Hotel check out was from 9 am so I just put the key on the desk and left without any breakfast or even a drink at 7:30 am. I was hoping the day would be gentle and I could find a nearby shop or Patisserie down the road.
Unfortunately, nowhere was open and I had a 9 mile 1,200 feet climb to deal with from the off so by the time I got to Aguessac 31 miles later I could have eaten the entire shop including the
display cabinet and the tables and chairs outside !!!
More big U bends to deal with !!
Sévérac-le-Château, I have to thank the great manager at the Renault Citroen dealership here as they helped me fix my handlebars. I had some scary moments when one of my gear changers popped out of the end of my tribar when I was going at about 40 miles per hour down a hill yesterday. It freaked me out and I know the wire was attached but what if it had fallen into my spokes or something !! So they taped it up as strong as they could. Never had a problem again so I could descend with confidence. Top people, thank you so much !!!
The road had to give up the balance between yin and yang at some point and the good bit was now about to come. A massive downhill of 6 miles at 6 %. I felt like I had earned this.
The road brought me down to the famous town of Millau which has the famous bridge over the massive Tarn gorge which is the tallest bridge in the world !!!
(This pic was downloaded off the web)
A stage of the 2018 Tour de France left from here...
The climb on the other side was an epic 1500 foot haul which I knew was set to be a real memory and it didn't let me down in any way. It was fantastic and I loved it.
I confess I did pop into the large cafe de golden arches at the bottom for free toilet, free water, free wifi and a quick large Coca Cola !!! No food though, I could still feel the cholesterol floating around my body from 2 days ago !!!!
The tallest bridge and the most stunning gorge to view whilst steadily pedalling away. Loved it.
Top of the 1500 feet climb reached !!
Tail wind !!! WooHoo . !!!
One very good choice when it came to the route was realised when I turned from the D809 near Le Caylar onto the D151 which was this tiny single track road which went through some high ground for what seemed like miles and miles. It was the area of the Parc Naturel Régional du Haut Languedoc
Either side of the road there were huge rock formations and strange shaped trees, it was amazing.
More here.... https://www.parc-haut-languedoc.fr/
Out of the blue a caravan appeared....
It was a surreal moment and I thought I was hallucinating at first....
Looking back I think this was my favourite part of the whole of France !!!
Beautiful forest roads and the temperature had dropped as we were quite high up here. I think this was the highest point of the day and I had remembered that when I reached a Buddhist Temple of Lerab Ling there was a wonderful long down hill all the way to Narbonne, my next final destination. That meant a huge 42 miles all the way down !!!!
There is the Buddhist temple. I am at the top !! woohooooo !!!!
You know you are high up when you see a radio, radar or aerial mast !!!
Bit of a tailwind too, life is good.
Beautiful town called Lunas.
Wine country !!
Bédarieux
I was a bit excited at this point and I have no shame in saying I shed a tear because I can see an ocean for the first time since seeing the North Sea off the coast of Northern France.
Hello to the Mediterranean Sea !!!!
Beziers. Lovely place but I did feel very uneasy at one point when challenged by some street people wanting me to follow them with leaflets. I am not sure but I do not think it would have ended well if I had. I also fell off again when trying to bunny hop up onto a pavement. I was a lot more tired than I thought and mis-judged it. No damage though apart from my pride again but to be honest I could not have given a flying V at that point !!! I picked myself up and carried on and was rewarded by this view of the river 2 minutes later.
So excited to see this sign.. Pyrenees, my last region in France before I hit Spain !!!!
Now I was near the end of this adventure and I suddenly realised that I needed to plan an exit strategy for me and the bike. I had rang a great bike shop in Girona who said that they could supply me with a bike box to break up the bike and pack it away for the flight home so I rang them whilst in the car park of a shop just outside Beziers. They said no problem but remember that you are planning to come on a sunday and we are closed all day !!!! Oh No . I had not planned this bit very well.
To cut a long story very short and after a few miles further on when I got a reply from them I was not sure if I had any way of getting the bike home to the UK other than a very expensive extra nights accommodation or other options. When they called me back whilst I was nearing Narbonne they said all was OK as they had someone popping into the shop late Sunday afternoon and I had to meet him there and he would take the bike off me and give me a receipt and they would box it up and ship it home to my address in the UK. What a fantastic bike shop and people they are, they were so good about this and I thank them from the bottom of my heart. The shop was called Bikebreaks, Girona Cycle Centre at Carrer Mercaders 14, E-17004 Girona, Spain. I strongly recommend them. But please remember they are closed on Sundays !!
The last airbnb in France was reached in Narbonne. My host this time was Agnes and her cat.
The meal tonight was a carrier bag full of snacks from the all night store across the road. Not great for my last meal in France but I was hoping there would be some great food on offer tomorrow.
The wifi code made me laugh... I was very tired from all the cycling but filling in the 30 digit wifi password on my mobile phone nearly finished me off. Especially as I kept getting it wrong. The things you do for internet access !!!!
Today was epic, I would put this as my second best days cycling ever !!!!!! Total of 126 miles and another 8,000 feet climbed. My all time number 1 was still the Tyndrum to Inverness day during Lejog 2016. Surely this would remain at number one ??? We will see what tomorrow brings !!!
Battery died again before I got to the end point.
