Visit to the Grotte Prehistorique de Rouffignac

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We set off on the scooter, quite early, to visit the Grotte de Rouffignac. The river valley was shrouded in mist and looked quite spooky but as we drove up and away from the river we left the chilly mist behind and had a lovely ride through the rolling countryside. It was about 20 km but an easy run and we got to the cave before it opened. This was deliberate as we didn’t want to be told, the same as the previous day at Font de Gaume, that all tickets for the day were sold. Not a problem at Rouffignac we discovered as there is no pre-booking.
These caves are a real treasure to visit as they contain prehistoric cave drawings and engravings. About 150 animals are drawn in all, on the walls and on the roof. There is also lots of evidence that the caves were at one point inhabited by bears as there are scratch marks along the walls. To protect the caves and the drawings entry is limited and is by train - 2 open carriages which go for 1km deep into the cave. It follows the very obvious course of a long ago subterranean river.
Our train journey took an hour. The commentary was almost all in French and not at all easy to understand as our friendly guide was behind us and speaking through a microphone. We got the general gist though and he did translate a few things here and there. What he also did was shine his torch on the drawings which are truly amazing. One horse in particular was drawn on the ceiling of a really low part of the cavern (the floor level has been cut away to allow access now) and the artist would never have been able to see the whole drawing as he would have been too close to it. Impossible to imagine prehistoric man making his way into these long low caves with drawing materials and tools (manganese something was used) and with just flaming torches for light and then making this amazing artist’s gallery which was so hidden away from the world outside.
After the cave we made a short coffee stop in the little town of Rouffignac which was completely burnt down on 31 March 1946 by the Nazis and is officially designated a “Village Martyr”.
We spent the afternoon by and in the lovely campsite pool and had dinner in the campsite restaurant. Rather a necessity really as food supplies are very low and have had no real shopping opportunities for the last few days.
Tomorrow, though we love this campsite, we will move on, a little further East, to the Dordogne valley, as it is a little too far to travel on the scooter.

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