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.

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.

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

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.