Dordogne River

Dordogne is an attractive hill country. We visited there a couple of times and enjoyed canoeing and hiking both times.

During the Hundred Years’ War, from 1337 to 1453, between the England and France, Beynac Castle was in French hands, while the British headquarters were across the water at Chateau Castlenaud. There were fierce battles fought between them, the neighbouring castles changed hands frequently. Below is the Castlenaud:

Currently, the castle on one side of the river is owned by a French family and the one on the other side owned by an English family. “History repeats itself...” a local person said.

The Dordogne River runs through France from south-central to southwest. We spent hours gliding gently through lush green valleys, steep canyon walls, and white cliffs.

One evening, we walked into a restaurant at around 7 pm to find out what time they were going to open for business. The waiter kindly let us in, and we thought we were the first for an early dinner; gladly, we saw a couple was already settled in the courtyard. A few minutes later, they initiated a conversation with us.

She said that years ago, when they came for a summer vacation from San Francisco, they stayed in a rental house. On the first night, she woke up and saw the sky was filled with stars from her bedroom window, so she decided to go outside to enjoy the view. As she was walking downstairs in the dark, she fell and broke her ankle, it cut their vacation short… She said that it took 14 years for them to come back to enjoy what they had missed. “What brought you back for the second time?” she asked. I said that we wanted to experience canoeing in Dordogne all over again.

When we finished canoeing, hubby said, ” You know, we could hike and canoe in Colorado…” But, he didn’t know I was planning to come back for the third time. 🙂

One last look of the river from the cliff: