Walk near Beaupuy and Barbadeau, Perigueux

Countryside walk with magnificent panoramic city views!

Chateau view over Perigueux

You know, I’ve been pestering Jeff for weeks now to accompany me on a particular walk that I’ve been itching to explore.  The walk is just outside the City of Perigueux.  Driving into the city along the D939 at the junction with the D3 (Route d’Agonac) there’s a huge hill on the left hand side that I reckon would have amazing views over the historic city of Perigueux down below. Here’s the location on Google Maps! We just needed to find the best route up to the top.  I downloaded, magnified and printed a copy of the walk from Guides des randonnées and off we went!  By the way I’ve been raving to friends about this great recent find of mine and I’m sure any walkers or randonneurs in the Dordogne region would also find it a great resource, if of course, they didn’t already know about it.  I know these are available in ‘hard copy’ from most local tourist info centres (I’ve got a few copies of the Montagrier and Riberac issues) but it’s even better to have ‘instant on-line access’, be able to zoom-in and even print-off specific areas.  The other thing that I’ve found really useful about these ‘interactive’ maps is, like a lot of middle-aged duffers, my ‘taken for granted 20/20 vision’ is not what what is used to be,  recently I even succumbed to buying a pair of those ‘off the rack’ reading glasses (I’ve booked an appointment with an opthamologist to get them tested properly but they (opthamologists) are in short supply here in France so it’s not unusual to have to wait 6 months for a rendezvous – mine is booked for April 24th).  Going off on another tangent and knowing the French are infamous for poorly constructed and out of date websites it was a pleasant surprise to find these guides, perhaps they’ve been there for ages?  Perhaps  I’m the last person to find these?  I’d love to hear  if you’ve already been using them or even found them via my blog?  Have you discovered some interesting walks? Oh, I should just mention that the detailed information (usually printed on the reverse of the hard copy)  for each walk is not included in the ‘on-line’ version… I guess ‘they’ still want to sell some hard copies and so you’ll need to buy one if you want this info!

Getting back on track… Having decided to start the walk from the chemin de Beaupuy I have to confess that we didn’t actually climb this steep lane as there wasn’t anywhere near that we could conveniently and safely park the car so we drove almost to the top of the hill before we found a suitable parking space. This happened to also be in-view of the ruins of an ancient Chateau and it’s surrounding dilapidated outbuildings.  It looked like it must have once been a very impressive estate and although there was a ‘Propriété Privée’ notice we couldn’t help but investigate.

Chateau near Beaupuy

We were both really taken with the property and phrases like ‘crying shame’, ‘how can it be left to just decay’, ‘who does it belong to’ and many more were uttered as we ambled around the ruins.  Even though it was obviously beyond Restoration you could still envisage what it must have been like in it’s glorious heyday.  There were so many lovely and appealing aspects to the buildings that we spent a good hour nosing around.  There wasn’t much left of what must have  been a beautiful garden, yo’d have to have a good imagination to envisage it restored but, there were a few hints of its loveliness including a magnificent and very old Cedar Tree. This tree with its wide-spreading branches would overwhelm most ordinary gardens but it was just perfect here.  And the views were to-die-for; on one side it gave an amazing Panoramic over the metropolis that is the city of Perigueux down below and on the other, far-reaching views over rolling countryside with the tiny hamlet of Beaupuy in the foreground; you just know that painters would love it up here!

I knew there was something on this hill and I’m so glad I finally got to see it.  Today I’ve spent hours googling trying to find out more about the property but to no avail, there were plenty of references to another nearby chateau, ‘Chateau L’Eveque‘ but nothing about this Chateau.  I’m not even sure of its name, I’m guessing because it’s near the hamlet of Beaupuy it perhaps has the same name.  The only reference I could find was a site about a local family with the name of Beaupuy.  Not sure if they’re anything to do with the Chateau but you never know, the site that I found certainly doesn’t mention them as being the owners at any time.  Perhaps you know more about the Chateau?  Please get in touch if you have any information?  Don’t get me wrong we’re not in a position to buy it (no way, José), just curious?  Anyway, here’s a few pics I took before we dragged ourselves away for our planned walk.

It wasn’t until I started to write my blog that I realised there were another couple of photos I could have taken that would be nice, ie a view of the hill from ‘down-below’ and a couple of the gatehouses and entrance to the Chateau.  I have to go back near here tomorrow so will take a few more and re-post them.

The rest of the walk was very enjoyable despite the grey weather and although we managed to go off-the-beaten-track at one point.  We came-up against an impenetrable fence blocking our way so a slight detour was made which involved hacking our way up-through a densely wooded hillside where we managed to to re-discover the track and eventually back to the car after just a couple of hours.

I know I keep saying it but I have to add that I really must loose a bit of weight,  the difference  in my fitness from a couple of years ago was very noticable when we came to a decent incline. I quit smoking just over 12 months ago so it’s definitely the weight that’s making me unfit.   Walking is great but I think I’ll get back on the Xbox 360 Kinect tomorrow with a vengeance!!! Anyone fancy a duel workout on the Fitness Evolved – My Gamertag is Anglaisdame, send me yours and we can get fit together