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Cycletour from La Rochelle to Carcassonne. Long.
Cycletour from La Rochelle to Carcassonne.
I did this in 9 days in June 2004 with a group of male friends, 5 starting and one had to leave in the middle for business reasons. We flew to Carcassonne with Ryanair from Stanstead but one bag belonging to one of the group did not arrive until late in the evening the next day and we could not set off as it was a Sunday and he had no pedals. Moral of the story. Tape your pedals to the bike, or tie with zip ties. What we did was go for a ride on the sizeable island Ile de Re. There is a brilliant 2 mile bridge onto the island complete with its own cycleway. There are cycle tracks on the island which has very busy roads. It was raining at this time. We had a smashing lunch of Paella in a bar in one of the fishing ports there and headed back after a leisurely 30 miles or so. It is quite a big island with a good road network, and flat. We were staying in a hotel near the old port (a lovely place) and ate in the old town which was atmospheric. Good duck etc. The next day we headed east on the d939 which is accessed near the central station. This is a quiet enough main road and then we got on really quiet roads like the D112 to le Thou, and thence on quiet roads to Muron, Tonnay-Boutonne, St.Hilaire, a small bit on d731 and then complex back-roads via Ecoyeux Burie St.Andre de Cognac (there are 2 St.Andre's here) to Cognac, where we had pre-booked unseen, a hotel which was a bit out the road. Had meal there and taxied to town for drinkies. Nice town. Weather was goodish with an odd bit of rain. That was the last rain we had and we had splendid weather from then on, sun all the way. Day 2. Left Cognac on lovely quiet d24 via Segonzac to Barbezieux-St.Hilaire, hilly this and on to Blanzac, on D10 to Montmoreau St.Cybard, Verteillac and to Riberac. Last bit main road but not too busy. Due to the assurances of one of the group that there were loads of hotels here (there aren't) we had to cycle 8 miles out of town to a fine Logis de France hotel in St. Severin (NE of Riberac) where we had a splendid meal for very little). BOOK Riberac. A good day but long (70m +, hilly and hot). Scenery very good and rural all the way. Almost no traffic. I will not give all the distances but we were averaging about 65m/day. This was, because it is hilly country and more so because we stuck to back roads, a bit too much for one of the group and I would think 50/day is better in such terrain. It isn't that we met many 10% gradients or more, but there were just endless hills. Day 3. Cycled to Riberac, then d709 to la Garde, St.Astier, Manzac, Vergt, Cendrieux (This area is very sparsely populated so bring a picnic), Mauzens, D47 to Les Eysies, St.Cyprien, Beynac, La Roque Gageac and Domme. This area of the Dordogne (the French call it le Perigord (perrygore)) has fabulous villages and antiquities, castles etc. If it's your first time it will leave you breathless. I'd been there 3 times before but I still loved it. We stayed in an expensive hotel (Esplanade) on the molto impressivo clifftop in Domme and ate there. The view from the clifftop in Domme of the wide expanse of the Dordogne valley is superb. The name Dordogne is thought to be Celtic, as are the names of many of the great European rivers. Dordogne = Dord-abhainn (Irish, or Gaelic as foreigners for some reason like to call it) = droning river. The droning is because it has numerous rapids. Very expensive night (all told about 150? each but just the one real extravagance of the trip. This was a long tiring day. Some of my friends had no food in the middle of the day as they do not carry emergency provisions. Silly boys. I always carry a couple of tins of fish etc. Once bitten twice shy. Day 4. Long and hard. Superb weather. 70 miles. We headed east to Vitrac and then along the d55 past the superb viewpoint of the Cingle de Monfort where from a high viewpoint you can see a spectacular bend in the river and a superb castle and then on the quiet tree-lined intermittently hilly route south of the river to Terregave and to Rocamadour (by accident on this road) on the d247. This had an evil steep climb on it, which in the severe heat of this day was a bit of a killer, but then a long descent (after a long climb) to l'Hospitalet, the village just above Rocamadour. To those who haven't seen it (I have several times), this cliff-embedded old Pilgrimage town which is now a big tourist attraction, is a stunner on first view. After lunch in one of the overlooking cafes we continued down past and opposite the town on the very quiet and very hilly d32, to Carluced, Labastide-Murat and just at entrance to St.Martin de Vers, headed up left, a stiff climb, and then eventually down to Cabrerets where we had pre-booked the Logis de France hotel. A bit of useful info here for hotel cycletourists in France. You can pick up a map of the Logis de France hotels in one of them, and by ringing a central reservation number you can arrange accomodation in a town which has one. You can also get great value in Dinner Bed and Breakfast. We did this several times. Believe it or not, you can get Dinner, Bed and Breakfast, two people sharing the room, for about 42-44? per person. This is remarkable value, as the dinner (you will have little or no choice in it) proved very good in every case, with starter, maincourse, such as duck, cheese and dessert. Alternatively most French hotel restaurants do set menus at various prices, such as 15?, 18?, 20?, 28? and these in my experience are good value too. French breakfasts are not great but I always bring a tin of fish with me to add protein to it. Their coffee is frightful unless you drink café au lait. You can also drink tea. Cabrerets is a small place, but nice to walk in. The food in the hotel here (we were eating the no-choice option) was very good, with a salad with crushed nuts (not ours), confit de canard, cheese and a chocolate dessert. We mostly drank Bordeaux reds, or as the English for some reason best known to themselves call them, Clarets. Three of the five of us touring are "fond" of red wine! Day 5. We cycled along the ultra-quiet d662, flat, on a sunny morning to Figeac. I would be hard pushed to think of a more enjoyable road to cycle. It's really scenic, easy cycling and ultra-quiet. You see the limestone cliffs and old houses at the sides of the river, lovely farmland, poppies and even some violet-white poppies, loads of other flowers etc. We stopped for a rest half-way and had a long chat with an American cycletouring couple who were heading for St.Cirque Lapopie on the Lot. I'd been there before and it's lovely but that was not included in this trip. At Figeac we had lunch and headed out of town on the N140 (main road) and after a mile or two onto the D2 via St.Felix etc. through Montredon, down almost to Livinhac and back up on D627 (after a big long descent. This was a very hilly route since Figeac) to Port d'Agret and to the superb town of Conques. We had not managed to pre-book anything there as the town was jammers but eventually found out that the lady in the jewelry shop near the tourist information office had rooms to let, and lovely they were too, so we booked in, and then went and had our dinner in an upstairs terrace restaurant. A smashing evening in a gorgeous old town. Later we met two Canadian lady cycletourists, the essence of glamour and had a chat with them. We are all men in our fifties but we're still allowed to look! Conques is a medieval town on the side of a wooded hill and is well well worth visiting. Day 6. Had breakfast in St.Cyprien sur Dourdou south of Conques and then headed east on the gorgeous d502 through Pruines Villecomtal etc to Estaing. This ultra-quiet gorgeous country road had 2 severe hills on it which had the fattest member of our group (an experienced but on this occasion not very fit cyclist) going through various complexion changes like a rutting nautilus. At Estaing there was a superb view on the bridge of the town. A great picture opportunity for which I used my minitripod so I could get us all in the shot. I am a keen photographer and on this tour, had reverted to 35mm as I find it much quicker and less fuss than digital for cycling. My old Canon EOS 600 can shoot five frames a second, has excellent autofocus, can be left switched on, gives an instant shot, and gives a terrific battery life. Also, with film and a good film scanner, you get excellent digital images and the ability to overcome non-optimal exosures, unlike digital. Having piccied (I just made up the verb to piccy, and I like it) we cycled on the quiet d56, which has a big pull on it, to Espalion, had lunch and headed east on the D6, in hot weather. Very long climb initially. Waited 10 mins at top for rutting nautilus and proceeded onwards eventually to La Canourge where we'd pre-booked the Logis. It was fine. Small town. Good food in hotel (Dinner B&B. Dinner, cheese and charcuterie for starter, Magret de Canard with potatoes, Cheese and icecream. Grand.) The hotel owner was a young frenchman who told me how much English tourists ****ed him off, as they are so fussy about their food. Germans ate everything with gusto he told me. We had great fun at the expense of the rutting nautilus who is the one Englishman in our group, by continually introducing him to all the French people we met, as our Rosbif. The French call the English Rosbifs, as the English call them frogs. All good fun. Day 7. La Canourge - St.Affrique. Another sunny day!!. The last 7 days of this nine day tour were all sunny. We headed off on the D 998 to Ste.Enimie. There is a long initial climb. Then we eventually hit the gorge where there is a magnificent panorama, marked as such. I got great shots of the lads by stading on the opposite wall. The hotel owner had warned me to not miss a better view about a km. down from this where there was a little clearing for turning cars. He was right. You were looking down, with an eagle's view on a small village with a bridge over the river Tarn. A stunner. Continued downhill to Ste.Enemie where we had cakies and coffee and then cycled along the gorge towards Millau. The scenery gets better and better with big limestone cliffs etc. The road surface was quite poor, I suppose due to rockfalls. Little traffic but I imagine would be heavy in July/August. I separated from my friends until St.Affrique as I'm the photographer and I told them to cycle on, as I had a lot of photography to do on this route. I had lunch at roadside restaurant. It was hot. About 33c. Millau is a biggish town and the last few miles into it are a busy main road. I wanted the D41 to St.Rome de Tarn (there is another St.Rome which you DON'T want) and had to enquire as it's not properly indicated, but eventually got it. It was a quiet country road, mostly flat or downhill and ran under the almost-finished tallest bridge in the world which carries the A75, the Paris-Barcelona motorway, across the Tarn valley. What a sight!. Some of the supports are 100m high or more. Magnificent, and not intrusive as this is the least spectacular part of the Tarn valley. Road very quiet but surface not great all day and botty getting sore due to bumping and heat. Was about 36c at this stage. Had large bottle of cold water in St.Rome bar and went on long gradual wearing climb into the the wind before the superb high-speed steep descent into St.Affrique. Hotel Moderne (Logis de France). Remember the name. Ordinary hotel, extra-ordinary restaurant. We ate the 28? menu and it was magnificent. The owner was serving us, a food and wine expert and a great character. Great fun. We were in the area of "les Grandes Causses" and he explained that the Causses were large limestone plateaus, full of water and caves etc. The cheese trolley contained 40 different cheeses including 20 different Roqueforts (the local specialty)! One of our crew had 6 different Roqueforts and did not feel that great the next day. Quel surprise! DAY 8. Quiet D7 to St.Felix de Sorgues, flat, then climb after climb on really quiet hill roads (maybe a car every 20 minutes) via Fayet, Brusque, Arnac, Cambon, Fraisse-s-Agou (this bit busy), then severe climb for a while, two cols (but not much climbing to them) and huge long descent to St.Pons de Thomieres. Much of this cycling was pretty remote and if you do it, bring a picnic. It was VERY quiet. We did manage to get sandwiches in a restaurant in Cambon (I think). We stayed in Le Somail hotel (not Logis de France), basic but okay, though noisy street. Food reasonable. Mick had a puncture during this day, our only bike incident during the whole trip. The Last day, sigh. Another sunny day!!! D907, really quiet, to Ste Colombe, then west to Col de Serieres, Col de Salette D620, Lunch in Caunes-Minervois (no place to eat at all, before this) and on down down down to Carcassonne. This again was a quiet day but Carcassonne is really busy. We stayed in the Hotel Campanile near the airport and taxied into the old city (which looks nice from the outside, but is an overtouristed hames on the inside, like many such places), had dinner, walked into central Carcassonne for a couple of beers in Place Carnot, got a taxi to the hotel and left next day. The End. Now about this tour. I and most of my friends like really quiet roads so we almost totally avoided main roads and did as much as we could on white or yellow roads (Michelin maps). From that point of view it was an outstanding success. The scenery was nearly all nice, though it did have a sameness at times. We saw no really spectacular mountain scenery like you see in Alps and Pyrenees, but pleasant hills. The tour was quite hard, as minor roads are usually more hilly than major ones, but we really enjoyed it. For the tecchies. One of us was on an aluminium touring bike, don't remember which make, the rest on steel. Two Thorn Audaxes. One Ribble. All Sti shifted. I was on a Dawes Galaxy, Sora triple shifters, eight speed, rollamigs on cables to not foul handlebar bags, short arm Dia-Compe cantis to work with Sti, front ones with slim blocks to fit. First time with this arrangement instead of bar-ends, and I prefer it. 42,32,24 suntour chainwheels, 11-28 shimano cassette, 36 spoke wheels, aluminium carrier, Ortlieb rolltop panniers (10 years old and 30 tours in them), Ortlieb handlbar bag, same age. There you go. |
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Cycletour from La Rochelle to Carcassonne. Long.
On Sat, 12 Jun 2004 09:19:13 +0100, Gearóid Ó Laoi/Garry Lee wrote:
I will not give all the distances but we were averaging about 65m/day. This was, because it is hilly country and more so because we stuck to back roads, a bit too much for one of the group and I would think 50/day is better in such terrain. It isn't that we met many 10% gradients or more, but there were just endless hills. Yes it is hilly ! In the whole area on the southern side of the Massif Central, the scheme is often as follows: - generally hilly at medium elevations - every few tens of km you will have to descend a few 100 m down into a steep valley (sometimes more like a canyon), cross the river (flat on 100 m), then up again to the hilly plateau ("causse"). - and so on. You can save energy to some extent by trying to follow rivers instead of travelling across them. |
#3
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Cycletour from La Rochelle to Carcassonne. Long.
French breakfasts are not great...
nothing to say there... if you compare it to English ones... Their coffee is frightful unless you drink café au lait. I thought it was the opposite... English coffee is frightful, you better have to drink tea over there ;-) ! Despite that, your tour looked great, i'm happy you enjoyed the country, the food and the wine ! i'll keep your message as a reference for future holydays, i know some of the places you visited but never went there with the bike and that change everything (especially if some glamour canadian lady cyclotourist are still travelling around ;-) ! I'm planning a bike tour in scotland this summer... I hope it will be as exiting ! Would you have any clues about the best maps to do that, things to see and avoid... I'm planning to start the tour from Edimburgh and go to the Shetlands islands... ? regards, Mathieu |
#4
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Cycletour from La Rochelle to Carcassonne. Long.
If you go to Scotland, (I have twice) my advice is to go West.
Get train from Glasgow to Ardrossan, ferry to Arran, cycle round Arran, get ferry to Kintyre peninsula, cycle down south side, very hilly, up north side (flat and wonderful) visit Mull, Isle of Skye and maybe outer Hebrides etc. It's very spectacular and food is wonderful. Really, French coffee is reconised by Americans, Irish, British, Germans, and most people as awful. Too bitter and served too cold. |
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