Autumn in France

Southern France click here for more photos

After we had set up the tent in the lovely late afternoon sun in Andorra we decided to go for a bit more of a ride through the hills nearby and admire the views and see all the ski runs in the area,etc. Just as well.
It started raining heavily at 9.30pm and didn't stop. By morning the camp ground was like a soggy marsh with deep puddles everywhere. We packed up (still raining) and made the dumb decision that we thought it was clearing and once we were through the tunnel and on the other side of the alps the weather would clear. NOT! We should have stayed in Andorra and gone shopping!!!! ( Warwick found some great ski jackets for E100 but couldn't figure out how to pack them in the pannier – maybe over the top of the bike jacket??) Camping in the rain is not fun. Riding in it is worse!

So encased in our wets, we headed off for the medieval town of Carcassonne as the rain just got heavier, the skies darker and the wind stronger. By the time we got there we had both had enough and tried to find accommodation, however it was Sunday – and everything is closed on Sunday! No lunch. No cafes. And it seemed most of the hotels were even closed – on Spanish siesta maybe? We finally found one nice lady in a small boutique hotel who almost apologised when offering us an apartment for 280euro! No thanks. But she had wifi available and let us log on and book into a hotel in Toulouse, an hour away. Back on the bike we go. I don't think my gloves have ever been so wet (maybe West Coast Deliverance ride??). We googled a weather map and the forecast was just as miserable for the following day, so we stayed put and just tried to get everything dry. What a useless place Toulouse is to try and amuse yourself for a day. Boring boring boring. Student town..

But today made up for it all. Overcast still when we set out, but it burned off quickly and we have had a lovely day. We rode on secondary and minor roads all day winding through gorges and up and down hills. Through rolling fields ploughed and ready for winter crops with lovely autumn colours on many trees. First through Albi, and then a national park to Millau and staying overnite at Le Puy-en-Velay. It was a most spectacular ride. The autumn trees are all golden and red, and the small stream in the Gorge we rode beside made it picture postcard stuff. Warwick thoroughly enjoyed being able to ride along easy winding roads, confident with the reasonable expectation that no-one would be driving towards him on his side of the road around a blind corner! A different driving standard here to what we have had for the last 2 months. Here's a thing: road signs. Most of them are universal, but there are a few quirky ones over here, and lots of animal warnings, etc. But the best one we think we have found was in Italy, and written in 5 languages so there was no mistaking it …. “Give Way to Overtaking Vehicles”. So on all those narrow roads – you didn't have to wait for a suitable safe opportunity to pass - you could just overtake anyone anywhere - and the poor sucker coming towards you just had to (somehow) make room and let you through!

At Millau we stopped to have a look at the viaduct which was completed in 2004. A huge bridge – seems a bit over-the-top in the middle of nowhere, and just across a valley which was fairly easy to drive across anyway. But we did a big circle so we could read all the guff and watch the movie about its construction, and then drive through the valley, and across the viaduct as well.

Overnight in Le Puy-en-Velay – and it seems our camping trip has (at last!) turned into a hotel trip!! It is only about 10 degrees at night now and I have no interest in camping in those sort of temperatures!