Périgord, don’t worry! Périgord is the name of the historic region, while Dordogne is the name of the current French department, which has almost the same borders. Our intention had been to walk for 35 days and we had done less than half of that, but luckily we had done the most important part, the great crossing of the Auvergne.If you don’t understand the distinction between Dordogne vs. Although we made two attempts to continue, in the end we had to admit that it was not possible to keep walking in forty degrees of heat. There were plenty of ups and downs along the way until we finally joined this famous river and walked beside it to Beaulieu-sur-Dordogne.Īt this point the weather changed from cool and showery to roasting hot, with the highest temperatures ever recorded in France. Instead we followed a lovely little river, the Sioule, upstream for a few days until it petered out, then crossed the watershed and began descending into the valley of the Dordogne. This gap consisted largely of the elevated rural area of the Auvergne, with its spectacular volcanic plugs and multitude of ski stations, neither of which we saw in the event, as the walking tracks in that area were very few, and the roads very big. The aim of this year’s walk was to fill a gap at the centre of the tangled web that was the map of our previous walks. After a celebratory dinner, we took the train to Paris, camped one night at the ever-reliable camping ground there, and flew home.Ī daily diary of our 15-day, 350 km walk from Gannat to Lacapelle-Marival.

A short hop by train and bus took us to Tonnerre, from where we walked along the Canal of Burgundy to its end, and then looped back to Auxerre. From there we diverged once again from the river, rejoining it after four days, just in time to say a last goodbye as it disappeared into the Loire near Nevers.įor the next week we did a reverse pilgrimage on the Way of Vézelay, and continued to Avallon. We eventually rejoined the Allier and a day later arrived in Moulins. We began, as often before, in le Puy-en-Velay, and went north and west for three days until we reached the Allier, a grand river winding tortuously through the mountains.įor the next five days we followed the river on its northerly descent, but after that we were forced to zig-zag widely to left and right, in order to find camping grounds and villages with bars and restaurants, comfort-loving creatures that we are. It was a short train ride away and we had two nights there, eating, sleeping and reading.īack on the track, we arrived at la Châtre, the end of our walk, and then made our way by bus and train to another favourite town, Bléré, near Tours, to enjoy a second relaxing little holiday before the ordeal of the plane flight back to Australia.Ī daily diary of our month-long walk down the valley of the Allier and along the Canal of Burgundy, which covered almost 700 km. When we reached the Canal de Berry at Vallon-en-Sully, the weather was very hot and we decided to have a break in St-Amand-Montrond, a town that we had stayed in before and loved. The rest of the walk was generally westward, through rich agricultural land punctuated by classic small towns such as St-Pourçain-sur-Sioule and Hérisson.

There we left the canal and headed south-west via Autun to join the Loire at Digoin. We followed this river north as far as St-Jean-de-Losne, where we turned onto the Canal of Burgundy and continued beside it to Dijon and on to Pont d’Ouche.

Starting close to the Swiss border at St-Julien-en-Genevois, we spent a few days crossing the rugged Jura mountains and then pressed on to the Saône near Pont-de-Vaux. You can also see this map using Google Earth and take a virtual flight along our route.Ī daily diary of our 33-day, 750 km walk from east to west across France. Once in le Puy we still had time to spare, so as a last flourish we did a two-day circular outing via St-Paulien. However fate had other ideas and we only got as far as Diou, just short of Digoin, when we had to call the whole thing off because of a mysterious leg problem.įive days later the problem went away (although the mystery remained), so we caught a train to Saint-Julien-en-Genevois, leapfrogging the middle section of our planned walk, and proceeded from there to le Puy at a leisurely pace with no further dramas. We started walking in Burgundy, setting off from Clamecy on the Canal du Nivernais, and walking south along the canal to its final junction with the lateral canal of the Loire at Decize.Īfter that our intention was to follow the lateral canal to Digoin, then head east through Macon and Bourg-en-Bresse before crossing the Jura mountains to Geneva, where we would join the Way of Geneva going to le Puy. A daily diary of our 26-day, 550 km walk, which was in two parts although we did not plan it that way.

Dordogne map of france