Down the Dordogne - Michael Brown

The Dordogne is one of France's most beautiful rivers. Rising in the Massif Central, it flows south and west for over 400 miles until, near Bordeaux, it joins forces with the Garonne to create the estuary of the Gironde.;On its journey to the sea, the Dordogne crosses the weird, lunar landscape of the Auvergne, littered with the humps of extinct volcanoes, disappears into the deep gorges of the Correze, where huge dams turn the river into a lake, and, in the famous stretch between Beaulieu and Bergerac, meanders in a series of gigantic loops through a fruitful valley where every bend brings a new wonder and every crag seems crowned by a feudal fortress or chateau; west of Libourne, the Dordogne is tidal and here the banks are bordered by mile after mile of vineyards.;In 1989, Michael Brown decided to fulfil a long-held ambition to be the first man to walk the length of the Dorgogne from its source to Bordeaux. It was to prove unexpectedly difficult. The heat was intense - it was the hottest summer for years - and in the mountains the terrain was so rugged and the distances so great that he was forced to buy a bike and to cycle. He also covered two long stretches by canoe, but for the most part he was backpacking and on foot.;It was a leisurely journey. He stopped at hotels each night and took every opportunity for sightseeing, visiting an exuberantly designed spa, magnificently engineered dams, beautiful abbeys, old walled towns, dramatically sited castles and, of course, whenever possible he sampled the renowned local cuisine.