22 SEPTEMBER 1984, Page 21

Definite

Sir: Mr Kavanagh is quite baffling. In your 1 September issue (Postscript), he has a hotel walking in the River Dordogne. We read: 'Once, after walking all day . in the Dordogne, a hotel . . . put out its lights' etc. If it were Mr Kavanagh and his friend who had been walking `in the Dordogne', it is small wonder the hotel- keeper shut his doors. Why the English insist on saying 'in the Dordogne' when they mean 'in Dordogne' is a mystery. They always do. But why then don't they say 'in the Normandy' or `in the Provence'? The French say 'en Dordogne'; they are only `dans le Dordogne' when trout-fishing or swimming.

James Brockway

Pension 'Zum Coelshor, Luftkurort Gerolstein-Mtillenborn, Germany