22-07-2014     Gramat – Gramat     110 km

Pleasant breakfast with the same company as the evening before ... the others all hikers ... the GR65, a.k.a. La route de Saint-Jacques, passes through Gramat. The family of five from Lorraine, with two girls, one boy, very pretty young people (not surprising with such a mom!), had their first track yesterday and suffer from pain in their shoulders. Nice how the French just go out to enjoy their country walking. And how this family, with children around twenty years old, still make this eight days' trip (if I remember it well) together. For me it will be an étape with light luggage. I show my route to Dominique, the one with the monologues over dinner, whom I saw arriving with a bike yesterday. I get his approbation, a warning for a long climb in the morning, and a few suggestions for the afternoon part. He also 'promises' beau temps pour l'après-midi. He'll be right in all respects. The start is gray and fresh (16° C). After two minutes I realize my sun cream is still in one of the large panniers (put away for in the plane), but I guess I won't need it today. Until the village Aynac the road stays more or less on the same level. After Leyme it goes up for some 5 km or so at a rate of 3 to 7 per cent. I take it very easy to spare the knee, though I think life off the bike is more dangerous than on – going down the stairs, getting up from bed (or from the toilet). While cycling the most risky movement is the unclipping of my shoes from the pedals – for which I have to turn my lower legs outward. I try to avoid clipping the shoes, but it sometimes happens automatically.

Nice

quiet

morning

The climb ends on a plateau where I'm almost above the clouds. A little after eleven, according to schedule, I reach Latronquière, possibly the highest point of the day – a little above 600 m. The local boulangerie-pâtisserie only supplies pastry when ordered at least twenty-four hours before. Pity. I have a coffee and an Équipe (sports newspaper) on the sidewalk before a café with some sun too. I have a chat with an English (male) nurse who is quite established in France (e.g. he is far more fluent in French than me – though we soon change to English).   Looking forward to the shops' closing hours I also stock some food and drinks. A lovely long descent over – apart from a short section with gravillons – a very nice road. And according to plan (Dominique's forecast) the sun breaks through definitely. I quickly pass the busy village Saint-Céré which brings me along the river Bave, which flows into the Dordogne. For 15 km the road is perfectly flat, until the picturesque village of Carennac, my turning point.

	Nice long descent		Château de Castelnau		Château des chevaux
	Pont du Dordogne		Carennac		Carennac again

But first I have a break there, with Maigret, and some last currant rolls from Nootdorp. I can well understand the village attracts so many tourists: it is very picturesque indeed (and probably the restaurants have their appeal too). I learn about an old building in some English with a very French accent, explained by a pretty guide to her herd of Chinese (or Japanese) followers. From Carennac during 2 km I climb out of the valley of the Dordogne, and turn left (eastward) to follow 'from on high' the Dordogne 'backwards' (I keep looking for the said river but don't get a view of it; I do get a second view of the Château de Castelnau though). At first the road is really tiny – I fear it may end at a farm – and I have to take recourse in my own sense of orientation, which this afternoon sends me right (and admittedly I ask directions once).

	Tiny road up to  ....		Loubreyssac		. . . .   or so they say
	Two views back/		up to Loubressac		Autoire
	Terrific road up		from Autoire		onto the Causse de Gramat

I pass Loubreyssac, another site Classée (also recommanded by D.) and after a short descent a third highlight in a row: Autoire. From there a beautiful road up through an impressive gorge – the first of many, many gorges to follow during the rest of the trip – which brings me onto the causse on which Gramat is located (and which in former aeons was at the bottom of the sea, I learned yesterday evening, from the same D. ;-)   The knees take it all in without complaining. From there no more sidesteps – the distance will already become way above my doctor's advice! Around 4:30 I'm back in Gramat, a bit too early to go into a bar yet (the weather is too good for that! – I find a bench to rest and read for a while) to witness the arrival of The Tour in Bagnères-Luchon. In the gîte I meet new randonneurs à pied, among whom an amateur pianist who gets more music out of the (electric) piano than I did yesterday (but after half an hour his repertoire starts to annoy me: he really is an amateur). Dinner is lovely, again. Thick soup, cucumber salad, and chicken-with-peach (tomorrow I will prepare my own meal, and it will definitely be vegetarian), and flan-with-apricots for dessert. After that some writing (on/in one of the comfortable sofas), and finally, when all others have gone to bed (the walkers) or for a walk (the tenants) half an hour Canto Ostinato from Youtube.

23-07-2014     Gramat – Estaing     124 km

Nice quiet morning through a quiet corner of the département Lot. I try to follow the smallest possible roads, avoiding larger towns like Figeac, not avoiding changes in altitude – I do want to get used to it, don't I? Well, I know that the last forty km or so will be rather even. I enjoy every bit of it; in its unobtrusiveness its just a perfect morning. I touch upon the département Cantal in which a noticeable descent brings me to Bagnac-sur-Célé. The river Célé always makes me remember my tour of '89, when I followed its valley in a melancholic mood because a tour of more than five weeks came to its close . . . .   Today I only make a 300 m detour along it to have a look at Bagnac's main tourist attraction: the medieval bridge over the Célé.

	Another		nice and quiet		morning
	. . . .		. . . .		pont médiéval
	And just one ridge   . . . .		. . . .   to get from the Célé   . . . .		. . . .   to the Lot

From Bagnac I have to cross a last ridge – some 150 m up – to get along the river Lot, remarkably in the département named after another grand river, the Aveyron. Around twelve-thirty I reach the hamlet of Port d'Agres, from where it's still 52 flat km to Estaing, all the time along the meandering Lot. At the first convenient location, which presents itself within three minutes by way of a picnic table, I have a stop for lunch on the river's bank. My first "baguette Roquefort" with every now a glimpse of canoes gliding by. Although not completely flat the ride along the Lot is rather easy. The valley worn by the Lot is not very deep, but the slopes on both side are rather steep. Every now and then I notice patches of purple heather. Shortly before three o'clock I reach Entraigues, beautifully located at the junction of the Truyère and the Lot – in fact the full name is Entraigues-sur-Truyère.

	"It's one o'clock and time for lunch		. . . .   dom-ty-dom-ty-dom"   (Genesis)		Long ride along the Lot

Lovely

Entraigues-sur-Truyère

On the map the Truyère even looks larger than the Lot. In Entraigues I wait a few minutes for the shops to open up, and then have a break with some coke on the market place (where I'm asked to move on as some event is going to take place). I buy some new reading stuff   (l'Auberge du Lac, by ....). After Entraigues the Lot becomes considerably smaller – the valley is also 'upgraded' to "les Gorges du Lot".   For my knees such a long even part is quite relaxed, however, not for my hands, my back, my butt. But it's okay! Halfway Estaing there's a dam with (surprise, surprise) a storage lake behind it (I'm riding upstream).

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Picture postcard of Estaing

Gîte d'étape d'Estaing

Estaing is loudly/proudly presented as a un des plus beaux villages de France, and I must admit: the first views I get of it are very pretty indeed. It's rather small, and so is the gîte d'étape. One of the hikers in Gramat had warned me it would be rather basic, e.g. one shower for twenty people, but it appears it has been renovated recently. A very well equipped kitchen, (at least) three showers, laundry facilities, and a funny regulator Marie, who is at the place between five and eight. A note on the door states complet, so I'm happy I have made a reservation. The place doesn't feel like being fully booked; apart from Marie there's hardly a living soul inside. However, there's a big pan of soup on the (electric) stove and the fridge contains quite some stuff. It appears a choir of seventeen people have chosen the accommodation for one night and they have just gone out for a performance in the church – they combine singing and walking (ballades et balades ;-). They arrive when I'm halfway my very basic self-made dinner – pasta with tomato sauce and salad (it took some difficulty to find a grocery store), and it becomes a lively evening. I can again practice my French a lot (though an older gentleman seems to want to impress his (mostly female) choir mates by speaking English to me).   Only drawback of the gîte: the dormitory (à trois) is very stuffy.