The small city of Bergerac in the heart of the Dordogne is the meeting point for this tour. On arrival you will be met by your Skedaddle team for the 90-minute transfer to Sarlat.

Sarlat is a bustling and perfectly preserved medieval town, its unique architecture is amongst the best preserved in France as it was the first town to attain World Heritage status. Narrow twisting alley ways open up into small secluded courtyards and at the centre a large open square is often filled with musicians and entertainers. It is a great place to relax with an ice-cream or stretch your legs in its meandering streets.

In the evening we will meet our fellow Skedaddlers over some local cuisine and to perhaps sample some of the wares produced in the local vineyards that surround the town and chat about the week ahead.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 800 Metres Approx.

Following a homely French breakfast your Skedaddle team will make sure everyone is set up and comfortable on their bikes and ready for our journey.

We start our ride along a delightful cycle path, sheltered by trees. We cross the Dordogne river for the first time on the old railway bridge and a short time later we cross on to some peaceful lanes that allow us to keep pace with the river and admire the small villages and walnut trees that line the route.

The afternoon ride is tranquil as we follow the meandering vineyard laden valley of the River Lot past the dramatically perched church at Albas and the small town of Luzech, with its ancient keep, squeezed between the neck of a meander.

Near the end of the day we arrive into Cahors over the 14th century Pont Valentre, one of the best preserved medieval bridges in France. Its three immaculately preserved towers were once guarded by portcullises, making the town a near impenetrable fortress. Thankfully today the town has a much more relaxed atmosphere. We will make our way to our riverside hotel before an evening stroll in the old town for dinner and perhaps to sample some of the local ‘vin rouge’ for which Cahors is famous.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1,250 Metres Approx.

Cahors is the capital of the old province of Quercy and is almost surrounded by the River Lot. The best way to appreciate the dramatic nature of the towns location is to get our legs turning to the top of Mont St Cyr. At only 266m above sea level it is a very modest mountain and the reward is a dramatic bird’s eye perspective of Cahors.

Our coffee break is in the beautiful village of Saint-Cirque-Lapopie, one of France’s Plus Beaux Village, precariously perched on a steep rock plinth 100m above the river. From the terrace of a café we are able to get the best view of this spectacularly well-preserved village.

Today’s route features rural riverside riding at its best. We spend the next 10km winding upstream with the River Lot below before entering the little known Parc Natural Regional de Quercy, a land of ancient gorges and forests where we spend most of the day.

In the afternoon we join the Vallée du Célé, where the road is squeezed between dramatic cliffs riddled with medieval fortified caves and the Célé River. Traffic is virtually non-existent as we wind along this peaceful valley through the beautiful village of St Suplice, guarded by its 12th century castle, the most photographed village on the Célé.

Our destination for the night is Figeac on the banks of the Célé river where we will head out for a meal in the remarkably unchanged medieval centre of this bustling market town.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1,250 Metres Approx.

Today the vineyard clad valleys give way to rolling hills and the sound of cow bells.

Our morning begins by hugging the banks of the Célé to avoid the increasingly hilly terrain around us. We pass Bagnac-sur-Célé with its perfectly preserved medieval bridge, almost ‘de rigueur’ in this region but eventually we can avoid the hills no longer and just after the small town of Maurs we begin to climb. The gentle climb is a real pleasure as we wind our way through the woods alongside a lively stream.

We reach the high point of this morning at Roannes Saint Mary before descending into the busy town of Aurillac, where we begin our steady climb up the Jordanne river valley heading deeper into the rural Auvergne. Cows gaze at us from the road side; a reminder that this area is responsible for some of France’s finest cheeses such as Cantal.

The cowbells cheer us along the last stretch through small villages and we end our day at the Lac des Graves, an incredibly peaceful spot with stunning views across the lake to the mountains behind. Here, at the end of the valley, we are in a great position to conquer our challenge of the Puy Mary in the morning!

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1,630 Metres Approx.

We start the day with a gradual warm up along the valley floor before the ascent of the Puy Mary.

We tackle this famous Tour de France col from its easier side. The Puy Mary is often referred to as the name of the climb, but is correctly known as the Pas de Peyrol (1,588m). The Puy Mary refers to the volcano’s conical shape which rears its head dramatically above us at 1,783m.

The 12km of ascent is gentle, with sweeping bends and vistas of extinct volcanic mounds. The three greatest of these puys are Plomb du Cantal (1,855m), Puy Mary (1,787m) and Puy de Peyre-Arse (1,688m) with deep cut wooded valleys radiating out like spokes. With the col tackled in the morning we are free to enjoy a coffee at the top before we wind our way down past the Roc du Merle (1,647m) and enjoy a sweeping descent into the La Marron valley and lunch at St Martin Valmeroux.

Be sure to leave a little in the legs for the afternoon as the climbing is not over yet! We still need to make our way upwards through the village of St Eulalie following the Route de Fromage! We dip in and out of picturesque valleys to cross small streams and through the excellently preserved small town of Pleaux, complete with boulangeries and cafés, still the cornerstone of a every village.

Our resting place for the night, Argentat, sits at edge of the Upper Dordogne area, a little visited corner of the Dordogne but with villages and scenery that more than rival other areas of the region.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 820 Metres Approx.

From Argentat, split in two by the Dordogne river, we follow the Dordogne on its eastern side on quiet roads as we wind 20km along the Vallée de Dordogne to ‘Beaulieu sur Dordogne’, which lives up to its literal translation of ‘beautiful place on the Dordogne‘. We spend the majority of the rest of our day journeying alongside the river. The valley is interspersed by dramatically perched châteaux, positioned imposingly yet majestically above the river, such as the Château de Castelnau and the ancient village of Lubresac.

Our route continues alongside the southern banks of the Dordogne until crossing the river for a short section north of the river before arriving into Souillac, where we can relax and wander into the old town. It’s an interesting small town with a pretty medieval centre, site of the weekly market selling many of the cheeses from the Route du Fromage we cycled earlier in the trip.

• Meals: Breakfast, lunch
• Ascent: 1,050 Metres Approx.

A slightly shorter final day allows us time to more thoroughly explore the medieval streets of Sarlat, but first we have the climb of Rocamadour to conquer. It is well worth the climb, as the village sits dramatically perched on the cliff side of an abrupt canyon wall, a truly outstanding and audacious location for a village. Since medieval times Rocamadour has been a key site for pilgrims drawn by the apparent healing powers of Rocamadour’s Black Madonna. If you are still feeling energetic, you can climb up the 223 steps to visit her (though perhaps not on your knees as the pilgrims would!).

We complete our journey alongside the Dordogne river, through the Route de Noix, a reference to the many Walnut trees and pause for our final picnic. We return to Sarlat via the picturesque and peaceful cycle path.

• Meals: Breakfast

After a leisurely breakfast we will transfer Bergerac for onwards journeys.