Source de la Madeleine

Tursac

About a kilometre from the troglodyte village of La Madeleine, already in the app, this spring flows without interruption at the side of the road that follows the Vézère, and the people of the valley come here to fill their bottles: its flow remains steady even at the height of summer, and its reputation earned it a place as early as 2017 in the collaborative inventory of drinking-water points in France. It takes its name from the neighbouring hamlet of La Madeleine, itself named after the troglodyte chapel clinging to the cliff in the 15th century — the same place-name that gave its name to the Magdalenian, the civilisation of reindeer hunters who occupied the rock shelter 17,000 years ago. An easy supply of water is precisely what drew prehistoric people to this bend of the Vézère: to drink today at the spring of La Madeleine is to draw from the same little valley that quenched their thirst at the end of the Ice Age.

Getting there : Free access all year round

Opening times and access details are given as a guide only: check before you set out.

Ambient sound