LITMIR.BIZ

      The Dordogne river west of Lalinde

      The Dordogne is one of the longest rivers in France, flowing nearly 500km westwards from its source in the Massif Central to join the Garonne at Bordeaux and end in the Atlantic Ocean. There are two theories as to the origin of its name, which may come from the Celtic Durunna, meaning rapid waters, or from the two tiny streams, the Dore and the Dogne, which join high on the slopes of the Puy de Sancy to become the Dordogne.

      The river flows swiftly through the mountainous area of the Auvergne to reach the lake of Bort, where it is tamed by a succession of five gigantic dams built between 1935 and 1957, together producing over 1600 million kilowatts of electricity a year. It then rushes through the Corrèze gorges to pierce the upland plateaus of the Causses du Quercy in the Lot, and by the time it reaches the department named after it, the waters are wider and calmer, although still flowing between steep cliffs. Joined at Castelnau by the Cère and the Bave, and at Limeuil by the Vézère, it continues on its journey through the countryside in a series of dramatic horseshoe meanders, the larger ones named cingles, and only straightens out when it reaches the rich alluvial plains around Bergerac. It finally joins the waters of the Garonne to become the Gironde and flow into the Atlantic. During the Hundred Years’ War, the river formed an important frontier between the English and French, who built and then fought over the castles and towns along its banks, many of them in strategic positions on high rocky cliffs, with extended views over the surrounding countryside.

      From earliest times the river was the only means of transport in the region, roads being almost non-existent. Even so, for part of the year the water level was not high enough for the boats to pass, so arrival and departure times had to be carefully calculated. Wood from the chestnut and oak forests of its upper reaches in the Massif Central were floated down the river or transported on small boats called gabarots as far as Souillac, where it was loaded onto larger flat-bottomed boats called gabarres. These gabarres were 20 metres long and capable of carrying 30 tons; between 1850 and 1860, as many as 300 were built each year. Some of the wood was unloaded at Bergerac, to be used for making wine-barrels and boats, and barrels of wine were loaded for their final destination of the port of Libourne near Bordeaux, to be exported to England, Holland and the colonies. The gabarres made the return journey laden mainly with salt, but also coffee and sugar. Although the journey between Souillac and Libourne was more straightforward than that on the upper reaches before Souillac, it was still hazardous, with sections of tricky shallows and fast flowing rapids, so the boatmen had to be skilled navigators to negotiate their clumsy boats through these. In the mid-1880s a canal was built to circumvent the trickiest and most dangerous stretch of rapids near Lalinde, the Saut de la Gratusse, where special pilots were needed to guide the boats through the treacherous waters. During this period Souillac and Bergerac became important ports, and the banks of the river were studded with villages whose inhabitants gained their livelihood as boat builders, boatmen and merchants.

      The coming of the railway in the 1870s brought this trade to a halt, as it was far easier and quicker to transport heavy goods by rail. The rivermen vainly fought this modern means of transport, even blowing up the railway bridges built across the river. But now, in the 21st century, it is the railways that are in decline, and gabarres are still being made to take tourists on river cruises from the small towns of la Roque-Gageac and Beynac.