Approaching the goal: St. Rome du Tarn to Ambialet

August 1, 2015

The bar across the street was buzzing last night. Despite all the hullabaloo I managed a good night's sleep. The manager of the hotel, who is also the chef, was a little slow this morning, so while he made breakfast, I wandered around town and got a chausson aux pommes at the bakery. As it turned out, this was one of my better moves of the day. After the usual,coffee and croissants, I was off in the direction of Roqufort, to see where the famous cheese is made. The initial hill was fairly gentle, but it stiffened as the climb neared the summit. A fast downhill, then a bit over two kilometers more of climbing, and there I was in blue cheese heaven!

Inside these rocks are the caves where ordinary sheep's milk cheese is transformed into something rather extraordinary. The fungus that does the job, Penicillium roqueforti, hangs from the ceilings of the caves. Too bad I'm allergic to the spores, it would have been interesting to visit.

The view back down to the valley of the Tarn. As you can see, the weather was not very summery. It was cold riding down, in fact.

I rode along the ridge overlooking then valley until I got to the village of St. Victor. I wanted to see the frescos in the church, which had been recommended. The lovely, and VERY pregnant, lady at the tourist office offered to let me into the church, but I was disappointed to learn that the frescos weren't vaey old, having been painted in the 1950's. They're not all that well done, either.

So I left for the valley, which was four kilometers downhill. With the exception of one climb to avoid a dam, the ride was very flat all the way to Ambialet. Most of the route follows an old railway alignment, and it passes through several very narrow, and unlit tunnels, which are mostly no problem.

This is the entry to the scariest tunnel I've ever been in. No lighting, the reflectors on the sides were barely illuminated by my light, and my photo grey glasses didn't clear until I was more than halfway through. There is a button that cyclists can pus to activate flashing lights to warn motorists, but the time allowed to traverse the tunnel is not long enough, so I relied on luck to get me out safely.

At Ambialet the river makes a very tight bend. There is a short tunnel through the isthmus created by the bend, with a chapel on top. I got a hotel room just across the bridge from the tunnel. Tomorrow, I will back in my tent for the Semaine federate.

Today's ride: 92 km (57 miles)
Total: 563 km (350 miles)

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