Day 21 – Hail and pace

Breakfast on the campsite, bread & cheese followed by pain au choc with coffee for Jax and a lumpy hot choc for me. The lovely campsite dog came to see us. I like dogs. Jackie is very wary of them and not welcoming. So who did he want attention from? That’s right, not me.

Met Wolfgang Ritter and his wife. I didn’t get her name as Wolfgang was the dominant character and was only too keen to show off their bikes. They were four-wheeled recumbent bikes from Holland. Each had a full fibreglass body in bright red and yellow complete with wing mirrors, headlights and tail lights. A roof hinged over the cockpit and was covered with solar panels that powered the lights and intercom system as well as recharging their phones and power packs.

They were 2 months into a 3 month trip and had covered over 2000km so far. Wolfgang told me that the brakes, despite having discs on the rear wheels, didn’t have adequate ventilation and on downhill runs they had to stop periodically to prevent the brakes from overheating. You’d not want to make that decision too late! Going uphill he was only too aware that the fibreglass bodies added weight and the boot held far too much luggage too, meaning overall approx 30 kilos extra to slow them down to less than walking speed in some cases. Still, they were protected from the elements and both seemed extremely happy with their unusual mode of transport.

Long gentle upward incline 16 miles to Marvejols where we ate our picnic lunch in the town square and then had a drink outside a small bar by a busy roundabout.

Onwards to the huge climb. Massive, steep and very difficult. Our pace was super-slow and at times we had to walk. There were messages for cyclists painted on the road and cycle-specific signs along the way, making us think it’s a well known biking challenge. A French cyclist appeared at one point, a super-fit guy in all the kit riding a very sporty looking road bike. He put his hand on my back and pushed me a little way up the hill, laughing.

Heavy rain just before the summit which turned to hail for a while. We got progressively more soaked during the fast descent then arrived at a decision point: Turn right to go to our planned campsite 1 mile away or turn left and cycle 6 miles to Mende and get slightly ahead of ourselves, making tomorrow’s route easier. I chose Mende. We were already soaked so a little more riding wouldn’t make any difference. Ha! It bloody did. Up another really long steep hill and the rain just got heavier as we went.

Long steep super-fast descent into Mende, still in extremely heavy rain. We were both quite cold by now.

Rain finally stopped. Had hot chocs outside at an Irish bar (we were far too wet to go inside anywhere!). Then heard music in the distance. Jumped on our bikes and found a fanfare. Watched them for a bit, had a chat with them and discovered there was a fanfare festival that very weekend. Found another two after that and enjoyed both.

Still soaked to the skin we searched online for a hotel. Found one that looked suitable and cycled to it, not far from the centre. Couldn’t find it though. It turned out we were right outside but hadn’t realised it was a chambre d’hôte rather than a hotel. Luckily the owner was outside and we asked him for directions. How serendipitous as at this moment the rain started again with a vengeance. We parked our bikes in the garage and he and his wife showed us to the room. It was fun and looked into the garden. Most importantly it had a heater, a hot shower and clean towels. What a relief! We’d been cold and wet for far too long today.

Couldn’t face going out to eat. We sat in the warm room and ate everything we had with us, mostly emergency rations. Bread, mushroom cuppa-soup, instant noodles, tinned salad Nicoise, leftover tabouleh from lunchtime, mixed nuts and raisins, plain Pringles and a Twix. What a nutritionally dreadful feast.

Fell asleep super quick.

Miles cycled: 31

Total miles: 715

Metres climbed: 1029

Good things today: