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Welcome to Hooked on Walking holidays and our walking holidays in France. This particular hiking vacation in France is in the Dordogne and Quercy region of France and is a level 2 self guided tour. Quercy is a large limestone plateau cut out by the valleys of the Dordogne, Lot and Aveyron rivers and by many other streams that source from the Causses, arid stretches of land covered with sparse meadows and grazing flocks of sheep. To the north, Haut Quercy, formed by the Causses de Martel and the Causses de Gramat, leans against the Massif Central. The majority of this hike crosses through the Dordogne River Valley, from Souillac to Saint-Cere, at times straying to the Causse de Gramat, to discover magnificent sites such as the valley of Ouysse, the hillside town of Rocamadour, Castelnau, and the Cirque d'Autoire. You will be thrilled by the Gouffre de Padirac’s underground river, a strange and marvelous underworld. Though your days will be spent investigating the wilderness of the region, your evenings won’t let you forget that this is one of the main centres of gourmet cuisine and gentle living.
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Available May to Mid November
Level 2 self guided walking tour.
Day 1 - Arrival at SOUILLAC
Souillac is a small, prosperous town built around a Benedictine abbey on the banks of the Dordogne river. Spend the day visiting the Musée des Automates, and the remarkable abbey with three cupolas on pendentives, fine carved capitals and a statue of the prophet Isaiah, a masterpiece of Romanesque art. Stroll in the old historic city near the abbey.
Day 2 - SOUILLAC - CALES 11.8 miles 19 km.
You will have a few hours before the hike to look at Souillac in the softer light of morning. Late morning, a taxi will escort you to the Lanzac viewpoint, which overlooks the entire Dordogne valley. From here you will take a charming little route across the western portion of the Causse de Gramat to reach the hamlet of La Bastit, a small village along the Dordogne with a strange castle overlooking the river. You will continue through a forest of scraggly oaks, through tobacco fields and grassy stretches where sheep graze, to arrive finally in Cales.
Day 3 - CALES - ROCAMADOUR 11.2 miles 18 km.
First by taxi to the Pont de l’Ouysse where the Belcastel chateau rises in the distance. You will visit the Grottes de Lacave (1 hour and a half tour) and make your way up the Ouysse valley (a remarkable site in the Lot department), wild and mysterious and spotted with old watermills, including the 13th century fortified watermill of Cougnaguet where everything works as it used to! The subterranean waters of the Gouffre de Cabouy rise above ground here as the the source of the Ouysse. You will continue the hike through the Alzou Valley and will arrive in Rocamadour for the night.
Day 4 - ROCAMADOUR –CREYSSE 11.8 miles 19 km. 
This morning will begin with a quiet visit of Rocamadour city. This is the second most visited place in France after le Mont Saint Michel. Once a revered site among the Christian community, Rocamadour remains a holy place for many pilgrims, notably those on the path to Santiago de Compostella. Clinging to the cliffs of the Alzou canyon, the medieval village has many interesting facets: vestiges of a former castle and a hospital for pilgrims, Basilica of Saint Sauveur and the pilgrimage chapel of the Black Virgin, narrow old streets lined with beautiful gates and homes dating back to the Middle Ages. You will leave the city through l’Hospitalet, a village built on the cliffs’ edge, and pass through Le Causse and the picturesque villages of Mayrinhac-le-Francal and Bougayrou to arrive in Meyronne, an old cliff side village that looks out over the river, yet sits in the shadow of an old fortified castle. You will cross the river to reach the pleasant village of Creysse several kilometres later.
Day 5 - CREYSSE - CARENNAC 14.3 miles 23 km.
Today you will wander luxuriously through the streets of the village and leave it to walk down to the banks of the Dordogne River. You will pass through the Causse towards the lovely village of Montvalent and the hamlet of Veyssou, and continue to the edge of the cliffs of the Cirque de Montvalent. From this point you will look out over the beautiful panorama of the Dordogne Valley. You will pass through the forests towards the small villages of Veysse, Floirac and Mezels before arriving in the charming village of Carennac.
Day 6 - CARENNAC - LOUBRESSAC 11.8 miles 19 km. 
The village of Carennac has built from the 11th century onward after a priory was founded by the abbey of Cluny. The village has a number of houses dating back to the Middle Ages, and a beautiful 12th century Norman church called St Pieter’s. Its cloister, half-Romanesque half-Flamboyant-Gothic, shelters a remarkable 16th century entombment. You will leave the village and walk across the Gramat Causse to the Padirac Gouffre. Here you will be treated to a boat tour that begins 103 metres below ground and takes you along 500 metres of river. Next will come a guided walking tour through the vast cavernous galleries, including the Grand Dome that reaches 94 meters in height! You will exit again into open air and continue your walk to Loubressac, a beautiful village opposite the feudal castle of Castelnau, a very imposing 12th to 15th century fortress and one the finest examples of the military architecture of the Middle-Ages.
Day 7 - LOUBRESSAC – BRETENOUX 10 miles 16 km.
In the morning, you will visit the charming village of Loubressac, with its narrow, flowered streets, ancient houses and its castle. After leaving Loubressac, you will walk to a beautiful site: the Cirque d’Autoire. From the top of the cliffs, a spectacular view of the Bave Valley spreads before you. You will walk down to the village of Autoire, nestled in the hollow of the valley lined by impressive cliffs. You will descend towards the Chateau de Castelnau, one of the most beautiful fortified castles in France. After having toured the chateau you will continue on to the charming village of Bretenoux, which was built up around the Place des Consuls. A taxi will now take you to your destination for the day, Beaulieu sur Dordogne,a lovely medieval town situated on a wide bend in the river built around the 12th century abbey-church of St Pierre which belonged to an 12th-13th Benedictine abbey.
Day 8 - BEAULIEU SUR DORDOGNE.
Taxi transfer to the Bretenoux/Biars train station after breakfast
Difficulty: walks of 4 to 6 hours each day. Elevation of 500m on rolling terrain.
Accommodation : Selected 2 star hotels.
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What is Included
- 7 nights bed and breakfast in selected 2-star hotels
- 7 dinners
- luggage transfers
- Taxi transfers : Souillac-Lanzac viewpoint, Calès–pont de l’Ouysse, Bretenoux-St Céré, St Céré-Biars station
- Maps
- Route Instructions
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Extras
- Transport before and after tour
- Single Rooms
- Flights
- Entrance to attractions
- Travel Insurance
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2010 Prices
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Standard Tour Code HOWDORD
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Price per persons based on 2 persons sharing double room
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£919
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Single person
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£1194
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How to get there
By Plane to Paris or Toulouse. Then by train to Souillac. Souillac is on the Paris-Toulouse line and is about 5 hours from Paris Austerlitz station. To return, transfer by taxi to the Biars station to join Brives on the Paris-Toulouse line.
To view other walking holidays in France
Click Below if you would like to review our
Cycling Holidays in France
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