Month: September 2019

In Pont D’Alleyras, we stayed at a hotel whose restaurant had a Michelin star. The food was incredible. This was our first course.

Across the road was this fellow:

Fifteen minutes up the road was the delightful village of Alleyras.

But it was inside the town that was so incredible. For some reason nobody knew, there are stuffed animals and people propped up all around town. Check these out!

More gorgeous riding… Yesterday we rode down to the bridge built by Mr. Eiffel and then up and around and eventually through a town on the San Juan Campostela route.

The bridge looks just like the Eiffel Tower but sideways.

Down below we saw that the Tour de France had passed through this year!

Then up some very steep roads onto a plateau of farm country.

For lunch we stopped at a tiny hotel-restaurant in a village that had been burned to the ground by the Germans.

For our afternoon ice creams, we took some time to visit Saugues, a major stop for pilgrims making their way down France to San Juan Campostela. The place was packed with hikers. The road had small plaques in it.

There was the “English Tower” and a church with an unusual design where we listened to a man practicing the organ. Quite delightful!

Today we rode to the town of Saint Flour (PS. Great internet here!). We headed out early, rode down to the town of Brezons, and then climbed out into a wide plateau full of cattle.

Notice how old this house is: 1888. And this one, attached to our chateau hotel is 1802!

[At the Paiherols village in the Occitaine region of France]

Yesterday was a rest day, which I welcomed. I think I herniated a disk the day before I left the US, so my right leg is weak and hurts. Bummer… But I can still cycle and sleep is okay. It’s sitting that’s hard…

Got up early and wandered. Saw lots of Salers breed of cows and empty countryside.

The village is tiny but has a lovely church.

This is volcano country:

Nonetheless, I went for a scenic sunny hike up towards the Bane volcano (“Puy de Bane”), but it was too sun exposed so instead I did the 10km trail made to show off the fence sculptures made to celebrate the local shepherds.

Check these out:

Here’s the volcano:

[The internet in these wonderful chateau hotels is terrible, so it’s very hard to get photos up… I’ll keep trying though!]

This walled village, called a “bastide,“is truly up on the sky. Cobbles, wood-beamed exteriors, narrow alleys. I had a day before the trip to wander, and my friend Ron and I came here over small very twisty roads.

More wooden buildings…

Some details…

I’m in France. Yes, another bike trip. This time in the Massif Centrale, staying in Toulouse. I’m 3 hours north of there tonight, in the village of Paiherols.

So different from Italy. Slate roofs, square block houses, sweet cappuccinos, very stylish waitpersons! Took a couple days to adjust from the terracotta and casual enthusiasm of Italy, but now I’m enjoying it thoroughly.

We ride through farmlands with blond cattle and rolling hills. Lots of excellent cheeses…I’m trying to taste them all.

Restored convent and chateaux as hotels.

Steak and pomme frites for lunch, with a glass of red wine of course. Late dinners: night before last we didn’t leave the restaurant until 11:15pm. Yikes. Last night was a prompt 9:45pm.

Churches and crosses along the roadsides. Sometimes the churches look like fortresses, sometimes very simple Romanesque. Brick and stone for the walls and buttresses.

Here are the shots from my first couple days riding…