Walking in the Dordogne
Walking in the Dordogne
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£12.00
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Walk 7 - Around the Château of Les Milandes
Difficulty: Easy, open, undulating walk with one short, steep stretch towards the end
Time: 3 hrs 45 mins plus around 1hr to look round the château
Length: 13.4 kms
Maps: Cartes IGN 1936 ET Top 25 Les Eyzies/Vallées de la Dordogne et de la Vézère and Cartes IGN Série Bleu 2037 Ouest Domme 1:25,000
Depart from: Parking near the château
Signposting: Good, but follow yellow splashes carefully as they are not always easy to see. On one short stretch there are no splashes.
This walk is particularly pleasant, as much of the way is through high, open fields with extensive views in all directions, particularly of the fairy-tale turrets of the château of Les Milandes, probably the most attractive of all the Dordogne châteaux. This walk entails a high number of road crossings and constant turnings to right and left, but it is extremely well signposted and it would be hard to go wrong.
The Château des Milandes owes its celebrity to two famous women, namely Claude de Cardaillac and Josephine Baker. François de Caumont originally constructed it in 1489 in the flamboyant Italian style popular at that time to please his young wife and it remained in the same family until the Revolution.
In 1937, the famous American cabaret artist Josephine Baker fell in love with Les Milandes, finally buying it in 1946 where her marriage to Jo Bouillon took place in the château chapel. Making extensive renovations, she turned it into the house of her dreams and created a home for her many adopted children. Unfortunately she fell on hard times and the place was sold in 1969. It is now a museum to her memory and shows her life and the famous people she hobnobbed with – there is also a fascinating display of her flamboyant clothes, jewellery and her luxurious bathroom.
How to get there (from Sarlat)Château open April–September 10.00–18.00. July–August 9.30–19.30. October 10.00–12.00 and 14.00–17.00. Closed November to March. Near the château is also a Bird of Prey Museum where falconry is demonstrated.
Take the D57 signposted Bergerac and then turn onto the D703, signposted Château les Milandes 8 kms. After 2 kms turn back onto the D57, which crosses the Dordogne, and then turn right on the D53 following all signs to the château. There is a sharp right-hand turn off the D53 which takes you up up through the hamlet of Les Milandes and past the château itself. Turn left where parking is indicated (18.4 kms from Sarlat).
Directions
1. Go out of the car park and turn right on the road you came in by. Walk past the château and down the hill through the hamlet of Les Milandes to reach the D53 and turn right, direction Veyrines and Belves (10 mins).
2. Walk along the road for a few minutes and take a narrower road to the left (yellow splashes) which goes down to a shallow valley where there are walnut trees and fields of maize. At the bottom cross over a stream (Ruisseau L’Embaley), left, and continue round on the opposite side of the valley. Look for a yellow splash indicating right on a path going parallel to the road, which soon reaches a fork (25 mins).
3. Take the right fork (the left one also has yellow splashes but is a longer way round). The path crosses the valley and goes over the stream again, bearing round to the right then left uphill beside a field with a wood to the right. The bushy path becomes steeper as it goes up through a tunnel of boxwood with a wall one side and reaches the D53 road again at a place called L’Haumont (one big house). When we were walking in October we saw the most incredible display of wild cyclamen flowering on the bank and beyond the hedge under some trees (35 mins).
4. Turn left and continue up the road. As you get higher there are extensive views of the surrounding countryside including the Château des Milandes and the Château Marqueyssac to the right. You can see the cliffs of the Dordogne river valley but not the river itself. There is a magnificent slope of green down to the right bordered by poplar trees with a huge field of maize alongside as the road bends right and then left to reach a couple of houses and a funeral directors, part of the hamlet of La Bouysse.
5. Just beyond here (avoid first track to left) and at the end of a laurel hedge turn down left and then almost immediately right on a stony jeep track (50 mins). The track goes down into a sort of dip (ignore any tracks coming in) and goes up again to reach a large house at a place called Cabarnat.
6. Turn left past a stagnant expanse of water, which goes under the road to flow by the house – it could be an old mill. Careful – as the road reaches a long barn right, go down left (no visible yellow splashes) on a path to reach another narrow road (1hr 5 mins). Go up right for a few metres to meet a slightly wider road, where you turn left towards a nice house on the left called Lalande and a small crossroads.
7. Turn right (yellow splashes not easy to see) and pass in front of an unattractive low bungalow (looks as if you are going through the front garden!). The path has done a large curve and you can see Lalande down on the right as you climb higher on a wide lane. At the top walk along a wide bank with a walnut orchard right. On a bend just before a barn look for yellow splashes indicating right and then immediately left. The track descends to a road where there are long plastic tunnels for drying tobacco. The tobacco is dried by placing a long tube pierced with holes down the centre of the tunnel, which blows hot air out over the hanging leaves (1hr 26 mins).
8. Go left up the road to the attractive hamlet of Veyrines-de-Domme at a junction with the old church facing you. Careful here – ignore yellow splashes going to the right as you are doing a shortcut. For the next short part of the walk there are no yellow splashes. Go left through the village square where there is a very elaborate, tall maypole in front of the mairie (see ‘The Périgord Noir’ (Introduction) for an explanation) and past a school called Ecole Hampshire. This is a summer school for English children who are sent out from a private school in England to learn the language – what a good idea (1hr 30 mins)!
9. Careful (no splashes) – take a narrow, grassy path on the left-hand side of the school which gives you a good view of the old buildings of this small establishment. The path goes upwards to reach a junction at a place called Bel Air.
10. Turn right on the D50, and a few minutes later go off left on a narrow paved road following a sign indicating Truc Haut (yellow splashes again), passing a house on the right. Keep on the road, where there are lovely extended views in all directions, passing an attractive renovated house on the right to reach the D53E (1hr 45 mins).
11. Turn right (do not go straight across the road on a jeep track) and continue for a few metres before going left on a grassy track through a field and small chestnut wood to come to yet another road.
12. Go left on the road, which bends right to reach the pretty hamlet of La Raze. You are on high ground going along a wide ridge where the views on all sides are extensive. The road goes down the shoulder of the ridge and carries on past tobacco tunnels.
13. Careful here as the yellow splash is not easy to see – just after the tunnels and before the garden of a private house (at a place called La Suquette on the map) turn down right (2 hrs). This is another leafy lane descending into a small dip and around a field by the side of a wood before winding uphill. Keep to the main path all the way and at a fork go left (cross on tree right). The path goes out into lovely open, wide fields, again planted with tobacco, and then bends gently upwards to reach a road at the top (2 hrs 15 mins).
14. Go right on the road to arrive at an intersection at Le Petit Pouget. Go right on the D50 (do not go left on the D53 indicating Château des Milandes) continuing for a few metres before bearing up left behind a red-brick building. The path goes up through some tall pines and chestnuts, past a new house on the left where it becomes a wide jeep track. Continue straight, ignoring any tracks coming in, through woodland to an intersection near a Pigonnier. You have now almost done a circle from the village of Veyrines-de-Domme, which is now straight ahead. A track with yellow splashes joins from the right and there are a number of yellow signposts (2 hrs 30 mins).
15. Go left following sign Les Milandes and keep straight. Soon the extensive views disappear as the path goes into stunted woodland, descending the shoulder and out of the wood again to the road at a hamlet called Le Pouget on the left. Go straight across the road onto a grassy track which goes gently up again and then down by the side of a wood, becoming bushy and passing a walnut orchard before reaching another road. Cross the road and go straight along a fairly flat track through woodland for about 10 mins before you branch down to the right (clearly marked on a telephone pole). Still in woods, the old mule track becomes irritatingly stony as it descends into a woody depression, passing a house to the left to reach a stream by a huddle of houses called Le Peyrol at the bottom – an idylic spot in the middle of nowhere! Here the GR64 joins from over the bridge (3 hrs).
16. Careful here – before crossing the stream and meeting the road turn right along a grassy path (markings on a tree not immediately obvious). The narrow stony path climbs up the hill steeply through woodland for about 10 mins to arrive at the top by a road. There is an auberge here called Le Brouillet and a large camping area (3 hrs 15 mins).
17. Go right on the road for a few metres, then left and right again (after the auberge, not before) opposite the camping site of Les Pastourels. The path (signposted ‘Pays Josephine Baker’ passes the accueil (reception) of Le Brouillet and becomes fenced for a while as it traverses wide green fields with extensive views each side and the beautiful turrets of the Château des Milandes over on the left. The path passes a little stone shelter gariotte, left, and starts to descend. Shortly afterwards there is a sign left indicating ‘fontaine and lavoir’ of Lapeyre. This is a diversion to the fountain and washing trough of Lapeyre which can be taken if desired (3 hrs 25 mins).
18. The track goes through delightful open fields and turns left at a T-junction. There is a wooded escarpment on the right as the track descends round a hill and continues to the parking area of the château (3 hrs 45 mins).
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