Fifteen days trip Cévennes/Pyrenees, from 10 – 07 – 2021 till 24 – 7 – 2021


Prologue

Last year I - or rather, we, my girlfriend and me - decided to celebrate my 60th birthday with a big, new climb. And I had already a specific one in mind: the climb to Blockhaus in Abruzzo, a one I 'missed' in 2016, because I decided to go home earlier suffering from some mild homesickness. It would be nice to (re)visit some nice places in middle Italy; my girlfriend would buy or rent an e-bike. However, after a severe concussion due to a fall on her head, her physique had deteriorated considerably, and by the end of April a physical effort of more than one hour was still too much for her. So what to do? I had a whole life of cycling holidays behind me, my body was still in good shape (for how long?), so I was very eager to add another 'randonnée à vélo'. It took quite a few discussions till she finally gave up her veto and granted me this birthday present. Apart from covid-19 another event almost screwed up the project: on April 22, while riding at a reasonably high speed, I hit a dog that unexpectedly crossed the cycle path. I toppled over and landed on my right shoulder. My first thought: 'Now I have finally got the ultimate cyclists' injury: a broken collar bone'. It appeared I had not, but instead I felt my right forearm hurt when I turned my wrist. An x-ray examination the day after showed that I had broken my radius; close to the elbow it was completely through. For six weeks I could definitely not ride my Jan Jansen bike (JJ), which, during this period of 'work from home' I considered a great loss of well-being. And also, gone were two months of training. Aargh!!
In the beginning of June I started to ride JJ cautiously (using the right arm for fifty per cent), and mid-June the broken arm was diagnosed: healed. And around July 1 Dutch government announced France to be 'open' for Dutch tourists, so just in time for me, the bus company was allowed to hit the road to the south. Lucky me!
Friday morning, July 9, around 11, I mounted JJ for a 15 km ride from Haarlem to Amsterdam (Sloterdijk station). I carried less luggage than ever: The day before I had removed the low-riders, so now I had only two rear panniers, and one pannier on the handle bar (with still a card-holder; I'm really becoming a dinosaur in the cycling community). I hadn't stored much food, and I seriously considered handing in bike + bags in Amsterdam and take the train to Maastricht (the bus would pick up some people there too), avoiding almost five hours in the bus (there are direct trains from A'dam-Sloterdijk to Maastricht that take about two and a half hours). I hesitated till the last moment, but finally got on board. The seats were excellent and they were luxuriously spaced, and luckily the delays on the highway A2 were not too bad today. But it appeared almost impossible to grab a coffee at the two boarding places Utrecht and Eindhoven. From Maastricht onwards I had a nice Belgian traveller sitting next to me, an interesting guy, artist as well as teacher (who got a whole lot of freedom from his partner!). Dinner in Arlon, with a female couple, who thought it was rather sore I would celebrate my birthday alone. The night was not too bad, and Cave Cooperative Suze-la-Rousse was reached within 5 minutes of the arrival time scheduled in the folder. Without having to put on the low-riders, it took me less than five minutes to be on the saddle. Yippee!

Départ from Haarlem