Day 24 – The stone of initiative

Time to say goodbye to our lovely caravan. We wish we could stay longer, there’s something very calming about this tiny temporary home.

Last big climb of the trip today and it really is a big one. The majority of today’s ascent is in one go. It’s a long slog but the views are fantastic and we just patiently peddle our way slowly up the mountain.

Almost at the top and we come across an art gallery. A woman who was living in Paris inherited a house with outbuildings and a courtyard and decided to turn it into an artists’ retreat. She was hosting an exhibition of paintings created by schoolboys aged 9-12 in Senegal in the 1950s. They were excellent, really exciting and vibrant, demonstrating amazing skills for their ages. Also an exhibition of original artwork for comics and graphic novels. What a find in the middle of nowhere at the top of a mountain, a wonderful unscheduled stop. This is why it’s a good idea to keep the daily mileage very manageable so there’s time to stop when we happen across unexpected gems such as this.

Eventually we reach the top to find once again Route Barrée and this time it’s serious. We’re at a fork in the road and we need to turn left which is signed as being closed 16km ahead so it’s a big risk to just plough on and hope it’s somehow passable. However the only available alternative route adds 10 miles or more and crosses another mountain. Arse. What to do? I look up the details on a road closure website and there’s no way around it. At Jackie’s suggestion I phone the campsite we’re hoping to stay at approx 5 miles the other side of the roadworks. They tell me it’s definitely passable for cyclists. Hurrah! The relief is enormous.

Then we take photos of our bikes at the summit, Col de Ray. A couple of French walkers, ‘randonneurs’, appear. They take photos for us and we do the same for them. They’re walking the Chemin de Stevenson, a route walked by the author of Treasure Island in 1878 and described in his book Travels With a Donkey in the Cévennes. We chatted a little longer. They were husband and wife hiking the long trail together. He was keen to continue the hike but she seemed relieved to have encountered other humans and would have stayed chatting all afternoon if she could.

We rode just a little further and stopped for a roadside picnic lunch of the usual sort of stuff and I hung out some of my wet washing on a fence.

Lunch finished, we set off down the mountainside (no, I didn’t forget my wet clothes, now slightly drier). Long, winding, fast and twisty-turny with stunning views unfolding around each corner. The road was not as big or as well surfaced as yesterday’s descent but excellent fun none the less. There were far more opportunities for flying straight off the unprotected edge so a little more caution was called for today.

I stopped halfway down to wait for Jackie to catch up (I am a little more reckless about fast descents so tend to get ahead). I’m not sure what made me pick that particular spot to pause my speedy ride but I’m glad I did. We restarted and immediately around the corner the road was freshly surfaced and covered in deep gravel which would have been nasty had I encountered it at speed. Much slower for the second half of the descent as the fresh gravel continued to the bottom.

It was during this descent that Jackie’s rear gear cable snapped. She was now stuck in a very high gear, her only option being to change the front derailleur to high or low giving her just two gears. If this had happened on the way up Jackie’s bike would have been impossible to ride, however downhill and on the flat it was tricky but manageable. Not good to have to cover much distance like this though.

We reached the Route Barrée. A digger and two big holes the full width of the road. Nobody around. It was a Tuesday but apparently many people were not working for a political reason that we didn’t understand. There were galvanised steel planks in place for walking over the holes. We had to remove the panniers and tent, carry them over, then take the bikes one at a time. It was quite difficult to get through but the alternative didn’t bear thinking about!

We had just crossed when a French man appeared and offered to look at Jackie’s bike. We couldn’t replace the cable but wanted to get it in a lower gear. I tried adjusting the limits of the derailleur but that didn’t have enough scope to achieve anything. Bicycle Initiative Man™️ fetched a stone. He manually moved the chain to a lower gear and to stop the derailleur from moving it straight back to high gear he wedged the stone into the derailleur mechanism to counter the pressure of the spring. Simple, totally effective and impressive. Thank you Bicycle Initiative Man™️.

Decided to cycle a few miles further than originally planned. Reached a very pleasant campsite, checked in and put up our tent on a very level pitch. Sat outside the campsite bar and over a beer we searched for a bike shop. Nothing within a convenient radius and nothing within an inconvenient radius either. Then I found one a good few miles away that mentioned working at ‘your home’ on their website. It was a mobile mechanic. Yess!!! We had struck gold. I phoned him, explained the problem and arranged for him to come to our campsite at 08:30 the following day. I was pleased with my French telephone skills. A campsite cat appeared. It was beautiful, very soft and smooth and extremely friendly. A particularly lovely cat.

We ate at the campsite restaurant. The food was good, cooked by a friendly woman who seemed to be in charge of everything. I had pork with an interesting mustardy sauce. Jackie had red mullet. The waiter was very amusing and slightly reminded me of one of my nephews. We played a game of pool in the bar and then retired for the night.

Miles cycled: 32

Total miles: 773

Metres climbed: 709

Good things today: