East of Albi

On our last day cycling Stuart and I decide to head out to Ambialet, which is a few miles east of Albi, along the river Tarn.  We expect this to be a hilly route, so the others decide to take a shorter option.

We have a very optimistic plan of returning to the gite in time to have a dip in the pool in the afternoon.  I consider the chances of this highly unlikely given that we are often over ambitious in distances to be cycled, tendency to get lost and predilection for stopping to take photos.

Anyway, we set off early (9am, it is a holiday after all) and discover that it is pretty chilly first thing.  We have a strong headwind, the sun isn't high enough yet and the hills kick in after about 5 miles.

It's quite a tough cycle out, but when the road leads us to the top of the gorge, the views are very lovely.

Stuart's initial suggestion was to cycle along the north bank of the river, and then back along the south bank, but there are two long tunnels on the south side of the river, and my inner 3 year old appears, stamps her feet, refuses point blank to cycle through a tunnel (too scary) and retreats back inside.  We stay on the north bank!

Despite the chill, the sun makes for some lovely photo stops.

Eventually, we arrive at Ambialet, where two loops of the river are so close they almost join.

Just 30m on the other side of this tunnel is the other loop of the river

We stop to have coffee, where we meet a lovely Canadian couple, and spend a pleasant hour discussing all things Canadian (and how much we love Montreal!)

After the coffee, Stuart thinks that they offered to pay for our drinks, I wasn't sure, we departed without paying, and now I'm thinking it's best if we never return here.

The journey back is fantastic.  The sun is high and warm, we have a strong tailwind, and it feels like it is downhill all the way back.

Amazingly, we are back in plenty of time for a dip in the pool!!

Garlic from Gaillac

Today we decide to go west, since the previous 3 rides were to the north, east and south.

After the big 50 mile ride yesterday, we decide on a nice flat route to Gaillac, the nearest big town just east of our gite.

Disappointingly the weather wasn't scorching sunshine and cloudless blue skies, not bad weather, just not perfect.  I am uninspired to take photos along the route, but do manage one nice group photo once we get to the town, Stuart, Chris, Sally, Sarah, John, Mary and me.

Sarah, also organised a group photo, loosely based on some sculptures she had seen earlier in Toulouse.  I think I shall call this one - Mad Scots and an English woman.

After coffee in the square we have to do some top up supermarket shopping.  Sally says that I am banned from the store, due to my tendency to massively over cater.  However, I do manage to sneak in to buy some of the wonderful pink garlic of the region.

Lunch in Lautrec

Another gorgeous day and we decide on a slightly longer route out to Lautrec.  One of "les plus beaux villages" in France.  Expectations are high as we leave our gite, since most villages in France are fairly beau.

As usual photo stops are a high priority of the day. 

My goal for the week is to take a photograph through a row of vines, with a church at the end of one of the rows.  So far this has been unsuccessful.  Either the church is off centre, or there is a building, but it is not a church.

Eventually, we realise that it is now noon and we are possibly still a couple of hours from the village, and all French restaurants stop serving lunch at 2pm.

This gives us a new impetus, and the pace increases considerably.  We also find an excellent bike path along a disused railway line.  Very flat, no traffic, nice and shady and a good surface.

When we leave the bike path we find some lovely tree lined roads en route to the village.

The ride is downhill at first, but very quickly turns into a very long climb.  It seems that most villages are built on top of a hill.

Even when we get to the village we are still climbing to get to the restaurant.

But it is well worth it, as we find a very picturesque spot

With great views

The restaurant is called Au pied du moulin

So it seems only right to visit the Moulin after lunch.

We see that there are several bicycles dotted around the village, that are being used as the planters for some of the village greenery.  No wonder we like this village so much!

As we exit the village, I decide to wait at the top of the hill until there is 100% certainty of the route that we are going to be taking.

Once again we are on some lovely tree lined roads as we leave the village

It is scorching hot today, so finding a water pump along the route is a great opportunity to replenish the water bottles and also a chance for Sally to cool off her hot dusty feet.

It has been a superb day out and we are pleased to find that at the end of the very hot day we have ridden over 50 miles (just!)

Climbing to Cordes sur Ciel

Our first trip out is to a little village called Cordes Sur Ciel.

Rocky heights in the sky

Unsurprisingly, the journey out is quite hilly, and there are many stops along the way to consider if we are on the right route.

Eventually, the city comes into view

We padlock our bikes at the bottom of the hill as the roads into the city are all cobbles, and yes, I get the tourist train up into the city, I don't care, I'm on my holidays!

The view from the top is amazing, and everyone agrees that it is a charming little town.

The pretty blue paint of the region is much in evidence.

There are also ancient archways everywhere you look, it's easy to see why this town has become such a favourite with the tourists.

When we get to the bottom of the hill, we find that one of the groups of padlocked bicycles cannot be unlocked.  The padlock is jammed.

Plan A is to pick up the group of bicycles, march them through the town to a garage and ask them to use some bolt cutters on the errant padlock.  Presenting the evidence of the jammed bicycles, is considered easier than trying to explain in French why we needed access to a very large bolt cutter.

Fortunately, Sarah invokes plan B which is to keep wiggling the padlock until it somehow releases itself.    She is now dubbed the master criminal of the group.

The journey home is along very quiet routes through miles of stunning scenery, just as a French cycling holiday should be.

Soon, the three keen photographers of the group are dropping behind, until we realise that we each have one of the three keys to the gites.

After regrouping we can hand over a key, so that we can return home at an extremely leisurely pace.

Sarah now decides that dead sunflowers have a certain beauty, and many more photos are taken.  There are fields and fields of dead sunflowers, they must have looked spectacular in full bloom.

When we are not too far from home, Stuart decides that we need to explore a little more, this means that Sarah now enters our world of major navigational mishaps and errors, although of course in Stuart's world we are never lost, just a little misplaced.

After setting off at 10am, we are home by 8pm, which must be some sort of record for a 35 mile ride!

Arriving at Albi

We have now arrived at our main destination in France, just outside Albi in the Tarn region.  We have hired a gite with a group of friends from Edinburgh.

The weather forecast for the week could not be better.

Despite the temptations to just stay at the gite, we have plenty of cycling planned.

The others have hired bikes which are delivered to the gite, and so we need a short trip out to test that everything is in working order.

Which is just as well, since we quickly discover two broken spokes on John's bike, which given the hills in the area would likely have caused the wheel to buckle.  Luckily we are able to get these fixed quite easily.

Alibi is famous for its big cathedral, which is indeed very impressive, if a little dominating.

As we cycle though the city, we see some lovely fountains in a square.  We see two small boys cycle through these fountains, followed shortly afterwards by two not so small boys.

Along the route between the gite and the city we discover a beautiful meadow of wild flowers, the first of many photo stops I think!