to take away from BritishCaicos' TR.

Did you see me asking for input to my itinerary in any way? No, I didn't think so. As a matter of fact, you very, very rarely see me asking for itinerary advice because I don't care to have anyone's input. It's my trip and I will plan it as I see fit.

Now, if you will politely allow BC to get back to his TR.

Joan

Your base itinerary looks amazing, I which I could afford short stops on a long trip but usually I have a wife who likes home comforts and stability, a teenage boy (say no more) and working Cocker Spaniel who frightens every hotel in sight.

We are lucky if we can convince a house owner to rent us a house for two weeks.

Of you like quiet backwaters then your route has it all.

Bordeaux clearly is a big city but I love it’s balance, just really vibrant without the mobbed by cruise ships feeling. Of the areas, you have planned, there’s only really Saint Emilion and Sarlat which are mobbed by world tourism. The Dordogne is very busy but you’d probably never notice due to the geography. There are so many hidden nooks and crannies that it just soaks up the numbers, place like Beynac are geographic pinch points and do have traffic but for the rest of the area, it’s really easy to find very quiet spots even in August.

Let me me know if you want any suggestions for hotels.

Monday night : Angoulême

I’ve always struggled with blood sugar levels and after checking in, having a pint of lager, nothing to eat and going to sleep for 3 hours was a really bad idea. I woke up at 10pm, had a 2 minute shower threw some clothes on a flex out to find some food, feeling terrible (really bad).

The town reminds me so much of Edinburgh with a convoluted road system which has to cope with the fact that the town is on a high, oddly shaped plateau. There’s lots of gothic and Neo Classical architecture which seems like a strange mix but it ends up looking like a base wedding cake with lots of fancy decoration. It seems to me that the town had huge heydays in the 1400s and 1700s! It’s very photogenic.

Town was absolutely deserted but I managed to find a really good quality American diner. It was decked out in Southern memorabilia, above my table was an advert for a restaurant on Grand Bahama from the 1960s. I was wearing my Hopetown Sailclothes (Bahamas) T shirt, strange how life serves these things up in rural France.

I wemt to bed, got very little sleep but woke up in the morning feeling really good.

Tuesday Angoulême to Lalinde (Dordogne) 93 miles (very hilly)

Another cloudless day but this time no wind. Hotel breakfast was less than OK, it had the feeling that the incredible design of the place was a function of the fact that it was owned by an architect who had set it up and given up. Day to day operations had something to be desired!

I set off at 8am and thankfully this side of the city is very close to the countryside within 2 miles I was in open countryside and hills.

The terrain south of Angoulême changes very quickly, gone are the sweeping wheat fields and vineyards, it’s more like Dumfries and Galloway with miles of mixed forest and poor agricultural land.

I cycled through the small village of Torsac which is a very well preserved medieval village much older than much of Angoulême. Almost expected a troop of knights to appear, just outside the village I fell on this



which is just an obscene piece of architecture, even compared with what we Brits were capable of in the 1700. I tried to look in the opposite hillside for a corresponding residential pile because the owner clearly was in completion with someone. There wasn’t another house in sight, just like Vanderbilts at Biltmore, they probably bought everything in sight and knocked it down.

I was absolutely shocked to look it up when I arrived at the next hotel, it was built by a washing machine dynasty from the 1920s and is still under construction. The property accepts visitors and if you are in the area, I’d suggest a visit.

I arrived at Riberac to cycle past The Dordogne sign, felt like home as I love the area.

Unfortunately, Riberac has a different feel, it a pleasant enough place but property prices are lower and the town at lunch time was racked up with aging Brits who all seemed to be sat in cafes moaning about everything. Two tables were discussing across me, whether they would be deported following a hard Brexit. I couldn’t keep my face straight but kept my mouth shut, ate up and set off.

Straight away you hit the cycling graveyard of The Dordogne. It’s beautiful but mentally destroying, in the next 43 miles I counted 22 hills which just didn’t seem possible.

There were here some stunning little villages, Clermont de Beauregard stood.

After getting lost and missing turnings umpteen times I saw a finally sign which said Lalinde 8km.

After another two hills, I saw the river and found the hotel pretty quickly.

https://www.lesmagnolias-perigord.com/en/

great place, room with a view onto the river, lovely huge 10ft ceilings and tasteful decor and a huge pool. It’s operated by a Dutch couple who (like everyone else in the area) ducked out of the rat race but still have enormous energy for their business and treat each guest as if they are their first guest,

It was only 3:30pm had a really good day cycling, went for a swim and wandered into town.

I’m getting really annoyed with posting functions of Fodor’s.

i posted the above to save and edit as I had to take my son to school, now I can’t get back in and edit. I’ve also lost half the post. Sorry about the nature of the above post, it was only half finished !

Unfortunately, you can only edit your posts for about an hour or so.

If I'm writing a long post I do it elsewhere and then copy it to Fodors.

That’s a really good idea !