Читать книгу Walking in the Dordogne. 35 walking routes in the Dordogne - Sarlat, Bergerac, Lalinde and Souillac онлайн

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East of Périgord Noir is the department of Lot and the upper reaches of the Dordogne river, now narrow and winding, joined at Castelnau by the smaller Bave and Cère rivers. South of the river is a limestone area of subterranean chasms known as gouffres, and arid plateaus known as causses, broken by deep gorges. The Regional Nature Park of Causses du Quercy was created in 1999, a large area used mainly for sheep farming. The gateway to the Lot is the busy little town of Souillac, which has a remarkable Romanesque abbey church. However, most visitors do not linger here, and continue to Rocamadour and the more scenic sites beyond.

All the walks in this guide are located in Périgord Pourpre, around Bergerac and Lalinde; in Périgord Noir around Sarlat; and in the Lot around Souillac. This is a richly historical area, and many of the walks start from a medieval town, or pass by a château, a Romanesque church, a large abbey, an elaborate dovecote, an old mill, a cave of prehistoric wall paintings or a Celtic hill-fort – the list is endless, and you will continually come across something of interest to make you want to stop and explore. Since the majority of walks are fairly short there is plenty of time for this, and additional background information is given in each walk description.