DAY 11 - St Pierre de Clairac to Plaisance

St Pierre de Clairac to Plaisance

69 miles, 1611 m climb, 3857 kcals, 11.8 mph average

Weather, sunny, coldish strong wind from the NW

We got caught with a heavy shower in the early morning which lead to a late get away as we tried to dry things off as much as possible. We were away just after 10, aware that we had a long hard day in front of us. The entire route would be one of up and down.

The team leave the campsite in the morning sun

We dropped down off the high ridge that the camping site had been at and crossed the Garonne almost immediately, another of France's big rivers. Our first port of call was Caudecoste in the hope of finding breakfast. We found a boulangerie, but, you guessed, Wednesday was their day for closing. On to the next place and sure enough, closed because of holiday. By the time we got to Astaffort it was 11 am and we were 12 miles into the day, still with no breakfast. So you can imagine our despair when the boulangerie there also proved to be on holiday. Fortunately we found a place a bit like a delicatessen and managed to get a slightly strange mix of food for breakfast and lunch, all of which proved to be delicious. 

Crossing another major rive, the Garonne

The first town we came to had a nice centre with
archways, but the boulangerie was shut on a wednesday...

So it was that we set off just about mid-day, only just having had breakfast and with more than 50 miles to go as the day started to warm up. Our initial route was on a small road that wound its way up and down through countryside scattered with hill top villages, occasional Chateau and with the odd large lorry. We passed the impressive bastide of Lectoure by, glad not to be heading up its steep sides. We continued the up and down theme, now along a ridge top with great views, and stopped for a lunch at Terraube. 

Lunch at Terraube

... which is a picturesque place

It was getting quite hot in the sun, although a strong, coolish breeze was buffeting us from the side. All conspiring to dry us out. We battled on, up and down, up and down, passing through the small village of St Puy ('oh no, they have a Saint of hills here' said Rowan). We were now running low on water but, no shops. As we were approaching Vic-Fezensac, however, we saw signs advertising a supermarche, so we were hopeful, and indeed it was there and open. We dived in and bought lots of drinks, consumed half and topped up our bottles with the rest.

Early afternoon, team passing Lectoure

Thus fortified we had our only flat run of the day for about 8 miles. Having looked at the route profile for the day, we knew that the last section had 6 more ups and downs, all relatively steep. We counted them down, one by one. Passing through Lupiac, we noticed signs for a fete d'Artagnion that had been held back in August; it would seem that the village is where he is supposed to have come from. 

Top of last climb of the day, hooray!

Finally the last climb, with a brief stop at the top to celebrate, before sweeping down to the small town of Plaisance. Camp site reception had just shut! But we pitched anyway. Bad ground, rough and hard, but we had fun banging pegs in with shoes and throwing acorns at each other!

Camp ground at Plaisance - with a surface that would make a good car
park, and probably usually does! NB. name of place = false advertising!

One day left to Lourdes...

Favourite bits

Rowan - gorging on all the drinks at the supermarket stop

John - the nice quiet road winding through the countryside just after AstaFfort

Roy - Lunch spot

Jeremy - Lunch spot 

Quote of the day: happiness is realising the strip of tarmac going up the hill is not the one we are going on....