Make your way from Bordeaux airport to your centrally located hotel. The rest of the day is yours to explore this exciting and intoxicating port city. Take a stroll through the atmospheric old town where you will find a giddying choice of cosy cafes, sizzling street food, elegant wine bars and creative fusion restaurants. Don’t miss the charming public gardens on the banks of the Garonne River and wine budding sommeliers will be drawn to the glittering decanter-like building that houses the audacious La Cite du Vin, an exhibition/museum/show on everything wine.

Your first day’s cycling starts with a pleasant ride alongside the Garonne River. After a while you leave the river and head eastwards, following a beautiful Voie-Verte (green-way cycle path) through ever-changing scenery ranging from expansive vineyards to cool, shady forests and open farmland. You’ll also pass through some tiny wine-villages along the way as well as the old walled-town of Creon. You’ll stop for the night in a charming guest-house near the town of Sauveterre-de-Guyenne. Dinner is included with your package this evening.

Depending on the location of your accommodation at either end of today's route you will cycle between 40 km and 60 km. Once again, you'll be a following a wonderful Voie-Verte cycle path through beautiful verdant countryside. The going is easy and level and the kilometres flick by. Shortly after joining the Canal-de-Garonne cycle path you arrive at your accommodation in or around the town of Marmande. Dinner is included with your package this evening.

This morning you enjoy a lovely ride along the Canal-de-Garonne cycle path through the dappled sunlight of the tall plane trees that line the banks. At Tonneins you leave the canal and head for Clairac where you may wish to stop to admire the Benedictine abbey before enjoying a beautiful bucolic ride past fruit orchards and tiny villages alongside the meandering Lot river. Your destination today is the charming medieval town of Villeneuve-sur-Lot where you will stop for the night.

Another very pleasant ride today along the Lot valley following a network of rural lanes. Orchards of plum trees line your route as you make your way along the wide valley. The route flirts with the banks of the Lot river and offers easy level cycling. The hilltop village of Pujols is a nice place to stop for coffee or, a little further on, the perched villages of Montsempron-Libos and Fumel will also tempt you to take a break. Your destination today is the pretty riverside village of Puy Lévêque, built on a rocky promontory overlooking the river.

More glorious cycling through the delightful countryside of the Lot valley today. The cycle route has a few more undulations now as it follows the lazy meanders of the Lot river but by now of course your legs are accustomed to the daily ritual. Vineyards begin to appear beside the fruit orchards and once more there are plenty of charming villages tempting you to take a break. The perched village of Belaye, besides being a charming little place, offers stunning views across the valley and is definitely worth the climb. The pretty village of Luzech, marooned between two of the river's meanders, is a good place to stop for lunch before pushing on along the river to historically and culturally rich town of Cahors, where you will spend the next two nights.

Your final ride is a round trip to the jewel in the Lot valley's crown, the village of Saint-Cirq-Lapopie. Regularly voted one the of the most beautiful villages in France, this charming little medieval hamlet is set on a rocky bluff high above a gentle curve in the river. It's hard to know which is more memorable the village itself or the view from the castle's ramparts across the valley. You then return to the medieval town of Cahors for the last night of your holiday. Along the narrow winding streets of the old town you are bound to find the perfect restaurant to celebrate completing your Lot valley cycling adventure.

After breakfast it's time to head for home or your next adventure.