We've done it all...from independent bike trips by ourselves with NO support to speak of, all the…read moreway to lots of trips with the major big "follow you around and fill your water bottles and spoon M&Ms into your mouth" kind of bike tours. Nothing WRONG with the latter, and they do have their advantages. However, you will pay dearly for them and the disadvantages are also legion.
If you are going to bike the Dordogne, do yourself a giant favor and contact Robert Owensmith at Aquitainebike. Pablo found him on accident and purely by chance. We must be pulling in some wonderful bike karma because Robert was nothing short of fabulous and this trip is right up there in contention for our #1 all time bike trip experience. Brand new TREK bikes and newish nice bags both front and back. A+ equipment and support.
This is a self guided tour but you get so much info it isn't really fair to call it self guided. And, Robert gave us tons of advice on rides, prehistory sites, castles, restaurants, Inns and hotels...everything Dordogne. It's so nice to do business with somebody who loves their job and is a consummate pro. That would be Robert. When we had a second flat tire he came and fixed the tire and "made sure that it wouldn't happen again". Not at all typical of self guided tours, believe me. We hired him to do our luggage transfers and we would definitely do that again. Worth every penny!
This outfit is top notch and the Dordogne is perfect biking. I don't like to do the same place twice but I might go back here and I'd definitely use Aquitaine Bike again.
