The plan today was to leave Condat early and tackle what was supposed to be a very demanding but pretty ride.
Another slightly odd moment as we were leaving, bikes leant up against the side of the Auberge, when I happened to sneeze. Up to this point we had been chatting away, and one floor up a bloke stuck his head out the window and said "bless you" in English - yet another surreal moment. He was in Condat with his French wife for a funeral.
We left just after 8AM and the short downhill out of town reminded us - it's still spring, and cold in the mornings.
We started climbing straight away, through gorgeous forest, a gentle climb for about 3k. Down the other side we crossed the river
And then the first real climb of the day hit. I had a serious sense of humour failure - the third major climb in two days, straight after we left. It went on and on for ages, and by the time I finally hit the summit I was well ready to dummy spit, which I duly did :) Thankfully from this point in for a while we had flat to rolling so I stopped being a sook and became less of a princess ( yes Anna, Dad was a princess for a while, Mum can explain ;) ) and kept going.
It was a really hot morning, and I was rapidly running out of water with nowhere to get any either. We stayed up on the plateau for a while, 40 minutes or so, I found a post box for my postcards, and then we plunged down into yet another valley.
The map showed us we had our biggest climb coming up, and sweet hay-sus, it was tough. Not long at 4k but steep with switch back corners. By now I was out of water and dehydrating quickly, starting to feel cold and shaky, not a good sign. Still passing through some lovely villages, but man I was starting to hurt.
So, cue yet another sense of humour failure half way up, including shouting bad words at the gorgeous forest around me. It didn't help.
I finally summited the Col de la Serre, 1400M in a truly vile mood - this climb was just nasty, totally uncalled for - so another suck it up moment really. Badly dehydrated now, Simon had run out of water as well, we began the huge descent on glorious smooth roads, flying down the hills - which given my headset and brake status (unresolved) was interesting. I've decided that I'm not going to risk a blown rim through heat stress so I just go with as little braking as possible. It's working well so far :) (getting to a bike shop on Tuesday, more on that later)
About 5k after the downhill we hit yet another hill. I really don't know how I got up this, I was totally spent, 3k or so seemed to take forever.
At the top we turned right, and continued climbing yet again. This time I could see the summit, it was a more shallow rise so I hung on to Simons back wheel the whole way with gritted teeth - not literally if course - it was at this point I noticed I'd stopped sweating, another bad sign. We hit the top of the climb,and the valley opened up in front of us - wide, smooth empty downhill. By this stage I was beyond caring and just went for it. I have no idea how fast I was going but I needed that therapeutic downhill. It went on for perhaps 6k or so and at times the noise from gear and clothes flapping was very loud - damn that was fun.
The downhill ended at the entrance to the village of Murat, which was today's ride endpoint. The plan is to train south (we are on it now) to Millau, where we start a five day ride through a large forest, ending at Avignon, from where I head back to Lyon. By TGV :)
Anyway, got tickets at the station
and went back in to town for lunch and much cold liquid. Two large bottles of water and 4 Oranginas were inhaled quickly, as was lunch
Puy lentils, chicken and a mountain of potato cooked in cream and cheese - the diet plate :)
So, we are now on the train to Millau , just crossed over a huge gorge and the river Tarn
and the plan is to stay in Millau for two nights, as the bike shop is shut on Mondays, and I need my brakes and headset problems sorted. In addition, a break now before 5 long days makes sense.
And golly gee it's nice to be sitting and moving without effort on the train :)
Anyway, more soon I think I'm going to close my eyes for a while...
And we've made it to Millau, and following a mid train ride board meeting, we've decided to stay at the local Chateau for two nights. Foie gras on the menu tonight, time to dig out my long pants and have a shave I suspect :)
The view from our front deck towards the pool and up to the mountain top
And a quick panorama of where we are, with added man servant...
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