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

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Walking here is a delight, and at the end of the day there is always a small café in a village square for a glass of sweet Monbazillac wine under a sun which lacks the intensity of that in southern France, followed by a dinner of regional specialities made of duck or goose in a local restaurant.

The Dordogne river

The Dordogne river west of Lalinde

The Dordogne is one of the longest rivers in France, flowing nearly 500km westwards from its source in the Massif Central to join the Garonne at Bordeaux and end in the Atlantic Ocean. There are two theories as to the origin of its name, which may come from the Celtic Durunna, meaning rapid waters, or from the two tiny streams, the Dore and the Dogne, which join high on the slopes of the Puy de Sancy to become the Dordogne.

The river flows swiftly through the mountainous area of the Auvergne to reach the lake of Bort, where it is tamed by a succession of five gigantic dams built between 1935 and 1957, together producing over 1600 million kilowatts of electricity a year. It then rushes through the Corrèze gorges to pierce the upland plateaus of the Causses du Quercy in the Lot, and by the time it reaches the department named after it, the waters are wider and calmer, although still flowing between steep cliffs. Joined at Castelnau by the Cère and the Bave, and at Limeuil by the Vézère, it continues on its journey through the countryside in a series of dramatic horseshoe meanders, the larger ones named cingles, and only straightens out when it reaches the rich alluvial plains around Bergerac. It finally joins the waters of the Garonne to become the Gironde and flow into the Atlantic. During the Hundred Years’ War, the river formed an important frontier between the English and French, who built and then fought over the castles and towns along its banks, many of them in strategic positions on high rocky cliffs, with extended views over the surrounding countryside.