Distance 61.9 miles, average 11.1 mph, 1696 m climbed, 3611 kcal used
Weather - very cold morning, then clear sky's and hot in the sun. Showers all afternoon, some heavy, commonly ominous cloud.
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| The chilly campers foraging despondently for breakfast |
We were a bit tardy getting going in the morning, not leaving 'til 9:30. We had breakfasted on our remaining porridge, enlivened with a packet of hot chocolate.
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This isn't a desperate breakfast dish - just a great way to
dry out and warm up gloves on a cold morning. |
This was virtually our last food and was really only enough for 2, split between 4. Unfortunately the boulangerie in the village was closed, meaning our entire stay in the place had been marked by everything being closed all of the time! It's got a bit of a ghost town vibe going.
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| Don't let the awnings fool you. This place is SHUT! |
The result was that we had to go 8 miles before we found breakfast, and those miles were mostly uphill as we climbed out of the gorge, past the Chateau du Roches (or Weathertop as blog support would have it). This was the first of many tough climbs in the day, but the empty stomach made it doubly difficult. The initial climb of about 200 m, done in sunshine under clear skys, brought us up to our first site of the typical conical hills, or Puys, that are the characteristic of the Massif Central. As we pulled into Manzat it was fascinating to see that the wall of the pharmacie that we had stopped at was made up of various forms of lava (yes dear reader, the writer is a Geologist. Had you guessed?). The first thing we discovered was that the Boulangerie in the village was shut because it was Friday! There was fortunately a little shop up in the square where we were able to take on supplies for lunch. We stopped next door at the cafe bar for coffees and hot chocolates, partly on the chance they would have croissants. On being advised no, but we could get them at the boulangerie, we were able to inform the hostess that it was closed as it was Friday!
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This may look like the last place, but it has one important difference
-an open shop selling food! |
We moved on and the next 5 miles proved to also be climbing. I in particular was suffering with dead legs, which was ominous, and doubtless down to the quick sprint I had made the previous day. As we reached a brief flattening out, to our right a fantastic view of Puy de Dome and its companions opened up. A bitter sweet sight as this had been one of our targets for the day, but time and tired legs had made us decide the evening before to miss it out. The views that we got of the mountain throughout the day, with it poking its spiky head above horizon, reminded us what a dominant mountain it is for this part of the Massif.
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| Puy de Dome first view |
We made it to Loubyrat at 700 m now, but dropped rapidly down when turning off towards the Valley des Prades. Rowan let out a cry of 'Patisserie!' and we screeched to halt. It was a treasure trove of lovely things and the staff viewed us with great amusement as we took our time choosing some delectable things, half of which we scoffed immediately. Our luck had changed, clearly, because as soon as we started eating our scrumptious, late, breakfast, the place closed. It was 12:30 - lunch time and we had only just done 13 miles. So we headed on down our first descent of the day; nice sweeping road in tree-shadow.
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| One of many fabulous views |
The character of our day's ride changed here as we followed a route diving up and down along the edge of the Allier valley. We had views across the plain, first of Riom and then of the regional capital, Clermont Ferrand. We stayed close to 600 m for most of the time with short ups and downs, passing through small towns, including Volvic and ultimately the spa towns of Durtol and Chamlieres.
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| A view over Clermont Ferrand |
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| The chateau at Volvic |
All the time we saw evidence of the volcanic origins of the area, with many Puys. In Chamlieres we stopped briefly in a well kept floral park with our last views of the twin towered cathedral of Clermont before continuing a climb out.
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| The Thermes at Royat de Chamlieres |
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| Gorgeous wildflower area |
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| A close up to let you enjoy the flowers properly |
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| A chateau? No, this is the park loos! |
At Ceyrat we finally left all of the big settlements, but unfortunately had to take the main road for a while as there were no alternative routes. We slogged up its slope, continuing our earlier climb, with cars and lorries zooming past, hoping to get off asap. We finally did at Theix, but continued to climb, finally peaking at about 880 m with splendid views of the tree-topped Puy Giroux below us.
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| This might be the Puy Giroux (blog support's not sure!) |
We then started a spectacular descent, loosing nearly 400 m mostly on good road with nice sweeping bends and not too steep. But we lost the last 100 m very rapidly and ground to a halt at a junction with misbehaving brakes and very hot wheel rims. Exhilarating, but now we had to start climbing again.
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| Oh look, it's the Puy de Dome again... |
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| Yep - that's definitely it! |
By this time the weather had changed dramatically, now overcast with grey skys and occasional showers. We could see more ominous clouds looming, so we got on with it. After 2 gentler but still hard climbs we stopped for a last snack before heading on to our stopping place for the night. As we were readying ourselves to leave we saw a young cyclist running with his bike towards us. He had a puncture so we offered to help. It turned out that he was keen on our help, but wanted us to mend another inner tube he had in his bag (the one he took out of his wheel was more patch than tube, so perhaps not surprising), but the hole was a split next to the seam so I didn't hold out much hope, and indeed the mend did not hold. By now we knew we were going to be quite late, so indicated that we had to move on, but he was welcome to take some glue and patches, but he politely refused and headed off running again. It looked like he was well practiced at it - maybe a fan of Chris Froome?
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| Hey, isn't that the Puy de Dome again...? |
Now we descended more gently towards Issoire, where we had decided to stop. We made good speed and hoped to get there by 7, when most camp sites close. We came across another camp site in Perrier, but it was 'ferme'. A brief conflab and use of iPhones and iPad gave us directions to the Camping Municipal, but we thought they were wrong as they pointed to the middle of town. We headed in anyway; Issoire is a large town and was quite lively with music and people when we passed through. Then we saw a sign pointing towards a camping and followed it. As always the signs ran out and we frantically tried to get more information off the internet. I was quite anxious as it looked like we might be too late and it was clearly about to rain hard, but John was calm and persistent and some how found a location, only 1 mile away; so we whizzed off, all lights on in the gloom, over the motorway and straight into the camp site. It was 7:15, but the site was open and actually rather a nice one. Result!
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The group suddenly found there was wifi in
the restaurant |
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| Not the best evening for friendly conversation... |
Best bits
Jeremy - 1. John swiping the leftover bread rolls from the adjacent table when the occupants left. This is not a reflection on John's behaviour since we all urged him on, but a reflection on how hungry we get.
2. First view of Puy de Dome (are you allowed 2 best bits? asks Blog Support)
Rowan - the really long descent after reaching our high point of 879 m
Roy - surviving our steepest descent (we all finished this with our brakes virtually smoking)
John - final descent, fast sweeping corners
Notable achievement of the day
1. Roy has gone past 1000 km
2. Rowan has finally got the hang of voiture jaune
Quote of the day
John, after evening meal, on the way back to the camp site: I'm looking forward to getting in my sleeping bag, putting on my hat and snoring ....
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