A river runs through it

That is, through the Dordogne River Valley. We had seen the Dordogne River close to where it meets the ocean on our trip to Bordeaux. This time we were 60 miles up the river exploring some small towns that are its banks. We detoured on the way into the river valley and made a lunch stop at the foie gras capital of France - Sarlat. Not that we eat much of the stuff, but it is a beautiful town with a large pedestrian only center and plenty of restaurants, galleries, some French country style home furnishings and kitchen stores, and, of course, 50 foie gras shops. As this was the beginning of the vacation period, we were no longer going to have towns to ourselves and Sarlat was no exception. There were plenty of tourists but it seemed mostly French tourists here - perhaps because foie gras isn't that appealing to any other culture. We stopped for lunch at a decent restaurant before exploring some of the shops in town.

Between exploring Sarlat and the vacation traffic on small country roads, we didn't make it to our final destination of Beynac until early evening. As we drove into Beynac we were greated by this stunning view of the castle above the town. We still had some daylight left and after dropping our bags at the hotel, we decided to do the short, but steep hike from the river to the castle on top. It was a beautiful evening and the sun was low enough in the sky for the landscape to be covered in a softer light which was perfect for taking photos. There wasn't much else to do on the hike up except take photos and marvel at the medieval town that was attentively restored by the flow of tourist dollars being pumped in every day. The view from the top was impressive. In one shot you can get the valley below, the Dordogne river, a stone bridge and two other castles in the distance. We strolled back down the hill, crossed the road, and walked out to the river's edge. I snapped another photo and we realized that the boat in the background was very similar to the one the gypsies, led by Johnny Depp in the movie Chocolat, came into town on. I guess that makes sense since part of the movie was filmed in the area. We ate dinner at a good restaurant right on the water and called it an early night so as to be ready for the big adventure the next morning.

One of the best ways to see the area and the river is to take a canoe or kayak trip from upstream. There are plenty of companies offering trips and no shortage of tourists like us taking them up on the offer. The Dordogne isn't exactly a raging, fast moving river so you have to paddle a good bit. It's a nine mile journey so I told Jen I would do most of the paddling if she would take care of photography. We got picked up by a bus at 10am that morning in Beynac and were dropped off upstream and given paddles and a kayak. There were no instructions - just that we should make sure we were at Beynac before 6pm. So, we shoved off and started our way downstream! The map shows our journey and some of the towns. The river flows right to left. The first tag along the river is La Roque Gageac and the other is Beynac. Sarlat is also tagged to the north of the river.

Afficher Canoe trip on the Dordogne River sur une carte plus grande

Once we got going it was really peaceful on the slow moving river. The water was a little cool but with the hot sun it still felt great to dangle our arms and legs in it to cool down. After an hour of floating along we pulled in for a pitstop at La Roque Gageac. It was around lunch and a great lunch stop. The town is a popular stop for Beynac bound kayakers and gets pretty busy during the middle of the day. We managed to get a nice patio spot overlooking the river and ordered up a couple pizzas and cold drinks. It was kind of a lazy day so we both ordered another round of drinks (Coca Cola and Leffe beer) and loitered at our choice location for another half hour. Eventually we made our way back to our kayak and looked up river. The peak of the day was on and the river was getting crowded. Just like a crowded shopping mall parking lot at Christmas, someone was into our kayak parking spot as soon as we pulled out.

We didn't have to wait long before the best scenery started. The final stretch of the river contains numerous castles built up in the cliffs during the Hundred Years War between England and France. The Dordogne river was the dividing between the two sides and these castles were built so that they could keep an eye on each other. Seemed like a strange concept since they put quite a bit of effort and many years into buildings these up. Thankfully they are mostly in good shape and now make for great background for photos! As the day wore on, it got really hot. Eventually we couldn't take it any more and had to pull in for a swim call. There was a deeper spot in the river where others were already cooling down so we pulled up on the rocks. The water felt great and I dunked my head in the flowing current. Jen opted for the feet only approach. With the rocky bottom we really wish we had a pair of river shoes though because it was difficult to walk around. And finally we were back in Beynac - coming up the section of the river that was in our photograph from the previous evening's hike. You can appreciate all of Beynac from the river and Jen was firing away on the camera to capture it. Not a bad way to end the the kayak trip. For 25 euros and a day's entertainment it couldn't have been better. The next morning we packed up, and just like Johnny Depp's gypsy character in Chocolat, headed downstream for the next town in our French vacation.

Dordogne