Day 22 – The hills are alive

Woke up in our comfortable room after a really good night’s sleep. Mende is in a bowl surrounded by mountains and this made for some stunning early morning views of low cloud across the city.

Spent a while sorting our washing and repacking our panniers neatly then walked into town for shopping and breakfast. Replaced our emergency supplies, bought food for picnic lunch plus a couple of pastries for breakfast. We ate these with coffee at a nearby bookies/café. It was full of men who were drinking coffee, lager or wine and smoking, betting on events and buying scratch cards. It wasn’t exactly salubrious and Jackie thought it looked like a methadone collection point. The bus stop on the opposite side of the road had ROLFE graffitied on the back of the timetable board. Weird.

We left town with our freshly organised panniers that unfortunately still weighed just the same, only too aware that the only way out of here was up. A long way up. The first 2 miles were on a rough track, so rough that we had to walk much of it. Then onto a major road with lovely smooth tarmac. After another few miles we turned onto a smaller road for the big climb. We were greeted by a sign telling us that the cycling ahead was both difficult and dangerous. Then a sign with a picture of a bike and the news that the uphill gradient was 7% and the summit was 4km away. After a short while we came across a sign warning us of a Route Barré in 2km. We’d already expended a lot of effort getting this far and didn’t want to turn back. We decided to risk it and keep our fingers crossed.

Climby climb climb. Super-steep. Weather was hot-ish but bearable. It was really very hard work. We stopped quite a few times to recover and to look at the views. Another cycle information sign to tell us that with 2.4km still to go the gradient was increasing to 8.7%. We found the Route Barré and it wasn’t really barré at all, a huge relief! Nearby there was a thunderstorm but luckily we remained right at the far edges of it and had just light and very welcome rain for about half an hour. Eventually we reached the top. It gave a satisfying sense of achievement. What came next made all the hard work worthwhile. The far-reaching views were stunning. The descent ahead of us looked spectacular and the inviting road had very smooth tarmac. We were about to drop even further than we had climbed so it would be a really long downhill run.

It was fast. The fastest yet by a long way. It was also so long that we had to stop several times so we didn’t get too far apart, just in case one of us had a mishap. About a third of the way down we found a great viewpoint and sat on a rock to eat our picnic lunch of bread and cheese while observing the valley below and the mountains beyond. I wouldn’t normally want to interrupt a downhill run but this was so long it really didn’t matter. The switchback was exhilerating with tight twisty turns followed by long fast straights. It was the ride of my life. I’ve never had so much fun on a bike and I sang and grinned my way down the mountain. I like singing on my bike.

At the bottom we both needed a moment just to smile and laugh. Then into the nearby village to find a drink. Spotted a poster about an event taking place this very afternoon in a square in Florac which was 6 miles away and was also the location of our campsite. Decided to go straight there. Arrived in Florac to find things in full swing with lots of people drinking, a DJ playing some good tunes, nice and loud, and a general atmosphere of fun. Bought galettes from a street food stall and ate these at a table outside, next to the mayhem, with a beer each.

Went to find our campsite on the edge of town, not very far at all. Before we left this morning we had booked a vintage caravan for tonight and were excited to see it. We unzipped the door of the orange and brown awning and stepped straight back into the 1970s. Folding chairs, loungers and table plus some zip-up cloth cupboards. Inside the caravan was small but perfectly formed. The brown and orange theme was now complemented by yellow and lots of floral cushions. The orange curtains were edged with something a bit like rick-rack but more knobbly and they opened to reveal flower-pattern net curtains. The cupboards were finished in faux teak and the ceiling was padded. Plastic plates, bright orange cutlery and a small collection of 70s Tupperware finished it off perfectly. There were also two bench seats and a table which turned into a bed. What a find! This place was heaven. We liked it so much we decided to stay for two nights and have our first full day off of the trip.

Rode into town for dinner. Jackie had pizza and I had ‘Lasagne du jour’. The restaurant produce a different variation on lasagne each day of the week. I can’t remember what today’s was called but it should have been Hamsagne, or in French Jambsagne. They missed a trick there.

Back to camp. A little more caravan over-excitement and then to sleep. Exhausted, as ever.

Miles cycled: 25

Total miles: 740

Metres climbed: 562

Good things today: