Auriac-du-Périgord

On our last trip to the Dordogne, six weeks ago, we explored Auriac-du-Périgord, the nearest village to Gaulejac. It is a pretty little medieval town, definitely worth a visit.

Auriac is located about 1.5 kilometres north of our place, over the ridge that separates the two small valleys. With a population of just over 400 souls, it doesn't have the resources of neighbouring Montignac, 4.5 km to the south-east (see September 30, 2009 posting below). With its weekly market, two banks, post office and four boulangeries, and a population of more than 3,000, Montignac will be our main town.  But Auriac makes up for its more modest profile with considerable charm.

This time, we only drove through, as the weather was cold and rainy. But we liked what we saw and look forward to visiting it on foot in the spring.

The bridge at Auriac-du-Périgord, over the Laurence river (a stream, really). This is the road which leads to the back of our place. (Photo courtesy of the Auriac-du-Périgord website.)

The drive is short, but not for the faint-hearted. It starts out well enough. Driving out of Auriac,  the road is narrow and soon ascends steeply, twisting between houses on the outskirts, then through the woods, but at that point it is still well-paved, as in the photo above. Soon, however, as it levels out and crests the ridge, it makes a sharp turn to the right, and changes to an unpaved rural path.

Then begins the descent into "our" valley, and for most of the last two or three hundred meters, it is a narrow and deeply rutted track, more like a logging road than a highway. I half expected our rental VW Golf to scrape bottom or worse, get stuck. But we made it safely to Gaulejac after all, relieved and rather pleased with our adventure and discovery of this new destination.

We'll think twice before repeating the driving experience. But we're looking forward to the hike.

Check out Auriac-du-Périgord's lovely website at http://auriac-du-perigord.fr/fr/village/index.html. I recommend the slide show: look up to the left of the screen, under "Visite guidée en photos", and click on "Haute définition".