Cro-Magnon people actually lived in this shelter, and a female skeleton some two thousand years younger than the frieze was found here. This was only possible in places where light reached in, which in turn brought the danger of destruction by exposure to the air. But what makes this place extraordinary is not just the large scale, but the high relief of some of the sculptures. The design is deliberate, with the sculptures polished and set off against a pockmarked background. Of only ten surviving prehistoric sculptures in France, this is undoubtedly the best. The shelter contains a sculpted frieze of horses and bison dating from the Middle Magdalenian period, about 14,000 years ago. Not a cave but a natural rock shelter, the Abri du Cap Blanc lies on a steep wooded hillside. Inside the church, the nave is slightly out of alignment this is thought to be deliberate and perhaps a vestige of pagan attachments, as the three windows are aligned so that at the winter and summer solstices the sun shines through all three in a single shaft. Beside it stands a Romanesque church with a stark, bold front and wooden belfry roofed with chestnut shingles (chestnut trees abound around here – their timber was used in furniture-making and their nuts ground for flour during frequent famines). Since then the main attraction has been the finely sculpted but badly damaged capitals of the Flamboyant Gothic cloister. In 1935 the two bands of embroidery at either end were shown to contain an Arabic text from around the eleventh century. Drawn over a period of two thousand years, many are superimposed one upon another, and include horses, reindeer, mammoths and stylized human figures – among the finest are the heads of a horse and a lioness.Ībbaye de CadouinFor eight hundred years, until 1935, the twelfth-century Cistercian Abbaye de Cadouin drew flocks of pilgrims to wonder at a piece of cloth first mentioned by Simon de Montfort in 1214 and thought to be part of Christ’s shroud. The innermost part of the cave is covered with engravings from the Magdalenian period (about 12,000 years ago).
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Grotte des CombarellesThe Grotte des Combarelles was discovered in 1910. If possible, it’s worth coming out of season, but if you can’t, seek accommodation away from the main centres, and always drive along the back roads – the smaller the better – even when there is a more direct route available.
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The well-preserved medieval architecture of Sarlat, the wealth of prehistory and the staggering cave paintings of the Vézère valley, and the stunning beauty of the château-studded Dordogne have all contributed to making this one of the most heavily touristed inland areas of France. Plantations of walnut trees (cultivated for their oil), flocks of low-slung grey geese (their livers enlarged for foie gras) and prehistoric-looking stone huts called bories are all hallmarks of Périgord Noir. This is the distinctive Dordogne country: deep-cut valleys between limestone cliffs, with fields of maize in the alluvial bottoms and dense oak woods on the heights, interspersed with patches of not very fertile farmland. Périgord Noir encompasses the central part of the valley of the Dordogne, and the valley of the Vézère. All companies must provide life jackets ( gilets) and teach you basic safety procedures, most importantly how to capsize and get out safely. Most places function daily in July and August, on demand in May, June and September, depending on the weather, and are closed the rest of the year.
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Prices vary according to what’s on offer expect to pay around €17–25 per person per day. The company you book through will either take you to your departure point or send a minibus to pick you up from your final destination.
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Although it’s possible to rent one-person kayaks or two-person canoes by the hour, it’s best to take at least a half-day or longer (some outfits offer up to a week’s rental), and simply cruise downstream. There are rental outlets at just about every twist in both rivers. Canoeing is hugely popular in the Dordogne, especially in summer, when the Vézère and Dordogne rivers are shallow and slow-flowing – ideal for beginners.