July 2021

A few weeks back I planted a seed into Julie’s head about cycling together in the Dordogne Valley. This Friday it came to fruition. We chose a relatively short route, providing Julie never did long distance cycling and hadn’t cycled in months.
The route started in Sarlat-la-Canéda, the capital of Périgord Noir, where we arrived by car. From there we cycled counterclockwise along the Dordogne River with the benefit of seeing some of the most beautiful villages of France and a number of remarkable castles. The road was mostly flat but we had to climb up a couple of times to get to châteaux and even had to push our Bromptons up because the access was so steep. When I wanted to swing by the village of Domme which seats on a hill, Julie declined to suffer through another climb, so I did it solo; just a quick in and out. I wanted to get artisanal ice cream at the top but the line was too long and I came down empty handed. Julie had a time for a power nap while waiting for me. After that we looped back to Sarlat to finish our “Tour des Châteaux”.
Despite her legs burning since the very beginning, Julie completed her first long distance ride without lamenting. I hope the sore legs won’t turn her off from cycling with me again!

Tour des Châteaux in numbers:

71 km — distance cycled
10 — châteaux encountered
5h 14m — time on the saddle
865 m — elevation gain