an elusive civet cat, pine or stone martin. Foxes, badgers, rabbits, voles, weasels and stoats are more common, and one rodent that is slowly gaining ground in the lakes and rivers is the coypu, a big furry creature with a long tail, rather like a beaver, originally introduced from South America. Unfortunately, their increasing numbers are destroying the riverbanks, the natural habitat of otters and water voles, and so measures are now being taken to eliminate them.
The Dordogne river used to be alive with trout, salmon, eels, pike, bream and the rarer turtle, but now, due to repeated over-fishing, sewage and insecticide, numbers have diminished. Recently steps have been taken to remedy this, and hopefully numbers will increase again. The rivers and streams are also the home of water birds, and wild ducks, coots and moorhens nest in the reeds and marshes. You will often see herons watching for fish, standing on one leg in the shallows, and if you are lucky, you might catch the blue flash of a kingfisher as it skims over the water.
Birds are everywhere, even in the vineyards where the red-legged partridge has made its home. In the woods and fields are pheasants, woodpeckers, thrushes, robins, nuthatch, blackbirds, coal tits and other common species, as well as woodcock and nightingales. Above the rocky cliffs of the Dordogne, cruising the thermals, are buzzards, black kites and peregrine falcons, the latter re-established only in the 1980s. The cliffs are riddled with the nests of colonies of swallows, swifts and sand martins, especially along the Vézère river, and the dank, dark caves, once the home of primitive man, now harbour thousands of bats.
A flamboyant hoopoe: photo Tristan Lafranchis
But the most eye-catching bird to be seen in the Dordogne, especially in the south, is the flamboyant hoopoe, which flies in at the end of April after wintering in Africa. His long curved beak, pink chest and pied wings are offset by a huge crest which opens up on landing to make him look like an Indian chief – a sight worth seeing!
Suggested books:
RSPB: Birds of Britain and Europe (Dorling Kindersley Pocket Guide)
Wild Animals of Britain and Europe (Collins Nature Guide)
How to get there
By car
Many of the walks in this book cannot be reached without a car. If you come by train or air, all the main car hire firms operate from stations and airports, and information about rental can be obtained before you leave.
If you bring your own car, Cherbourg, St-Malo and Caen are convenient ports to drive from, all served from Portsmouth and Poole by Brittany Ferries (www.brittanyferries.co.uk). For detailed travel itineraries and route planners, see www.theaa.com, www.rp.rac.co.uk, and www.viamichelin.com.
By air
With the increase of budget airlines, flying and then hiring a car can be a more convenient way to travel. There are direct flights from several UK airports to Bergerac with Ryanair (www.ryanair.com), Flybe (www.flybe.com) and Jet2 (www.jet2.com); to Brive-la-Gaillarde, near Souillac, with Ryanair and Cityjet (www.cityjet.com); and to Bordeaux with British Airways (www.britishairways.com) and Easyjet (www.easyjet.co.uk). From Bordeaux it is relatively easy to get a train to Bergerac or Sarlat.
By rail
If you contact the English office of the French Railways at RailEurope (www.raileurope.co.uk), they will send an informative brochure outlining the different ways to get to France by rail, including timetables, cost, car hire and so on.
There are frequent high-speed trains with Eurostar from London Waterloo to Lille, where you can catch a TGV to Bordeaux (total journey time, nine hours) or to Libourne, where you can change to a direct train for Bergerac. For further information, including online booking, timetables, destinations and costs, contact www.eurostar.com. Another useful website for European train travel is www.seat61.com (just click on France).
When to go
The weather in the Dordogne is pleasant for much of the year, with mild humid winters and long hot summers, and walks can be done at any season. It is very unusual to get snow in the Dordogne, although hard frosts are not unknown, such as the one in 1956 which killed off many of the vines. When the sun does shine in the winter months it is often possible to sit outside at midday, although the downside is that many hotels and restaurants tend to be shut, and tourist sites have limited opening hours until Easter. Spring can be changeable, in some years with glorious sunshine and others being cold and wet, but temperatures begin to increase in May and June, and there is less rain. More restaurants and campsites open up and there are often spectacular displays of flowers. These are two of the best months for walking, before the really hot weather sets in and the swarms of holiday makers begin to arrive. July and August are months to avoid, for they can be uncomfortably hot for walking, with violent thunderstorms often building up after a day of intense heat, as well as being the months when the French take their holidays, flocking southwards en masse and crowding the roads, restaurants, hotels and campsites, as well as the picturesque old towns and villages. It is much more pleasant to wait for September and October, when the crowds have gone and the sun is less intense, although often more reliable. This is a time to enjoy the bright autumn foliage, the vendange (grape picking) and the colourful markets with their abundance of harvest produce. However, with global warming the climate has become so capricious that one never knows what to expect at any time of year.
Accommodation
The Dordogne is a major tourist destination so there is plenty of accommodation to choose from, ranging from four-star hotels to campsites. If you plan to visit in the summer months or at holiday periods, it is advisable to book in advance. The local tourist offices will often provide a list of available accommodation and help you to book. See Appendix B for a list of websites.
Hotels
The larger towns such as Bergerac and Sarlat have numerous hotels of all categories to choose from, whereas smaller towns and villages will have just a few. A reliable chain of hotels offering comfortable accommodation at reasonable prices is Logis de France, which has several hotels in the Dordogne (www.logishotels.com).
Gîtes and chambres d’hôtes
There is also plenty of self-catering accommodation to rent in gîtes (www.gites-de-france.com), and the same website gives information on chambres d’hôtes, the French equivalent of bed and breakfast.
Camping
Campsites are graded from one to five stars and range from those offering a shop, hot showers and swimming pool to sites with basic washing facilities. A list of those in the Dordogne is available at www.campingfrance.com or www.eurocampings.co.uk.
