Sam and Dave’s blog

After many happy years together, life led us apart and Sam and I decided to separate in 2008. These pages remain as a diary of our fantastic journey together.

Just a quick note to say that Sam and I have arrived at Les Fromentaux in Retournac, the organic goat farm where Sam and I worked last summer. It’s really nice to be here and see our friends Réné-Jo and Dédé, and to have a chance to rest our legs after three hard days of climbing (yesterday into Puy en Velay I think we climbed non stop for 20kms).

We’ve been heading gradually further eastwards, and are now in the region called Aubrac. This is is a high plateau is part of the Massif Central, with landscape (and weather) reminiscent of Yorkshire.

Our journey up to the plateau started yesterday (Sun 20th Aug) in Entragues sur Truyère (alt. 238m), a pretty, old town at the confluence of the Truyère and Lot rivers. We woke up around 7am to a grey, drizzly day, and started slowly. After packing up the tent and getting some provisions in the town it was already 0930 before we began the climb.

The first 4 km to Banhars took us gradually up above the Truyère, with beautful views of houses perched on the steep valley sides. We stopped at Banhars in a nice little café to eat our breakfast. At 1030 there were already a couple of old men started on the glasses of wine, one of whom insisted that we help him translate a letter he had received in Dutch.

We had mentally prepared ourselves for a tough day, knowing that we would have a lot of climbing to do, but in the end it was quite gradual, and we sustained around 10km/h most of the way up to St Amans des Cots (alt. 755m) where we had arranged to meet our friend Valerie for lunch. I know Valerie from the choir I sang with in Lyon, and she had come to join us (by car) for a few days.

We arrived at St Amans around 1220, and popped into the Spar for a few provisions. A very tanned man came up to us in the shop and asked “does your bike work?”. We weren’t quite sure what to say, but explained that we were having a good time riding it. He was riding with his family - wife and four children, and were heading westwards. Unfortunately one of his daughters had fallen from her bike recently, and had stitches on her chin.

We ate lunch with Valerie in a café in St Amans, and set off around 1500 for Laguiole. More climbing, always tougher after lunch, and the weather turning worse. With the increasing cold and drizzle, we couldn’t really appreciate the stunning countrside which we were passing through. Thankfully we had the beautiful pink heather all along the road to keep us company.

We arrived in Laguiole around 1720 tired and wet, and popped into the tourist office to find out about campsites, and enjoy the warmth! There was a great exhibition of photos next door and we bought several pictures.

RUN OUT OF TIME .. TO BE CONTINUED

D’accord, la cuisine anglaise n’a pas une bonne réputation chez les Français et le végétarianisme, ça c’est bizarre donc je voulais partager avec vous quelques bonnes recettes qu’on a fait sur notre réchaud les soirs dans le cas où tu veux faire un peu de camping… Read the rest of this entry »

The last week or so, we’ve been in the heart of the Dordogne, the land of Grottes and Gouffres (Chasms). The cycling and landscape has been stunning, with more hills than over on the coast. The weather has been pretty good too, not too hot, apart from Weds 15th, when we had a scorching climb to Rocamadour. Read the rest of this entry »

Si tu n’es jamais allé à Rocamadour, tu dois y aller bientôt. C’est vraiment magnifique…une église ancienne bâtie dans les roches et en haut un château avec une vue merveilleuse. En effet, c’est une ville en trois étages. La montée pour arriver à l’Hospitalet était exigeante et nous a donnés beaucoup de peine. Mais le panorama à travers la vallée de la dordogne était vraiment halucinante. Je vous recommande de la faire parce qu’elle vaut la peine!

A Rocamadour la chapelle de la Vierge Noire est petite mais pleine d’ambiance. J’ai été émue par la tranquillité et le sens de paix. C’est vraiment un endroit chargé d’un sentiment de spiritualité. Tu peux sentir le poids de l’histoire et du temps et de tous les pélérins qui y sont venus pendant les siécles. Si tu es croyant ou si tu es non-croyant, il faut y aller.

Dans le soir, on est passé de choses sacrées aux choses ridicules parce qu’on a mangé dans un resto italien géré par une famille indienne qui ressemblaient un peu de Fawlty Towers (pardon la référence culturelle anglaise)…on a mangé un pizza qui n’était pas mal mais le service était marrant!

I’ve been wanting to do one hundred kilometres in a day on our bike just to see if we can…. and of course we can! From Castillon la Bataille (site of the last battle of the one hundred years war where the English lost to the French), breakfast in tiny village with very friendly Manu and then through Ste Foy la Grande to an excellent market. And through lots of wiggly country lanes to St Alvère. St Alvère is very cute little town. The last ten kms hurt a lot! And the uphill to the campsite was hard work.

We were knackered at the end of it but feeling good Now taking it easy and off to see some cave paintings.

Hope you’re all well. love Sam xxx

Journey stats

Alarm: 05h50
Start: Camping Municipal, Castillon la Bataille
Left Campsite: 07h00
Total Distance: 105.49 km
Cycling time: 5h 49m
Average speed: 18.09 km/h
Max speed: 55.78 km/h
Destination: Camping Les Pauvrettes, St Alvere
Arrive: 18h30

Thursday morning out of Brach (we stayed at an Aire Naturelle which I think means a campsite but with more basic facilities and a bit more room for your tent) and onto the ferry to Blaye. On-board the ferry we met some other British cyclists (Nick and Irene on a tandem and Chris and Janice on solo bikes…….hey, so did I get your names correct?!) Read the rest of this entry »

Sam and I always talked about swapping places on the bike at some point, and now we’ve finally got around to giving it a try. We were waiting until we had bought a ‘Maillon rapide’ (magic link) for the front chain so that I could easily add or remove an extra length of chain (which we had brought with us).

So yesterday we gave it the first real trial: Sam had a solo cycle round the car park at les Gouffres Proumeyssac in order to get used to steering and controlling the bike. All was going well until she tried to stop, and, unable to release her foot from the automatic pedal clips, made an impressive Jeremy Beadle style crash to the floor.

Thankfully there was no serious harm done except for a bruised ego.

Not deterred, Sam gave it another try, this time avoiding the pedal clips, and eventually got the hang of it.

I think the clips which came with the front pedals must be slightly different than the SPD ones on the back pedals (although they’re supposed to be the same).

After Sam had got a bit more confident, we set off. I took over again for the uphill stretches, and Sam had a go on the downhill stretches. I hadn’t bothered to lengthen the front pedals, so I had my knees around my ears and couldn’t really push the pedals with any force.

Wow, it’s really nice on the front seat! Not only comfortable, but you can really look around and appreciate the countryside, without needing to worry about looking at the road at all. I’ll definitely have to make sure Sam gets more practice on the back.

Just to let you know that the sea and the sand on the Atlantic coast is wonderful. But you definitely need a bodyboard or surfboard. Shame that you can’t fit either of those on the back of a bike very easily. But we had fun jumping the waves and going Whooooooooooo! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! oh-my-gaaaawd! Here is a lovely picture of us looking stylish on the beach…I think we could get a part in Baywatch as the strange foreigners, don’t ya think?!

The sea by Lacanau Océan is really quite dangerous though…apparently one guy had been killed on Sunday because of the strong currents. Hence lots of Baywatch style lifeguards hanging around.

It was lovely falling asleep on the sand and having time to read a bit….and it did me good to think a little bit about what to do in ol’ Blighty when we come back (tbc)….Answers on the back of a postcard please to: Any ideas, PO BIKE 30.