24-07-2014     Estaing – Estaing     138 km

This morning Estaing is wrapped in a cloud. I foresee a foggy morning, starting with a climb which may be the hardest so far (compared to 2012 and 2013 ... well better not to compare my present physical condition to that of these recent years). My foresight turns out wrong in two respects: after at most three km of not too hard climbing the road flattens off already, and also a clear blue sky is awaiting me. Yes! I feel super, at the right time at the right place. A feeling that remains the whole morning.

	Leaving		foggy Estaing
	Soon I get above it   . . . .		. . . .   the sun wins

					'Down' at the Dourdou
	Valley of		. . . .		the Dourdoou

The road keeps going up, going down, ending in going down to the river Dourdou, which I will follow down to the Lot. Well, that is if I follow my plan made last night at the picnic table in front of the gîte, to make two loops. I leave the Dourdou for the village Conque, announced from afar as another site classé. That means a steep (already warm) km up to a very beautiful village indeed. Time for some pâtisserie – in my jolly good mood I compliment the girl behind the counter vous êtes aussi belle que le village! – and a coffee; the most expensive of the whole trip. Meanwhile I have a chat with a group of four English, two doing part of the GR65, one of them (another!) pretty woman, un-British bronzed, and much too young-looking to have a daughter of 26.

Conques

Conques

I told you so ;-)

Anyway, I redescend to the Dourdou, and from the corner of my eye notice an interesting tiny side road. I turn around and decide it looks definitely nicer than part of yesterday's ride along the Lot. That means definitely more climbing too (Google Maps gives a highest point of 600 m, where I left the Dourdou at 250 m), but that's okay. Though it ruins my original plan it turns out to be a really good choice. It also ruins the possibility to buy things for a picnic lunch; not in Sénergues, not in Espeyrac, and it lasts and it lasts till finally – it seems right from the highest point – the long descent down to the Lot sets in.

Interesting

Sidestep

No shops open here

View 'over' the valley of the Lot

And the descent . . . .

. . . .   with some speed destroyers   . . . .

. . . .   to Entraigues-sur-Truyère

The fun is destroyed a bit by gravillons, but the views onto Entraigues are very pretty. Indeed, as I had guessed, the big Super-U there is already closed, and likewise the small supermarchée I visited yesterday, so I find me a place on the terrace of one of the restaurants that border on the market place. The table next to mine is occupied by a family of four from Santpoort, very experienced cyclists sportives it appears, and on their way to Geneva. They are very relaxed also, not much bothered that after some shorter days because of bad weather they may be forced to cover a last few hundred km by train; that's the spirit! As there aren't any sandwiches on the menu, and the amount of eggs for two evenings in Estaing is already rather high (so no omelette), I opt for a steack frites. Meat again:-(   But it tastes good! :-)   After this long break (and the alternative morning program) it's close to 2:30 already, so the loop I had in mind for the rest of the day seems a bridge (over the Truyère) too far. A I think I'll ride up to Lacroix-Baves – 400 m up – and see how much time (and energy) I'll have left there. For this I have to climb out of the valley of the Truyère, and the views down to this river are certainly great. The greater part of the elevation gain takes place between km 5 and km 12, and with the wind mostly against me this is an effort I make doucement, doucement. I'm a bit worried about the dark clouds that appear from the north, but I reach Lacroix, the highest point so far, out of their reach.

Climbing up from the Truyère

End point and highest point: Lacroix

The ride back via the other side of the Truyère stays out of reach too. In former years, with the certainty of a bed for the night, I might have decided differently, but now I think it's wiser to have a short (coca cola) break, and return directly to Entraigues. At 4:30 sharp I start the long descent, during which I exceed for the first time the 60 km/h barrier, and set this year's maximum speed to 62.6 km/h. In Entraigues I buy a few additions for tonight's salad and a demi baguette, and then enjoy the 17 last, nice and easy km along the Lot.

And back along the Lot

again

Another picture postcard of Estaing

The gîte is quite well populated again tonight, and the conversation is lively between a music teacher, a teacher of philosophy (who walks 35 to 40 km per day, and suffers from scrapes on his hips, due to the shackles of his backpack), a mime player/teacher of theatre (all three French) and a math teacher (NL). Keeping the door and the (too small) window open, we manage to keep the dormitory less stuffy than the night before.

25-07-2014     Estaing – Meyrueis     116 km

The return to the beloved Cévennes. I have booked three nights in gîte d'étape "La Draille" in Meyrueis, the pronunciation of which town is hard to learn for this Dutchman; French people keep misunderstanding me, but (some) French people have the tendency to misunderstand on purpose a person that speaks French with an accent. The weather forecast, written down by the honorable Marie, is threatening: "couvert et orageux". At the start it is densely clouded indeed. First a last bit along the Lot, even, through Espalion, to Saint-Côme-d'Olt. From there I will go through no men's land for a long while, so I have an early coffee, well, rather a late coffee, since I couldn't beg one from the other guests in Estaing. I do have some cakes though from 'the philosopher', who will finish his expedition today. Pity there's only a newspaper from yesterday, however the bar keeper strolls to the tabac and provides me with a fresh one.

Message from Marie

The main route of many hikers

'My' restaurant in Saint-Côme-d'Olt

Shortly after Saint-Côme an older (well, I guess five years older than me) Frenchman joins me for a while. We ride up – the road goes up for several kilometers – and he tells me he is happy with the relatively low temperature and the clouds, so that he doesn't sweat so much. I'd rather have it differently, but what can I do about it . . .   After a while he goes back to his own pace and leaves me quickly behind. All in all I go up from 350 m (Saint-C.) till 660 m (Vimenet), on a very quiet and a bit disconsolate road. Further on I'm even 100 m higher, before the descent sets in. At the end of this descent I'm alarmed by a very wet road; I have been lucky so far, but this luck won't last much longer.

Never a flat moment

Signs of precipitation

The descent brings me to a little torrent, which appears to be the river Aveyron, and also to a dangerous (is my impression) N-road. Five km later, still without thunderstorms and rain, I enter Sévérac-Gare. I have planned a lunch break in Sévérac-le-Chàteau and expect sufficient possibilities for shopping there. How wrong I'll turn out to be in this! First I'm led around the main village, just following "Toutes Directions", over a hill. The sign for the Gorges du Tarn excites me, but first I need food! In the heart of the main/old village – which I reach walking over a very steep path from a parking lot – there's no supermarket, and the boulangerie closed ten minutes ago. So I have to redescend to Sévérac-Gare, while large droplets start to fall. Even though I don't look up so much to the castle high up, I ride through a nasty hole in the road; shit! I do find a Super-U, the one I passed twenty minutes earlier, where I do find and buy all the things I need.

Steep road to 'historic' center of Sévérac

Finally found shopping center

With a plastic bag filled with eatables I hurry on in search of a good place to take shelter and sit (preferably comfortably). It's starting to thunder and I feel my front tube is punctured – damn hole! And stupid of me to have neglected to have the tubes inflated to 4 bar after the flight. It's raining and flashing with lightning when I find an ideal place on a well-roofed porch staircase. Three, four steps up, and I'm perfectly dry; it's a bit stupid I don't put my bike higher at first; when I do realize this, the contents of my front panniers are already soaked through. I take the time to prepare and enjoy my sandwich à la pâté de campagne, while the street changes into a fast running stream. Wow! Having finished lunch I carry up the bike to repair the tube.

The streets become torrents

High and dry

Colourful roadside under dark sky

The thunder and hard rain last at least one hour, but eventually, not long after the mending of the tube, it slows down and I find the courage to get going again. I'm worried though of the gorges du Tarn with all this water high up (things may get loose ...)  Before I get there I have to cross the Causse de Sauveterre, some 15 km going up slowly. The dark clouds around me are impressive, the thunder seems far away for a while. I cross another 'new' motor way; this must be the one that crosses the Tarn at Millau over this miraculous bridge? (My Michelin map 80 from 1983/84 gives no information.) Shortly after Sévérac I'm amazed to see a sign 'Sources de l'Aveyron', amazed because for such an important river I had expected them to be higher than a mere 800 m or so. With these threateningly dark clouds around me I also expect at least one rainstorm, hopefully not during the descent to the Tarn, but I'm lucky in there. A bit too early I put on my helmet (for the first time during the tour), two km before the Col de Saint Rome de Dolan (the first col of the tour) marks the start of this adventure (in '89 I climbed it from the east). Even though I sort of knew what was coming the views over the Tarn and onto the Causse Méjean are thrilling.

First helmet moment

Impressive road on the other side   . . . .

. . . .   from the Causse de Méjean

Vautour?

Nice descent!

Deep down   . . . .

. . . .   in the Gorges du Tarn

Seeing these high cliffs with strange rock formation, I'm much more aware than before that they are in fact all the time crumbling down, eventually ending in the sea. Am I more aware of their finality now that I start sensing my own body is crumbling down (dust to dust ....   As Bob Dylan wrote "How many years can a mountain exist before it is washed to the sea, and how many years can some people exist .... ")   The descent consists more or less of eight straight sections. However, the road has not completely dried up, which prohibits setting a new speed record (which otherwise could very well have happened). An advantage of the unfavorable weather is that the road along the Tarn is not so busy today. It soon starts to rain, I put on my rain suit, make sure the important things are stowed away dry, and continue; I don't have time for another long rain break. To my surprise 10 km later I'm sitting in the sun at Hotel de la Muse et du Rozier avec terrasse au bord du Tarn.

Sunny break

. . . . . . .

. . . .   sur la rive du Tarn

I exchange the Gorges du Tarn for the Gorges de la Jonte, the second a bit more open, but just as nice. At the beginning the road rises perceptibly, later on the elevation gain happens more gradually. There aren't many people living along the 21 km that separate Le Rozier and Meyrueis. There is still some tendency to rain, but the occasional drizzle is not enough to have me take measures against rain.

	From Tarn   . . . .		. . . .   to Jonte
	The gorgeous   . . . .		. . . .   gorges   . . .
	. . . .   of the Jonte		Residence for three nights (the village, not the building)

Around 6 p.m I reach Meyrueis, and after indications of two women sitting in front of a local arts' shop (and an invitation to have a look in their shop) find the gîte – against the beautiful background of the Causse Méjean. It's a nice place! Nice room, quite a few other guests, both hikers and cyclists (one of them lends me his 'professional' bicycle pump, which solves one problem – not that I have many problems) and dinner is very good. I'm too tired to write and/or stay up late. The weather forecast for the coming two days is quite okay!