I’m always delighted to receive photos from Chain Gang tours – especially if I woz there.
Last year I was lucky enough to accompany a Dordogne bike tour with, among others, Rob Thomas, who sent me an album of photos. Luckily for me, they’re lovely. It was only through setting up The Chain Gang that I discovered the difference between ‘point & click’, and people who can take photographs. As soon as you have to choose photos for websites, brochures, blogs, etc., it becomes very obvious that some people are better than others!
While I fall firmly into the ‘point & click’ category, Rob doesn’t.
I’ve chosen 25 photos and put them in an Album on Flickr. And I’ve chosen just 5 of them as my particular favourites. Do click on the images to enlarge them, and if you want to see the album in all its glory, visit the album on Flickr.
1. Almost at Beynac.
Our first day of cycling finishes in Beynac, beside the Dordogne River, 500 feet below the spectacular chateau of Beynac
Beynac just never gets tired for me. This photo shows all of us cycling, with Bruce at the back, and me in my Remco Evenepoel tribute jersey, and above us, as we just casually cycle along, is this spectacular medieval castle, Beynac.
You can read more about Beynac here, but let’s just remind ourselves that Richard the Lionheart and Robin Hood (allegedly) both stayed here.
2. Leaving Domme.
On our 2nd day in Dordogne we encounter our first serious hill on the climb into Domme. It’s a walled medieval Bastide town which played a significant role in both the Hundred Years War ad the Wars of Religion, and is equally famous for fabulous views across the Dordogne valley. But one of my favourite things about Domme is the gate that we leave by. I love the colour and the detail of this gate. I imagine locals just think of it as ‘the town gate’. I think it’s beautiful.
This is Sue, swooping through my favourite town gate.
3. The Gouffre de Padirac.
The Gouffre de Padirac is a huge sinkhole in the limestone causse that we visit in the afternoon of our 3rd day of cycling on our Dordogne tour.
Once you’ve descended 300 feet to the bottom of this huge hole (by elevator, if you’ve got any sense), we clamber into boats and are punted along an underwater river, enjoying absolutely enormous stalactites and stalagmites. It is a bit special, and I love it.
But I particularly like this photo because it’s hard to get. The sinkhole is surrounded by railings, and I’ve always found it hard to get any sense of scale. But Rob managed.
4. On Our Way to Sarlat.
I like this photo for a very simple reason. We appear to be on our way to a very high cliff, but we don’t have to go up it!
We’re on our way to Sarlat, having spent the morning canoeing down the Dordogne. So next stop is lunch in Rouffillac. But for now, we’re cycling straight at a bloody great cliff – and we don’t have to go up it!
5. Classic Périgord Geese, Dordogne
Just at the top of our penultimate hill on our final day of cycling is a goose farm, absolutely emblematic of the Dordogne.
Not everybody is comfortable with foie gras- the liver from geese and ducks that are fattened through a 3-week period of forced-feeding. Actually, I don’t think anybody is comfortable about it. But it is absolutely gorgeous, and is synonymous with the Dordogne.
All week we enjoy magret de canard, confit, foie gras, rillettes, a whole regional cuisine based on geese and ducks. So I had to choose a photograph of Périgord geese. Beautiful, tasty little heroes!
A reminder, you’ll find the rest of the album on Flickr, here, and if you want to be a bit adventurous, you’ll find other Dordogne albums here, and here.
