La Flow Vélo from Thiviers to Excideuil
The idea of cycling 220 km from Thiviers to Sarlat and back over five days had seemed feasible. But with only 2 days of our long weekend left – thanks to our stop at Rénamont guinguette – we decided to be reasonable and just do a part of the route.
We’d start with a gentle 20 km stretch between Thiviers and Excideuil on Saturday. And then we’d do the 100 km return trip from Excideuil to Le Lardin on Sunday. After our last disappointment on the Flow Vélo a few weeks ago, we hoped the route would be flood-free.
Our starting point was the simple campsite in the market town of Excideuil.
From the moment I uttered the town name, my husband started ‘singing’ the Bob Marley song Exodus, a tune that would accompany us throughout the day.
The name was strangely fitting for the quaint little town, which seemed to be fighting a population exodus. Perhaps people have been driven away by the tune of the church bells (what is that song?). Or maybe it’s simply quiet out of season.
We were disappointed not to find a restaurant open when we arrived on Friday evening – though there’s a bicycle shop and a bookstore.
Even the central hotel-restaurant-bar Le Fin Chapon closed at 7pm, serving meals only for private functions.
But the château, growing out of a rocky cliff, made up for the culinary disappointment. It was beautiful in the golden hour sunshine. We examined the rock-climbing routes (closed), thinking about our dusty climbing boots at home, and speculated over tunnel networks leading into the castle from the caves.
After a hot shower, a pizza and a night of nightingale song, we set off on our bikes from the campsite on Saturday morning.
There were no specific ‘Flow Vélo’ signs, just the standard green cycleway ones.
I knew that there were other cycle routes in the area, so we decided to check which way to go by asking at the tourist office.
There, we were told that following a landslide in February, one of the streets on the Flow Vélo was closed. The tourist assistant highlighted an alternative route on the town map she gave us (not the crossed out highlighted part) and we were able to confirm that the standard green signs indeed referred to the Flow Vélo.
Exodus Excideuil might not fulfil restaurant needs but there’s a charcuterie and boulangerie, so we bought food for our second breakfast, early lunch, late lunch and tea (yes, we’re a bit like hobbits in that respect) before setting off at 11am.
Knowing the route was entirely on roads, I had limited expectations as to its beauty. Silly me. This is the Dordogne! In Spring. And the route took us along tiny roads where there was very little traffic.
We cycled up and down the hilly terrain, enjoying the scent of grass seed and acacia blossom and the sight of wildflower prairies and woodland stretching into the distance. On the downhills I was careful not to slide on the loose gravel, and on the uphills I stopped to take photos (any excuse for a rest).
The steepest hill was named Rue de l’Abime (Abyss Street): had we been carrying tents etc., we’d have had to walk here. The name is more apt going from Thiviers to Excideuil, because of the way you plunge into a hamlet at the bottom of the valley.
As we progressed, listening to cuckoos, cicadas and enjoying moments of deep silence, I realised that we weren’t going to be bothered by floods here. It’s the only stretch of the Flow Vélo, so far, that would merit an electric bike.
I fell under the charm of Corgnac-sur-L’Isle, where we stopped for our first lunch and a hammock siesta after 16 km. Set on the River L’Isle, it’s pretty, has a couple of shops, public toilets and water point, and a very basic campsite. Be careful of the cycleway signs you follow, here, as the local cycle routes criss-cross the village.
After a snooze, we left Corgnac and began a 5km climb to the hilltop town of Thiviers. The road was slightly busier but the masses of elderflower, the dog roses, buttercups and cow parsley made it a pleasant ride. We’d have an ice-cream in Thiviers as a reward.
Our arrival in Thiviers took us past a Lidl to the centre. We visited Thiviers when we cycled the St.Pardoux-la-Rivière to Thiviers stretch of the Flow Vélo, and I didn’t warm to it then. The fact there was nowhere open to buy a decent ice-cream didn’t endear it to me this time either. Sorry, Thiviers. Despite the plethora of little boutiques, I’m not a fan.
With 22 km on the clock, we bought an industrial ice-cream at the supermarket and then headed back towards Excideuil. I counted the uphills: there were seven. Seven! It’s definitely electric bike territory. And we weren’t the only cyclists suffering from the hills. It broke my heart to have to tell an exhausted cyclist coming up the Rue de l’Abime with a load that he still had a 5km climb before he reached his destination in Thiviers.
I must admit that my legs were aching when, at 44 km, we reached the main square in Excideuil, the end of our return journey. Was it any wonder that when we saw people sitting at Le Fin Chapon terrace drinking aperitifs in the evening sunlight, we decided to join them?
That’s the point at which I discovered that today’s route is classed as ‘average difficulty’. The route we’d planned for the next day – 50 km between Excideuil and Le Lardin plus the return 50 km – is classed as ‘difficult’. We also learnt that the spell of good weather might break.
Can you guess what decision we made when we woke to the pitter-patter of raindrops on our tent the next morning?
Our long weekend of cycling had resulted in 44 km out of the planned 220 km. Strangely, I wasn’t surprised we failed to reach our objective. It was a little optimistic.
Obviously, we’ll have to come back to continue our exploration of the Flow Vélo extension. The question is, will we be focussed enough to avoid a stop at Rénamont?
Harriet Springbett's playground 