Gouffre de Padirac
103 metres underground, legends and beautiful scenery come together to make the Gouffre de Padirac a truly amazing place to visit. Situated on the edge of the Dordogne Valley near Rocamadour, at the crossroads of Quercy and Périgord Noir, the cave has many galleries alongside 2,400m of the River Padirac.
An extraordinary chasm 103 metres underground !
This huge gaping hole, which in bygone days both fascinated and frightened the local population, gave rise to all sorts of legends. One talks of Saint Martin and the Devil, while another says that treasure was hidden there by the English during the Hundred Years’ War.
From a practical point of view, the hole used to be an enormous rubbish dump for dead animals. The open air chasm was formed by rain water which hollowed out the ground over the centuries. In 1889 the ‘father of caving’, Edouard Alfred Martel, explored it and discovered the River Padirac, a tributary of the Dordogne. This intrepid adventurer, a lawyer by profession with a degree in geography and passionate about the underground world, was afraid of nothing and went down into the caves despite being unable to swim and almost drowned on several occasions !
His first expedition to the ‘Puits de Padirac’ as it was then known, took place on 9 July 1889 at the end of the afternoon. Going down into the bowels of the earth was quite an expedition which attracted all the people from the village. At Padirac, Martel was known as : «The gentleman who goes down holes». He arrived with loads of equipment and «sherpas» who accompanied him and organised the expedition for him. At first his equipment was quite basic : candles, ropes and a Berthon collapsible boat.
The explorer never went underground alone, he always had three faithful companions with him : Gabriel Gaupillat, Emile Foulquier and Louis Armand. The speleologist started to go down to the bottom of the chasm. He didn’t find the devil, but he did find treasure in the form of the river and its beautiful concretions ! During three days of exploration, equipped with candles and canvas boats, the explorers discovered most of what is seen on the visit today.
Visiting the Gouffre de Padirac
This natural hole 33 metres in diameter and 75 metres high has been open to the public since 1898. It was made by an underground river which dug its way through the Causse de Gramat. Allow at least an hour and a half to explore the Gouffre. You travel along 2.5km of the river, but it actually measures 25km ! Lifts and flights of steps take you 75m down into the bowels of the earth. Once you reach the bottom, look up and you will understand how Martel felt when he saw it for the first time ! As you by boat go deeper into the chasm with lace-like walls sculpted by erosion, the sound of water grows increasingly louder.
You arrive at the Lac de la Pluie, a lake with an impressive 60m long stalactite called ""la Grande Pendeloque (great crystal drop)"". There are many different types of stalagmite and stalactite formations, some of them huge. Now you leave the boat as the river becomes too narrow and walk along a passageway dotted with formations like mushrooms, candelabras and stoups to the Lac des Grands Gours.
After passing the ‘Pas du Crocodile’, the vast 120m long lake comes into view. It has many hidden weirs within it and as you come to the end of the lake you hear a roaring waterfall. Walk on to the Salle du Grand Dôme, a beautiful cavern 94m high with a lake (Lac Suspendu), ‘piles of plates’ and petrified waterfalls.
Your visit ends here in this magical natural setting worthy of a great architect. It is easy to understand how this natural underground paradise seduced the Devil, as told in the legend of the Gouffre de Padirac.
Discover the Lot with Gîtes de France Lot : Cahors, Rocamadour, Figeac , Grotte du Pech Merle (Cabrerets), Reptiland"
