Wednesday, May 28th, 2014
Route Map and Garmin Ride Statistics
The day started sunny, but quite cool - nevertheless, a change from overcast and raining. Unfortunately, the view from the front of our hotel of the industrial estate wasn't very "French", or even inspiring. You can't have everything.
We "escaped" Aurillac quite quickly - it was a city that we didn't have the chance to get to know. But the countryside quickly opened up to the glorious hills and fields of the Auvergne that I had experienced myself cycling here in 1997.
Hills and fields usually means "road climbs steeply" for a Bike Adventures tour, and today was no exception. We seemed to spend the first hour or two going up one 10% plus gradient and coming down another. This makes it difficult even to decide whether the jacket stays on (down) or off (up).
By the time we go to Boisset at 30km (of 100km) the day was glorious (if still cool) and the bar with terrace was very inviting. Most people stopped here for a coffee, or something.
The roads rolled on, and the view of Maurs in the distance is so typical of this region. There was even a low hanging fog over what we believed was the river Lot.
Good road signage is (almost) everywhere, and while our route took us through Capdenac, I was more interested in our proximity to Figeac. Both are on the river Lot, and I passed through Figeac on my ride in 1997. Indeed, the Lot is my favourite river in France because it passes through so mant towns that I love.
Almost at our lunch stop in Capdenac, the Tonys and Simon ride past one of the many grand houses that we saw along the route.
And at Capdenac we finally crossed the very picturesque Lot. It's impossible to navigate here, but further down stream there are pleasure boast and canal boats coming up from the bigger rivers.
A trip to the nearby boulangerie and a pinic by the river seemed the appropriate thing to do. Again, most people seemed to stop here, and there's another table of cyclists just out of frame.
Onwards, and inevitable upwards. We pass a lovely chateau and farm complex just before the final series of climbs of the day.
Then it's down on the final run into Villefranche. This is the church in St Igest, a nice village nestled in a small valley on the downwards run. Again, the small country lane was carrying both cyclists (apart from us) and farm machinery (tractors) in equal numbers.
We managed to find our hotel without too much difficulty, even though it was a bit tricky. It's located right on the River Aveyron, and very close to a medieval bridge (now pedestrian) and very similar to the one in nearby Espalion that I know and love.
The hotel even has a terrace on the other side of the road and overlooking the bridge. The sight of cyclists carrying pints across the pedestrian crossing really deserved a photograph...
Although I didn't get a river view from my second floor hotel room, I'm sure I got the quieter option.
But the view of the Aveyron from the old bridge was a delight.
And that of the old bridge with the hotel in the background just as nice. What a difference the sun makes.
I went for a walk through the old town, and this street leading up to the cathedral and square was one of the best. The shops were open, and the town seemed prosperous. Maybe it was because tomorrow is Ascension day, and therefore a significant public holiday in France.
I've seen a few squares, but this one reminded me of the one in Sienna (Italy). The tower at the entrance to the cathedral is magnificent, and imposes itself completely on the pedestrian square.
And each side of the square has some very beautiful stone buildings, almost certainly all residences with shops underneath.
Here are the building opposite the cathedral entrance.
But this one caught my eye - all of those windows have stone frames.
And this one too - surely it belongs to the building on the left, or the right?! At least they have satellite TV.
There's even a water feature in the middle of the square, and families bring their children here to play. The only thing missing was a restaurant serving dinner (tonight!).
Dinner options included the hotel we are staying at, various pizzerias, and a brasserie that we eventually chose. That is, 14 of us chose. It was a nice meal, but we were all too tired to party on tonight. Besides, I had a blog to write...
No comments:
Post a Comment