TOUR OF DORDOGNE AND LOT, FRANCE

In October 2004 I visited the Dordogne and Lot area of south-west France, spending nine days peddling around this
ancient region, plus a day at each end to organize my gear and assemble then disassemble my bicycle. I flew to
London-Gatwick from Raleigh-Durham, then to Bordeaux, where I spent the first night. The following nine days I spent on the
bike cycling clockwise around the loop shown on the map of south-west France. About halfway between Bordeaux and
Bergerac I visited the chateau of the original essayist, Michel de Montaigne. I stayed overnight at Bergerac, Les Eyzies (near
several prehistoric sites such as Font-de-Gaume and Grotte de Rouffignac and an excellent Museum of Prehistory),
Rocamadour, Figeac (with its museum devoted to the life and work of Champollion, the first to decipher the Egyptian
hieroglyphs on the Rosetta Stone), then on to Cahors, Villeneuve ("new town," founded in 1251), and near La Reole.
  Click on each picture to read its description. (The national anthem of France, La Marseillaise, plays in the background.)