75 miles ridden – 3900 feet climbed – temperature 25C

It would be very easy to focus all of today’s blog entry on the room we are staying in at the Hotel Belvedere starting with the jacuzzi in our private courtyard- but I won’t.

We had a messy exit from Mende itself but eventually found ourselves on the first of 2 long gentle climbs. The first was about 19 miles up and then about 15 miles down, and the downhill was wide open with gentle corners so it was very relaxing (maybe a bit boring!!) but there was plenty to see.

The ruins were quite impressive but so far no one has been able to work out what they are – doesn’t say much for the internet. At the top of the Col we came across France’s equivalent of the continent divide- rain falling one side heads to the Atlantic, the other side to the Mediterranean. The long sweep down took us past the amazing Chateau du Champ – I hope it’s for hire…..

The scenery was stunning but so many of the villages show signs of depopulation and those residents we do see tend to be quite old. It must be very sad for them to see so many abandoned houses and the other changes that go hand in hand with people leaving the area.

Our picnic lunch was next to Lac Du L’Atelier, an idyllic spot where we enjoyed the warming sun. Our lunches have improved the last couple of days but not for the best of reasons. On day 7, as we approached St Flour, Terry’s front tyre blew out causing him to fall badly fracturing 2 ribs, badly spraining his thumb and badly grazing his leg (fortunately his bike was OK). While he is unable to cycle Terry has been making sandwiches – while very good, hopefully he will be riding again soon.

After lunch we had the second major climb of the day as we cycled up, over and down into the Ardèche region. As we descended the temperature increased noticeably and as the landscape changed so did the vegetation as we saw more vineyards, bougainvillea and jasmine.

We had another long descent we came into the town of Les Vans where a number of us stopped for ice cream and coffee. From there it was allegedly a flat run into our overnight stay. Well it wasn’t flat – at least not the first couple of miles – but it was pretty and the roads generally quiet until we got closer to Vallon Pont D’Arc.

In the last 10 miles or so we seemed to get every ‘gobby’ idiot of a driver in France concentrated on the roads we were travelling on. A number of us had near misses with idiots overtaking against oncoming traffic that had to brake to avoid them running us off the road. If I had had an opportunity to discuss their inability to drive with the driver of a grey Peugeot car………..

For those who don’t know or don’t realise, cars need to give bikes a MINIMUM of 1.5m/5 feet clearance when passing.

Anyway I am fairly calm now, helped by this tranquil waterfall. Enjoy……

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