Sense of deja vu kayaking down the Dordogne
It’s been almost a year to the day since we were enjoying a chance to kayak the wonderful River Dordogne in the south of France. Deciding to make a decision that would change our families lives forever…
So it proved to be a thought provoking day on the river today… as we reflected back on the massive decision to both take career breaks and refocus our attention on our wonderful daughters and their education
We decided to take a ‘Year around Europe in a motorhome‘… Most people ask us the very same question when we talk about our adventures…. ‘Were you experienced motorhomers who’d travelled much before?‘
The answer is always the same, firstly, yes we’d travelled and loved taking our growing family to new corners of the world… but no, we were absolute ‘newbies’ to the motorhoming world
So ‘newbies’ we were as we embarked on our adventure of a lifetime to all 42 European Countries… and we can safely say that anyone can do it… it’s sometimes hard work, often provides plenty of laughter and has offered our daughters a wonderful experience that they will hopefully never forget…
So why make the decision on the River Dordogne….? Whilst we all share a love for outdoor adventure we had increasingly felt we never fully finished a travel experience…
Our school holiday would begin and family adventures/life would resume, yet just like every other year, the summer holiday of 2015 never allowed us to fully finish kayaking the Dordogne.. we’d made a decent stab of it finishing pretty much each section from Bergerac to Beynac… but we knew we’d missed out…
So with those thought ringing in our ears, we considered the genuine viability of the idea of a career break and a year to fully experience places, cultures and experiences like never before… and hence the return to the Dordogne and the stunning ‘picture postcard’ stretch between Groléjac and Beynac… with Explorando Canoë-Kayak
This stretch of 20+km is worth every one of the 6hrs given over to the journey and is certainly a test… yet possible for all ages/abilities
The quality of the canoe makes all the difference!!! So we were delighted with the 2 person canoe (and have been equally lucky in places like Eidfjord or Dubrovnik) but were even more amazed wth the beauty in, on and around the river… Iconic landmarks like La Roque-Gageacdrifted past whilst herons or buzzards swept down in front of our canoes and we were even treated to dragonflies/butterflies landing on our hands/paddles..
The Grolejac to Beynac route takes in other magnificent sites that include the imperious ‘Chateau de Montfort‘ or fairytale perfect ‘Chateau de Castelnaud’ before you reach the finale at ‘Chateau de Beynac‘…
Not only has it reminded us all of how lucky we are to have this amazing experience, it also reminded us of just how impressive France is as a country…. littered with man-made and natural landmarks that could easily take a year to discover alone!!! Maybe, we’ll have to extend and call it a ‘Double Sabbatical across Europe’!!!
la roque gageac
so where did we park the bus for the night?
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