Ride Day 41—25 Oct 2005—24200 Sarlat-La-Canéda to 24750 Boulazac (Périgueux)

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">Fortunately the morning was clear and sunny, unlike the previous two foggy mornings.<span> </span>All roads were pretty much wonderful country roads climbing and falling a hundred meters or so until the last 33 kilometers along D5, which had only minor ups and downs and which followed a river valley.<span> </span>Despite our expectations from the map, we only actually saw the river (the Auvézère) once or twice.</span>

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">Rouffignac was a very pleasant place and we had our picnic lunch in front of the church.<span></span></span>

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">As we got closer to Périgueux, there was far too much traffic…which of course reflects its relatively large size compared to where we’ve been for so much of the past two months in France.</span>

<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">After entering well into Périgueux itself, we realized that we’d already passed our intended stop of the Altica Hôtel - Boulazac a couple of mines back in the town of Boulazac, which adjoins</span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: ArialMT;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-family: Helvetica;">Périgueux to the east.<span> </span>So, we retraced our steps, adding to our already long trip.</span>

Background:<br /><br /><br />My wife and I have been doing self-supported tours in Western Europe (a majority in France) since 1993.  This series of rides covers our 2005 2 month route through parts of France.  Our beginning and ending point is near Chadurie (south of Angoulême) where our friends have a farm with Gites and Chambres d'Hotes.<br /><br /><br />We rode our Dawes touring bicycles purchased in 1993 heavily loaded with 700Cx32 tires.  All of our riding was on paved roads, mostly with very little traffic.<br /><br /><br />If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.com<br /><br /><br />Jeff