Rain

We woke up to the morning sky being lit up with bright lightening and the sound of booming thunder claps...... and we had to ride just over 200km.

We waited as long as we could and then moved the bikes to an under cover area in order to pack the bikes up with out getting too wet. The process of moving the bikes was enough to get me soaked!!

So off we went. The rain hammered down and then bounced back up from the road. Thankfully the thunder had passed. 

The roads were challenging - in France a pedestrian crossing precedes entry to and follows exits from roundabouts. The white paint was like riding on ice rinks. So when the dip stick drivers can't be arsed to use their indicators on a roundabout, at times, the braking was hairy!!

By the time we approached Auray, the rain was subsiding so we thought it would be good to deviate from our route to see the ancient stones at Carnac. 

Carnac is amazing an on par with Stonehenge - rows and rows of parallel rock formations.

We'd only stopped for about 15 mins and the heavens opened again. A quick dash back to the bikes, donned our waterproofs and off we went again.

One of the oddest sights today - seeing a ginormous Noddy sitting in his car in an open barn!

The rain was relentless so we reluctantly stopped at a McDonalds for a break and to dry off a bit. I won €5 in a French promotion in the McDonalds but I couldn't claim the money as I didn't live in France. €5 I can live with, but if it had been the €500 I would have been a bit peed off.

An hour's more riding and we arrived at Sainte Marine. It really is a stunning place you know!

The accommodation we have for the week, is great - a typical French property of the region with a garden surrounding the property and a patio. The windows have blue shutters and the bikes have settled into their garage.

It's now 22:30 and the little harbour is alive with activity. Families are dining together in the waterfront restaurants. The lights from Benodet are shimmering on the River Odet and the countless moored boats a rocking from side to side. Anne and I? Well we're sitting with a Pastis and water enjoying the ambience and Nia is having a little nose around. 

This is our 4th visit to Sainte Marine - it will not be the last.

Oh I do like to be beside the seaside....

Today was a quiet day which is more than could be said for the night - a huge thunderstorm that woke Anne and me! We set off at about 9am as we didn't have the breakfast - €9.50 per head for a croissant and coffee. We plugged in for the nearest McDonalds and set for there on order to have 3 McDonald's Petit Dejeuner meals.

The roads were so different to the sweeping hills earlier on the tour. Instead the land was flat, below sea level and surrounded by dykes with flood gates/damns.

To be honest, it just wasn't as exiting as the previous days. The villages were full of tourists instead of locals with the tourist-focused tack everywhere. 

We stopped for lunch at Bretignolles-sur-mer which surprisingly didn't have too many tourists mingling around. We even found parking spaces without too much trouble.

After lunch and a yummy ice cream we continued with our journey of more of the same.

Two pieces of advice to anyone planning to ride in France...

1. If you see a farmer watering his crops with the water jet near to the road - stop and put your waterproofs on and make sure your visor is shut! We didn't!!!!!!!

2. On a single carriage road with no passing opportunities, do not get stuck behind a poo-collection lorry - it really does stink!!

We travelled up the Blue route to Pornic (sounds a bit suspect), and arrived at our hotel - a chain hotel tonight and ok.

We wandered into the town to be greeted with market stalls and nice restaurants surrounding the small harbour.

A great setting for our evening meal. 

So tomorrow it'll be off to Sainte Marine for the week. Sadly it'll mean the end of the touring for a while and worse still the weather forecast for the next 3 days are rain, rain and more rain!

Let's hope the French TV weather is as accurate as the BBC!!!!

Seas of sunflowers and rivers of vineyards

Stunning is the word that comes to mind.

Initially after leaving Bergerac and crossing the Dordogne for the last time there were gentle hills with a continuation of the gentle, winding roads. But this time, the hills were populated by rows and rows of vineyards - as far as the eye could see. 

It was amazing and the fields of sunflowers soon intermingled with the vines - quite majestic, really.

The style of the road changed too, from gentle winding roads to long straight Roman roads. It was amazing - you could see for miles. Traffic was no obstruction to the bikes - the cars edged to the right to let us pass, so much so, that we could pass when the centre line was a solid white.

(Anne doing an impression of a swan - I think???)

We had planned to zoom past La Rochelle over to Ile d'Ré, but the Sat Nav indicated that we were literally going to pass the hotel and as La Rochelle looked ok, we decided to pull in to the hotel early and explore La Rochelle instead.

Tonight we're staying at Hôtel Trianon which turned out to be a posh periodic hotel where New Zealand and Cardff RFC have frequented. Good job we ventured out for dinner as I don't think we had the attire to eat in the restaurant at the hotel.

(The girls in their home for the night)

We thought that we should lower the tone a bit by hanging out our wet clothes......

Tomorrow we has a nice leisurely ride to Pornic, following the coast road for the journey.

Enjoy the pictures of La Rochelle.

Oh and Anne's dinner of Moules a la Roquefort 

Defying the Sat Nav

Today was sheer biking heaven. Partly because I had set a route out in my head (D911 from Millau to Cahors) so when the Sat Nav told me to turn off the D911, I very naughtily, refused to do what I was told.

We started off leaving the Cevenol Hotel and heading towards the road that went under the viaduct. The viaduct is huge and I mean very huge - ginormous in fact....

It was time to say goodbye to the viaduct  for the second time in 2 years and off we headed for the D911.

This road was fantastic for bikers. Bend after bend after bend, meandering through miles of deciduous forests where pockets of wild lavender bushes provided a sweet aroma. Every now and again we would be travelling through narrow valleys and at other times huge wide valleys. We travelled along the road as it hugged the sides if the valleys providing the most amazing vistas and revealing awe-inspiring villages.

Occasionally there would be rocky outcrops where in one village, residents had carved out caves to be used for storage and as garages.

At lunchtime we decided to stop at the next road side cafe, however, the magic of today's ride offered us so much more. We turned a corner and came across the medieval town of Villefranche-de-Rouergue and the cafe? The cafe was set in a large open expanse on the banks of the river, next to the old medieval bridge.

The trees spared us from the 32 C heat. It was a pretty damn good roadside cafe!!

For the last stretch of the journey (after a brief stop at a McDonalds - I know, they get everywhere, but they have Daim Bar McFlurrys in France), we followed the Dordogne and a roadside canal to Bergerac. 

We were tired, hot and sweaty, but the icing on the cake today - the hotel had a pool!

From deep down to high up

Today started with a delightful, freshly made, buttery croissant with mirabelle jam, washed down with a aromatic French coffee.

We then said a sad farewell to the chilled village of Miers and the amazing Le Petit Dragon Rouge and headed for Le Gouffre de Padirac - a mere 4.5 km away.

We decided to go earlyish in order to miss the queues, however at 9.30am the queues were still 2 hours long!!

Eventually the 2 hours had passed, we'd got our tickets and it was time to descend.

No photos were allowed, so here's what was able to be taken.....

As no photos were allowed, please follow this link for more images...http://www.gouffre-de-padirac.com/mobile.php?redir=fr/padirac/medias

We set off (finally) for Millau (prenounced Mee- yo) at about 2pm ish. Much later than anticipated. 

The temp today hit 40 C at times, according to the Pharmacy illuminated lights that were plentiful in every village we passed through.

The roads were a bikers dream - constant bends and the occasional hairpin thrown in for good measure. Absolutely stunning! and enjoyable - flowing from one corner to the other - leaning to the left followed by a lean to the right and so on. 

The flow of the ride only slowed by the frequent laying if fresh gravel and being behind a lorry without an opportunity to pass.

The road signs soon signalled that we were near ti Millau and the amazing viaduct. We joined the A75 at junction 44 and followed the road in a southerly direction towards Montpellier. We paid our only planned toll (at the bridge) and made our scheduled stop at the visitor centre for a walk up to the viewing gallery.

We rejoined the motorway to junction 47 and dropped down the most amazing windy road boasting majestic vistas at most corners to the town of Millau and the Cevenol Hotel (where we stayed during last year's tour). The food as just as amazing, bit alas, there are no rugby players staying this year.

Off Road Riding!

As we sat eating breakfast, the temperature rose to 28 C. We left it late leaving the biker hotel and our mission was to find a petrol station that was open before we ran out of fuel. We were both on red as Sunday in France = everything shuts down!

According to Rob and Tom it is the same on Monday too and true enough, the fuel station not 50 yards away from the hotel, was shut! After a nervous 15 mins, we thankfully came across a Citroen garage that was open for business AND had fuel.

The scenery was really changing now - more hilly and the forests were more frequent. It was beautiful. We'd had lunch in the new Oradour-sur-Glane so decided to ride as much of the 190km as we could before the need for fuel or water. The Sat Nav on the other had thought that this would be a good time to take us down roads through the middle of nowhere - you know the ones I mean - with grass and gravel n the middle of the road. Well it was a challenge, but not like the one we were about to face......

There had been a storm ahead of us - we could see clouds forming, but were hoping to miss it. At first the roads appeared wet and the air smelt of fresh rain and the temperature appeared slightly cooler. Then we started to dodge twigs and leaves strewn across both carriageways of the road and then the twigs and leaves became branches blocking our carriage way. We turned the next corner and there was a tree across the road - what sort of storm was this? The power line that ran parallel to the road had also come down! The police were already at the scene and we dutifully observed their make-shift diversion - into a wet, muddy field steep camber down and then steep up the other side back onto the road whilst riding in a semi- circular direction to the right. The previous vehicles had cut deep grooves into the field and there was evidence that some of the previous vehicles had slipped and slided as they negotiated the diversion.

It was one of those moments where you try and plan your next move but in the end go with the flow. Down off the road down the steep bank - negotiate the least sloppy looking groove whilst on the flat - planned for the tiny grassy strip between wet, muddy tyre tracks - here goes, not to much acceleration in case I lose control of my back tyre and no braking - up the slope and...........

Made it! A quick glance in my mirror and Anne had made it too. We questioned Nia about the incident after and she said she was, "a bit anxious".

We stopped for fuel. Reflected over the events that had just happened and then continued on our way to Miers via Rocamadour a town high up on the cliffs above the Dordogne. Absolutely stunning.

And now were sitting on the raised front courtyard to Le Petit Dragon Rouge in Miers drinking a lovely redefine from the Glane area of France. Meirs is such a small village - all roads leading to it are single lane. It is magical.

Oradour

The sun was shining making the stones in the road and the rails on the train track glisten. The young children laughed as they jumped from stone to stone in what would have been someone's back garden once.

The birds chirped loudly and flew freely in the endless blue sky and young families sat on the steps of what 69 years ago was a thriving town with 3 cafes, 2 hotels, it's own telephone exchange and it's own station.

But there was nothing normal about Oradour-sur-Glane. You can't imagine what happened here - the mindless slaughter of 642 defenceless men, women and children. You walk past the schools, 3 of them in ruins. The church where the women and children were hoarded in, doors locked and the building torched.

Oradour-sur-Glane appears today as it was left when the SS pulled out with the addition of a memorial to the victims in the old town cemetery where 2 glass topped coffins are full of charred bones so that no one forgets.

There is a museum now, but that is low key and built underground - the structure appearing from the top giving the appearance of a monument - doesn't shout, hey look at me - doesn't glamorise the event. The poignant moments - the remains of a child's pram in the church and the signs asking for silence.