June 10th to 19th: The Dordogne

We have often visited this lovely area of France, with its rolling hills, wide rivers and ancient towns. This time we are near Gourdon, 15 miles south of the river Dordogne.
Our first trip out was to visit a cave system with prehistoric wall paintings. Ok, some were on the ceiling. There are many such caves in this area and the one we visited at Pech-Merle contained some of the best artwork. An example is given below, and is my photo of a photo: it was a guided tour with cameras banned, understandably.

The painting really did look as vibrant as this- notice the hand outlines as well. It has been carbon dated at 24,600 years old. The oldest known illustration is about 32,000 years old in another cave not far away, and is another photo of a photo, below. The artist could almost have been designing tablemats for the World Wildlife Fund gift shop.

The tour of the cave was well laid out to show not only the cave paintings but also incredible stalactite/stalagmite and rock formations. We also saw hyena teeth; mammoth bones and cave bear claw marks. There were human footprints preserved in the cave clay. You could just about read the Nike logo on the sole print.
We found it impossible to envisage what life was like then. Your imagination goes from primitive apeman to the Flintstones. The reality was something in between and probably surprisingly sophisticated if the cave art is any yardstick.

Next day the campsite organised a walk along the top of a deep gorge, and then down into it along a steep path that led to an abandoned watermill. What toil it must have been to donkey the grain down, and the milled flower up, this tortuous trail in all weathers. For us, it was an ideal spot for lunch, as the photo shows with Jane in the foreground and another walker disappearing into the bushes. Well it was getting on 3 hours since we left the campsite.