Dordogne Valley Route from Sarlat-la-Canéda

Scenic road chapters

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Sarlat la Caneda

   Sarlat is built of honey-coloured limestone, and when the evening sun hits it, the whole medieval town glows as if lit from inside. It lies in the Périgord Noir, a region of walnut groves, oak woods and steep green valleys in the Dordogne, and its centre is one of the best-preserved in France, a maze of lanes, courtyards and stone staircases that escaped the demolition fever of the nineteenth century. Pointed turrets, carved doorways and tall slate roofs crowd every street, and filmmakers have used it so often that locals barely look up when a camera crew appears. The writer Étienne de La Boétie, the close friend of Montaigne, was born here in 1530.

   Read the complete Near Sarlat-la-Canéda write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Sarlat la Caneda is where the day begins. Next is Beynac.

2. 2. Beynac

   Across the Dordogne from Beynac stands another castle, Castelnaud, and for much of the Hundred Years War the two stared at each other like rival boxers: Beynac held by the French, Castelnaud by the English, with a river valley between them and frequent raids in both directions. Beynac's fortress sits on the edge of a limestone cliff about a hundred and fifty metres above the water, with the village tumbling down the slope beneath it in tiers of honey-coloured stone. Richard the Lionheart is said to have held the castle in the twelfth century, which fits the local habit of attaching the biggest names to the oldest stones.

   Read the complete Beynac write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Beynac comes up about 11 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Roque Gageac.

3. 3. La Roque Gageac

   La Roque-Gageac is a village with a problem that most places would envy: it has no room. A single street of ochre houses runs along the foot of a limestone cliff, with the Dordogne on the other side, and everything else is piled up the rock above, with gardens, steps and old stone staircases clinging to the face. The cliff leans slightly outwards, which gives the whole place a precarious look, and there have been rockfalls in the past that have damaged houses. Even so, the people have stayed for centuries, and the village is among the most photographed on the river.

   Read the complete La Roque Gageac write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 16 km into the recorded legs you reach La Roque Gageac. Next is Domme.

4. 4. Domme

   Domme is a fortified town on a cliff, laid out as a bastide in 1281 by Philip the Bold, the king of France, who needed a stronghold against the English in the Dordogne. The plan is as tidy as a chessboard: straight streets, a central square and three great gates in the walls. The bastide stands on a limestone spur some hundred and fifty metres above the river, and the walk to the edge, along the Belvédère de la Barre, gives one of the greatest panoramas of the valley, with the Dordogne winding below through fields and woods and the castles of Castelnaud and Beynac on the horizon.

   Read the complete Domme write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Domme, late in the day. Next is Rocamadour.

5. 5. Rocamadour

   Rocamadour is built on a cliff, and it should not work. The medieval village clings to the side of a limestone gorge above the Alzou river, with houses, chapels and stairways stacked one above another against the rock face, up to a castle at the top, and the whole thing looks like it is about to slide into the valley. It has been a pilgrimage site since the twelfth century, when the miraculous Black Virgin, a small wooden statue, and the relics of a hermit called Saint Amadour drew pilgrims from across Europe, among them kings and queens. Pilgrims used to climb the great staircase of two hundred and sixteen steps on their knees, and some still do.

   Read the complete Rocamadour write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Finish at Rocamadour. That is the ride.