Built in the early 1950s, the 120-metre-high dam of Bort-les-Orgues has utterly transformed the upper course of the Dordogne Valley. Along with the dam and lake itself, it has also seen the creation of a pair of man-made wonders. The first is Château de Val, a former hillside castle that saw water flood right up to its very edges when the reservoir was formed – today it is like a fairy-tale island château floating out on the lake’s shore. The second is the local campsite.
Camping le Lac de la Siauve is a family-friendly, waterside campsite set amid the hills of the Auvergne Volcanic Regional Nature Park. Like the lake, the campsite is all things man-made yet also perfectly natural at the same time. Facilities abound – modern washrooms, Wi-Fi, a heated, covered pool and glamping chalets for those too posh to pitch – but it’s still camping of the nature-friendly kind. Mature trees and bushes cast dappled shade on every pitch, while grassy terraces provide wonderful views down the valley to Les Orgues, the forested, organ-shaped former volcanoes at the head of the reservoir. You can stroll to the waterside and go wild swimming in the lake (why use the pool when the views from the lake are this good?), or continue walking for 20 minutes or so down the shoreline to admire the full might of the dam that holds all this water back.
Along with the dam, Bort-les-Orgues has all the essential amenities – supermarkets, fuel and a few good restaurants. From here you can head out further into the nature park. Summit some of the former volcano tops, like Puy Mary or Puy de Sansy (the latter accessible via cable car as well as on foot) or make the most of the remaining geothermal activity with a visit to the natural spas in villages like Le Mont-Dore or Bourboule. Or, of course, you can ditch the car altogether and explore some of the 16 different pathways around the reservoir. It’s an easy walk, in particular, to 15th-century Château de Val just up the shoreline. Turreted and ancient, it’s a truly beautiful château that thoroughly deserved not to be submerged. Like the campsite, though, it’s all the better for being right beside the water.