Day 18 – Up and down à Lot

Left dull campsite at Figeac. Two very big climbs straight away. It was good to get them over with in the morning but left me with tired legs for the rest of the day.

Passed a lot of walkers who were hiking the Santiago de Compostelle. Stopped to to look at a giant bike made of wood to commemorate a section of the Tour de France in 2006.

We descended into the Lot valley. I was very tired. We ate everything we had with us: bread, biscuits, nuts, bananas, sweets. Still tired so stopped by the river and for half an hour watched someone levelling a pile of gravel with a digger. I was so tired that I’d have stared at anything for that half hour and the digger was pleasantly hypnotic.

Just about to leave and a thunderstorm started. We risked it and carried on regardless. Got wet but not enough to really care about. The rain brought a welcome drop in temperature.

Arrived at Entraygues. Nice campsite with a friendly campsite lady to check us in. Got the tent up just before more rain started.

Had a simple but yummy dinner. Chicken burger with some kind of tandoori/mayonnaise sauce (tandoorinnaise?) and a load of chips. Just what I needed to replace all those burned-up carbs. Jackie had a filet of salmon with pesto risotto which she said was super delicious. The restaurant was simple, unpretentious and extremely popular. We met a group of four men from Norwich who were cycling St Malo to Nice over the course of three weeks and discussed bottom brackets, jockey wheels, weather, luggage and fatigue. They were a pleasant bunch and we enjoyed meeting them.

Back to the campsite and more rain. Luckily there was a large communal room where we could sit until it stopped. We tried to catch up with this blog as best we could. Then to bed.

Miles cycled: 37

Total miles: 633

Metres climbed: 580

Good things today: