Freeway Free in France: The Green Way from Domme to Carsac
Unfortunately WB has developed some problems with her knee and has not been able to hike for the last couple of days, but she has gotten a free ride in the luggage van and enjoyed some leisure. The other three have enjoyed walking through the countryside on back roads and grassy trails, sampling wild blackberries, feral figs, late-season asparagus sprouts, and sunflower seeds.
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We had an easy day today, with a gentle descent from Domme down to the verge of Dordogne River, and along the riverbank for quite a while. Then we cut through some bends in the river on grassy paths and gravel roads, through woods, corn fields, past impressive farmhouses with lots of outbuildings and HUGE stacks of wood, whose use is somewhat mysterious. There are not many wooden fences, it’s mostly barbed wire supplemented with electricity, and the pieces are too long for firewood.
By noon we were looking for luncheon options, and happily came upon a small shop in a small village which had, to DM’s delight, cold Coca-Cola available. We purchased a few other snacks and continued until we found a convenient stone to serve as both stools and table. We enjoyed the sun, sipping and munching, then snuck through a gap in the wall for a view of the Chateau de Montfort (privately held, unfortunately)
About two/thirds of the way to Carsac we started on the Green Way, which is a former railroad right of way converted to bike and hiking path. Very pleasant, though a bit sad to walk past the abandoned railway stations in the small villages. Lots of scenic views, lots of picturesque eroded sandstone formations in the hills and along the river. 
Our hotel, La Villa Romaine, is a three star affair with a beautiful courtyard and an infinity pool (solar heated, but it felt wonderful to wade my hot feet in. After a shower and a change of clothes I was up to a stroll along the river into town, where there was a lovely park, an old medieval community laundry shed built over a spring, and a Romanesque church which was closed for the day, but very lovely in the evening glow.
Then a glass of wine on the patio, with the restaurateur coming over to ask our dinner choices (How would you like your foie gras tonight?) Dinner of duck breast for me, with some interesting vegetable side dishes of a whipped-potato-with-puréed-this-and-that sort. Dessert for me was “sticky pudding with salted caramel sorbet” = a kind of bread pudding with caramel sauce + artisanal salty ice cream.
And a very comfortable bed, thank goodness.
I’m wondering, though, how this three-star hotel/spa can survive on the outskirts of a small village like Carsac – there is no famous cathedral, no well-known wine appellation, no nearby major road. And yet this hotel is the height of elegance. Perhaps it will be a get-away spot for people from the much-less-picturesque town of Sarlat, which will be our destination next as we complete our loop .
Allyson Johnson 