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squiz Member Member#: 6644 Location: Registered: 27-05-2007 Diary Entries: 3071 |
11th October 2015 Mt. Biking: La Dolce Via, Gare at Le Cheylard to the Pont de Wind Direction: Wind Stength: Surf / Sea State: Air Temperature: Sea Temperature: Weather: sunny Max Speed: 15.78 (knots - unless stated otherwise) Distance Covered: 21 miles (Nautical Miles - unless stated otherwise) Sunday 11th October – Bike ***** - sunny – La Dolce Via, Gare at Le Cheylard to the Pont de Chervil :) 21 miles, 15.78 kts, 4.25 hrs out! Relaxing morning in our spot up in the hills:) We were nearly ready to go when the hunters roared up in their 4 x 4s, orange jackets and with their dogs with bells round their necks! They shot down the little lane leading off our parking place, quickly followed by lots of shouting and barking and very shortly after that they all roared back up and disappeared! Hilarious. Don’t think they ever kill anything, too much noise and commotion! We drove down towards Le Cheylard and were planning on driving on to the volcano mountains and source of the Loire but……got distracted again! We saw a sign saying bikes only on what appeared to be an old railway line. That was it we couldn’t resist so found the old station building in town and read the information board for La Dolce Via cycle track which sounded even better than the short track we had seen. This one runs from Le Cheylard down the Gorges d l’Eyrieux to Pont de Chervil – 14km. So we packed lunch, unloaded the bikes and set off. It was absolutely brilliant and we loved it. A stunning, sunny, blue sky day with scenery to match. Gently sloping good track following the old rail track with some parts exclusively for bikes and walkers. It keeps very close to the rushing river and passes an area which has been barraged to make a lake for fishing and even a lido. There was a tunnel (tunnel de sarny!) which was pitch black in the middle and you had to hope there were no pot holes because you would never see them! We reached the Pont de Chervil and had a ride over the bridge and to the station building. Although this amazing track continues another 35km to the Rhone we decided to return the way we had come, and possibly return on another holiday! After about a mile there was a disused bridge across the river which said no more than 10 pedestrians! We crossed that and ducked round the ‘privee’ sign to sit on the rocks at the edge of the river to eat our lunch. Back on the bikes to push up the hill but none of it was exerting. Stopped by the lake and watched the fishermen in their individual pump up boats which are like rubber rings for grown-ups complete with flippers! As with the hunters this morning, we don’t think they actually kill anything, just float about with ginormous lures on the end of their lines and talk about it a lot in very loud voices:) When we got back to Le Cheylard we decided to go a bit further and have a look round at the nice stone, narrow street, town. We were out for nearly 4 ½ hours and had biked 21 miles. We didn’t see anyone all morning and had the whole place to ourselves and only saw a few people in the afternoon on the way back. Quickly put the bikes on and after pinching 3 figs from the tree we were parked under and waving to the boules players in the station yard, we set off down the path we cycled on to park up in ……a Camper Aire!! It is at the bottom end of the lake, just before the Gorges start and was pretty empty and free! Just as we got settled two more campers arrived which was a shame but hey its only one night and a nice view:) We sat out for a while then came in for a sort of fish pie (more like fish flavoured mash!) from Super U. It was tasty though – then ate cheap biscuits all night!! Great day:) Photo Gallery Here Monday 12th October – sightseeing travel + two small walks – mostly rain :( The Aire was fine apart from our great white neighbour running his engine for 20 minutes filling our van with fumes at 8.30! The places to park are staggered so at least you don’t have to look at them and we had a lovely view over the lake. Dull and cloudy this morning. Set off after breakfast and headed down the Gorges and turned up to Chalencon which was signed at the end of our bike ride yesterday. It was a long and winding way up which was to be the story of much of today! It was a lovely old place, another ‘village of character’ but with a Roman connection. We walked through the deserted lanes and up to the Oppidum and then followed a circular walk along the chestnut terraces – another of our typical rocky scrambles! Back through the village and amazingly the boulangerie was open and we bought a baguette and a brilliant flower of bread rolls which were possibly the best bread we have had this holiday:) We then made our way to the bottom of the gorges and half way up the other side before joining the Gorges of Glueyre which were possibly longer and wilder than the last ones! We saw some great animals today, cows with enormous horns, lost sheep running down the road miles from anywhere and a field of curious goats who were hilarious and their expressions made you think they were talking to each other! Unfortunately it had started raining and by the time we visited St. Pierreville it was torrential! It was supposed to be a recommended place but it was disappointingly new! Stopped at Albon d’Ardeche and ate lunch in the van overlooking the village and the river. Carried on up eventually reaching a plateau followed by the source of the river Loire at Le Gerbier de Jonc but the weather was bad and we couldn’t really do much. It is the top of an old volcano but looks like a pile of old rocks and isn’t helped by the fact that tourism has arrived and made its ugly mark:( Apparently the Loire starts as a trickle out of the old rocks! We went out of our way to visit a lake at St. Marshall which was quite pretty and the reflection of the village and the trees in the lake was very effective. Back up to Jonc which was now covered in cloud so we gave it a miss and moved on through very different terrain, plateaus with beech forests giving the most glorious autumn colour display. Everywhere is rich red, yellow and orange with a few dark green pines in between. Fantastic! Aimed for Lac d’Issaries which is a natural lake formed in an old volcano crater but it was a bit ugly and very touristy. Deserted of course but a mess nevertheless! We headed for the hills around the lake and found a brilliant parking place in a beech wood in the middle of nowhere - Our favourite:) It had stopped raining so went for a walk in the forest which was beautiful and we enjoyed the trees, many different mushrooms and even a baby toad crawled across the path in front of us! We ended up finding a different way back, arriving at the van just before dark which was a relief! Tuesday 13th October – travelling – cloudy – long walk late :) We had a very foggy start today and left quite early. Drove back to the lake and on through foggy then cloudy roads to Mende in the Cevenne. Went into the Super U for bread and cake and had a quick look round Sport 2000 then it was only a short way to the free motorway all the way to Bages ready for windy La Franqui tomorrow. We stopped for lunch at the Millau bridge aire and had a walk up to the viewing point. We were surprised to reach our usual sheltered spot by 4 and even more surprised by the huge number of flamingos in the etang! The most we have ever seen there. We walked about 4 miles in the evening round to Peyraic Port and back passed our old parking spot (still bouldered off!). |
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