Recumbents to Rocamadour

The following excerpt is an account of Heloisa Mariath and David Cox's Gizmo journey through France. Written by David Cox.

The English fought the Hundred Years War for it, and we don't blame them. In September 2004 we spent 4 weeks criss-crossing the Dordogne on our Tri-Sled Gizmo, from cliff-lined winding watercourses to defiant mountains, and we can hardly wait to return.

The Dordogne is quintessential French countryside, with a rich history - and a prehistory going back some 90,000 years. It has the world's largest and most ancient collection of cave art, including Lascaux and Pech Merle. The Cro-magnon man was found and named after a village in the Dordogne, which also harbours the cultural remains of the Neanderthal man.

West-flowing rivers cross chalky mountains and highlands, creating routes for the migration of pre-historic man, and later, means of transport for wood, wine and produce to the Atlantic coast. Many Chateaux were built to control the river trade, adding to the wealth of enterprising locals.

The rich soil displays fields of sunflowers and corn, vineyards, oak and walnut woods and is home to the truffle. Being rich and beautiful had some unwanted side-effects, and the region was racked by violence between English and French and later between Catholics and Protestants during the Wars of Religion. The result of it is that anything over 200 metres above the valley floor is topped by a castle or a Bastide, and surrounded by tiny villages, colourful markets and the necessary Cathedral.

We traveled in Autumn, on peaceful secondary roads and bike ways, meandering between villages less touched by tourism. The 'human scale' of trike (or bike) speed was perfect to allow for the appreciation of the nature, lifestyle and culture. A superb cuisine, excellent local wines and meeting some fascinating locals added to the completeness of the experience.

The Tri-Sled Gizmo proved to be excellent touring machines, stable and comfortable even when loaded. They acquitted themselves well on country roads, the steepest of hills, and the bike paths and traffic of Paris. The only 'disadvantage' was the delays that occurred because the locals wanted to talk about them.

They were an excellent ice-breaker, and introduced us to people that we would have otherwise passed by. Leave them unattended in a small village and we would return to find that they were hidden by a wall of admirers. As they parted to let you in, someone would be on their knees counting chain wheel teeth. Gendarmes at the Eiffel Tower borrowed them for a quick ride and later a party of Japanese tourists politely asked if they could try them for a photo. Well what could we say?

The Gizmos can be split for travel and we had vinyl bags made for transport (100cm x 65cm x 35cm) with a cardboard stiffener inside that could be discarded so the bags could be rolled up. Air travel turned out to be a breeze but moving them around on the Metro was slightly more difficult. As for the intercity trains (TGV), beware the bike carriage is frequently full and you will have difficulty getting a recumbent in because of the width and position of the doors. The bagged Gizmo on the outward trip just fitted. On the return trip to Paris after checking with the stationmaster we chose to leave our Gizmos assembled - that was fun! They ended up standing on top of each other in the corridor while we pleaded “je ne comprends pas” with the annoyed guard.

Twenty minutes of rain and one puncture was the sum total of our difficulties during five weeks, 1000km, 1500 photographs, ten days in the Paris traffic and far more wonderful memories than we can recount. Paris must be the bike capital of the world, with a criss-cross of bike paths and a very bike friendly traffic. We never used the Metro, and the roads along the Seine are bike and pedestrian only on Sundays.

As for the trip itself, we based ourselves in Les Eyzies de Tayac, which just happens to be the home of the largest and best museum of pre-history in the world, nestled at the base of the limestone cliffs that quite literally sweep down to touch the roof tops of the houses. A side trip to the excellent bicycle museum at Cardouin found us gazing at two of the first ever recumbents dating from 1925 and 1940. And yes we have come a long way with design. The return trip with its climb out of St Cyprien was a monster, an introduction to what we were going to see for the rest of the tour. Rising steeply from the valley floor over the first two kilometres before easing off and slowly rising to a peak at about 840 metres. But we learnt to keep those pedals twirling in our lowest gear and before we knew it we were wondering what all that nonsense about recumbents not climbing is about.

We made a number of other side trips before heading off in a loop that took us to Montignac, Sarlat, Souillac, Rocamadour, Carenac, St Cere, La Capelle-Marival, St Bressou, Aurillac, Cabarets, St Cirq- Lapopie, Cahors, Salviac, Domme and Castelnaud, before returning to Les Eyzies.

Many of these towns were part of the St. James trail, which mediaeval pilgrims followed on the way to Spain’s cathedral and sanctuary of Santiago de Compostella. We strongly recommend a visit to Sarlat, a perfectly preserved (in wine?) Mediaeval village, listed as one of the ‘most belles villes de France’, and Rocamadour, where castle, cathedral and village share the vertiginous cliffs with an eagle sanctuary.