These walled towns became very important in defending average citizens during the ‘wild-west’ period of the Middle Ages in France. Whilst such towns were controlled and taxed by the local lord, the citizens were independent and the society in a Bastide town was a far cry from the earlier feudal relationships between aristocracy and serfs. They were generally built with a rectangular structure centred around a public square and a church on the corner. Citizens of bastides had their homes in the town and their farmlands outside. These bastide towns were built on hills with defensible walls around them. Our destination on June 13 was the ‘Bastide’ town of Domme.ĭomme was a fortified town built between the 12 th and 14 th centuries in regions of France such as Aquitaine where the conflicts were so regular that in order to keep both farmers and towns-people safe, you needed more than a local defensive castle. Three of these villages were built around Castles, one was a fortified town and in the other, the citizens had to retreat to fortified caves in the cliffs of the Dordogne River in times of strife. Tomorrow: South to Fumel on the Lot River.We visited five villages along the Dordogne River valley on our stay in the region which were structured around their needs for defence in the times of war. FYI: The French invented hot-air balloons. Now that’s a great way to end a great day of riding. Stop very carefully!īack over the Dordogne River to Beynac, where I saw this… I think muscle memory has kicked in and I’m getting the hang of riding a heavy bike. I was a little nervous on the downhill, what with my loaded-up, wobbly, unbalanced bike, but handled it pretty well … and topped out at 52 Ks. Despite the fact that there weren’t any >s. I headed along the D53, to loop back to where I crossed the Dordogne, and climbed and climbed and climbed. Usually, when there’s a big hill, the Michelin map marks it with a >, or a > when it’s really, really steep and a > when it’s crazy steep. It cost 12 Euros to get in and it was getting late … so I kept on riding. She was huge in France, back in the days when African-American actresses/singers/dancers didn’t have much opportunity in the U.S.A. I headed over to the Milandes Chateau where the famous African-American actress/dancer/singer Josephine Baker (1906-1975) once lived. There’s a great view across the river of Beynac and the castle way, way up the narrow cobblestone streets… Instead of heading directly to Beynac, where I’m staying tonight, I decided to cross over the Dordogne and see the sights on the other side. But the view from the top made it all worthwhile…

Still more climbing through the narrow streets. You go through the gates into Domme and think you’re at the top … but you’re not. I think maybe back in 1997 we did Domme as a day trip and weren’t carrying panniers. My memory of the hill was a little hazy, and it turned out to be quite a long, steep hill (maybe even a mountain), about 3 Ks of a 5-percent or 6-percent grade the whole way, including one S-curve. I’ve been to Domme before, back in 1997, and remember it as a really cool old stone town on top of a hill. Then it was onto the D703 and D46 to Domme. There’s a nice bike train heading south out of Sarlat… And about 5 seconds to remember, hey, it’s really hard to get on and balance and ride a bike loaded up with about 35 pounds of stuff.

But still, it took me 30 minutes to get everything loaded onto my bike. I arrived in Sarlat at 12:48 and thankfully there weren’t any stairs to climb up or down at the train station. One of the cars had a bike drawing on it, and inside was a row of hooks to hang bikes. They make it really easy to load your bike onto the trains over here. So, I’ll let my photos tell today’s story. Between jet lag, all the lifting and 40 miles of riding, including way more climbing than I expected, probably about 9 or 10 kilometers of steep ones, I’m pooped. And, let me tell you: Carrying a fully-loaded bike down a flight of stairs and then back up another flight of stairs at the Bordeaux train station to get to Track 9 was tough! My legs are strong … my arms, not so much. My bike arrived a few minutes later, and half an hour later I was on the train headed to Sarlat. “Oh.” I don’t know how or why cyclists can do that. “I don’t know,” answered one of the five Brits on bikes in front of the hotel. You can’t go on a bike trip without a bike. I was at the hotel in Bordeaux, it was 9AM and I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my rental bike.

Domme dordogne map