Allors!

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…