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RST in the Ardeche, Gard, Lozere & Tarn - France
Fred A-M:
Just a couple of Pics from recently completed tour of named regions in Southern France. Starting in Montpellier, finishing in Meyrueis, 330 miles over 6.5 days. Great sunny weather, though cycling into a fierce northerly wind for most of days 2,3,4.
Not the toughest tour I've ever done, but included a couple of 1,000m+ climbs and lots of 600m to 800m. Given I rarely find time to get on the bike these days and I hadn't climbed a single hill of note in the previous 9 months, that was challenge enough. Hopefully this will have proved good conditioning for a week in the Limousin/Massif Central where I hope to cover more miles if I'm to see everything on my itinerary!
Ardeche Gorge
Cevennes Mountains
Jonte Gorge (Tarn)
pastafarian:
Looks great Fred! Good thing you managed to include some scenery into the pictures without it obscuring the bike ;D ;)
Inspiring pictures for those of us who are waiting to get out this summer. What would you say was most memorable about this trip?
Fred A-M:
Cheers Pastafarian.
The whole trip was very pleasant though day 4 (Villefort to St Jean de Gard) was probably the most memorable: cycling through extremely secluded mountain forests in the Lozere (one of France's least populated regions). V v peaceful and beautiful without being overtly spectacular, about away from it all as you could possibly get (on road).
My preference is for the more remote places rather than proven tourist destinations. The Tarn (and Jonte) Gorge was spectacular but whilst not completely over-run with tourists, there's probably just enough to encroach on a sense of being out in the wild!
pastafarian:
Looking at it in Google earth, the roads are winding to say the least :)
Fred A-M:
Pastafarian
Very winding (Corniche de Cevennes excepted) for the most part as days 3 onwards were effectively mountains, certainly by UK standards. Very enjoyable in that a new viewpoint swings into view with every corner, some great climbs, some great descents.
Just going back to your last post, by contrast, the lowlight in terms of cycling was probably the Ardeche Gorge - lots and lots of traffic - I actually changed route simply because it didn't make enjoyable cycling - one to visit out of season.
South central France is an area of France (a country that I've already covered from coast to coast, East to West, North to South and more) that I intend exploring much more because I'm under the impression there's a vast swathe of unspoilt and relatively tourist free isolated mountain countryside there to discover (Massif Central, Limousin, Lozere) that can only be covered in several trips if it is to be properly explored!
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