DAY 8 - Murat to Pont de Rhodes

NEWS FLASH! This morning, cumulative distance was 408 miles so we are officially half way! We had also managed to do a total of 5614 m of climb.

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63 miles, average 11.3 mph, 1680 m climb today ( we think this should be 200 m more, but the on-board devices seem to have had a bad day) 3600 kcal used
Weather: cool, dry and sunny, some high cloud, upper arc of contact seen in the afternoon

It was 3 deg C when we got up in the morning - we were glad we had stayed in the hostel. The previous day's rain had cleared and sky was clear. We  got some breakfast from a local boulangerie, which we also cleared out of quiches and pizzas for lunch. We finally found an open epicerie for other supplies as well as a specialist cremerie for cheese.

The bright morning sunlight really highlighted the Mary and child statue above the town, as well as the detail of the columnar basalt in its puy. Murat, we decided, was a nice place with lots of local interest, worth a visit if you are outdoor minded.

Madonna and child in the sunshine

A closer look, and is it? Yep it is...

More columnar basalt! Jeremy = very happy Geologist

Our first climb, to the Col d'Entremont (1210 m), was steady and steep, initially circling round the Mary and baby Puy, then climbing away with increasingly fascinating views. After 9 km of climb, a discrete sign at the side of the road indicated the top of the climb and we all pulled over for a photo. 

Men with a good altitude!

Then off again and steeply down, loosing half our gained height swooping down into the bottom of the long valley that would lead to the main objective of the day: the Puy Mary Col (Col du Pas de Peyrol) at 1589 m (5000 ft, 1 mile) our highest point. The valley is richly agricultural, its broad base indicative of glacial origins. Cow bells tinkled as musical accompaniment as we initially climbed gently through picturesque villages. We climbed more steeply and more of what was in front of us came into view. We quickly identified the pyramidal form of Puy Mary and also squat buildings that marked the adjacent Col; hope sprang in our hearts that there was a summit cafe!

We worked long and hard, whilst marvelling at the glorious views around us. Rowan spotted a kite and we all thought one of the big raptors we saw must have been an eagle of some form. The climb steepened and we worked harder and harder; the total climb is 15 km, so it's hard to pace yourself correctly. As we got closer we could see that the last sweep across the base of one of the steep faces of the Puy was the steepest. We kept together as a team to the bottom of this last 1.5 km, but separated on the last bit as we were pushed to maximum efforts at slope angles of up to 15%. With fully laden panniers, a real trial for any cyclist, but we had already cycled over 400 miles so our tired legs really struggled. But we all made it.

Nearly there!

Men with an even better altitude!

The top was a scrum of cyclists, motor bikers and cars all milling around a cafe (hooray"). We shot some photos of the glorious views both north and south. An extraordinarily beautiful place even with all the people. We settled down for some lunch fortified with coffees and hot chocolates from the cafe. Nice, but slightly spoiled by smells from the toilets (Blog support thinks this is TMI!)

Jeremy gets the panorama feature on his camera to work finally!

Then we were on the move again, for an exhilarating descent, initially along the razor southern ridge, then switchbacking onto its precipitous face. First time doing this sort of thing for Rowan, but he dealt with it well. We swooped and breaked and weaved our way down, and what had taken an hour and a half to climb took about 20 mins to descend!

A delightful valley is also present on the other side, but we quickly broke away up and over one side to an adjacent valley, the climb over taking us through more agricultural land, made difficult along one street he by a new gravelly road coating, a bit like riding on ball bearings in places. The climb was enlivened at one point when we wooshed past a man, very happy, lying in the sun across the ditch at the side of the road. 

We made good time after the top, initially descending steeply on a sharply twisting narrow road that required real care, then opening out onto a broader straighter descent that we all enjoyed. On the near flat section that followed we made good time with a slight tail wind allowing us to go along at a steady 20 mph, so we reached the small, immaculate, town of Jussac in good time.

More up and down next, with a brief stop for fuel in a small concrete bus shelter, before hurrying on. 

Not quite as picturesque as yesterday's random shelter.

We noticed a rapid change in landscape; the big mountains of earlier were gone, we were out of the Massif Central. Late afternoon and we were approaching a man-made lake at St Etienne Cantles. 

The manicured shores of the lake.

A final climb up before plunging down to its shores gave us a great view back to the now distant Puy Mary Massif; it gave us a great perspective on what we had achieved and been through that day, tinged with sadness that its natural glory was now behind us. 

Down again.

We had one last, long, brutal climb to do, 3 km at full effort on tired legs, before topping out and then 7 km more of more gently up and down before arriving at the very typical local hotel at Pont de Rhodes. 6:10 pm, well satisfied and exhausted.  

Favorite bits:
John - straight, wide road at the bottom of our third major descent of the day allowed him free reign - apparently he reached 40 mph
Roy - the valley as we came up to the climb up to the Puyo Mary Col, fantastic (in the true meaning of the word) landscapes
Rowan - the view back the Puy Mary Massif as we crested the final climb before the reservoir lake
Jeremy - finally climbing the Puy Mary Col (Col du Pas de Peyrol), 30+ years after first wanting to do the climb. Good things come to those that wait!

Amuse bouch
The proprietor of our hotel was serving us at the in house restaurant tonight and was charming and slightly amused by us all evening. Our first basket of bread contained 9 piece;, between 4 this presents a conundrum, but before we could fight over the last piece she whisked away the basket and came back with it piled a bit higher with bread. We rapidly depleated this basket also, so that she took this one away with a slightly raised eyebrow, returning later with an even higher pile and a smile of victory, as indeed the final basket defeated us.