Most of these are self-guided rides, with the terrain relatively gentle compared to many other regions of France. For more ideas relating to museums, castles, grottes and troglodytes, caves and mammoths, see the tourist information website.Īlong with the Loire and Brittany, the Dordogne is one of France's most popular regions for organised cycling holidays.
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History buffs are spoilt for choice with the Museum of Prehistory just one of the many attractions you can visit. There's also hot-air ballooning, horse-riding and tree-top adventure parks, plus a well-regarded aquarium. There are numerous points of entry up and down the river, though the more spectacular gorges can be found north of Tursac and down.
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If more fresh air is on your agenda, then there are numerous canoe and kayak hire centres up and down the valley that will drop you and your canoe off and pick you up at the other end – we spent a morning drifting down the valley towards Le Bugue from Tursac. If you're heading further east into the Dordogne, it's just over 30km from Le Bugue to Sarlat, centre of the so-called honeypot area of the Dordogne, where beautiful villages are lined with cobbles and topped with chateaux over which much blood has been spilled. From Mauzac, just west of Limeuil, it's possible to ride to Bergerac following the towpath along the Dordogne's canal lateral. From here, there are various routes taking you towards the western edge of the Dordogne, and into the wine country of St-Emilion and Bordeaux, both over the departmental border in Gironde. We arrived in Limeuil (officially one of France's prettiest villages) just in time to see a bride and groom arrive by canoe. (We stayed near St Avit de Vialard, just outside Le Bugue, and picked up maps at the campsite for two local official routes starting from the Mairie – the 6.7km Boucle de la Font du But and the 7.1km Boucle de Vialard – plus a folder of additional routes scouted by the campsite staff.)įrom Le Bugue it's under 7km to the town of Limeuil, where the Vézère meets the mighty Dordogne. While there are no official voies vertes (dedicated green routes for cycling) in this area, most tourist centres will have maps of local cycling routes. (The D706 can get busy, especially in summer.)įrom Campagne, we followed the Route de la Saint-Cirq on the western side of the river, emerging on the north-west edge of Les Eyzies-de-Tayac-Sireuil (known locally as Les Eyzies) in time to check out the Musee National de Prehistoire, where our two-year-old future cyclist took pleasure in pointing at the big, hairy man with the spear and yelling "Papa". Photo: Lynette Eyb Where to cycle in the Vézère ValleyĮverything between Lascaux and the busy town of Le Bugue is within cycling distance – just under 40km separate the two on the main road, the D706, though there are dozens of backroad routes that you can explore with the help of an IGN map. Official routes around our campsite near Saint-Avit-de-Vialard. The entire valley is UNESCO World Heritage Listed (all its prehistoric sites – many of then open to the public – are listed here). The river valley – in the Dordogne department of Aquitaine – is dotted with archaeological sites of international importance, the most famous being Lascaux, near Montignac, where the original Paleolithic cave paintings have been protected from the debiliating effects of tourism (a replica cave is open to the public nearby). The Vézère river, with its gorges and caves, hides the ancient secrets of man – and of dinosaurs before him. The ancient sites and sweeping gorges of the Vézère Valley in the Dordogne are all within cycling distance of each other.