Another tough but beautiful ride but tomorrow will be a day (mostly) off the bikes.
We enjoyed our stay at Les Eaux Tranquilles, where we were very well looked after by our friendly host, whose name I didn’t catch. He’s British but obtained French citizenship a few years ago, before the rules changed. He’s been operating the B&B for 22 years, I think he said, and before that was in the computer business and before that, was a navigator in the RAF. An interesting man. Les Eaux Tranquilles is a very nice stay if you’re in the area, with a big garden right on the Aude.
I had thought we wouldn’t want to go into Quillan if we didn’t have to so booked the table d’hôte. The host is running the establishment on his own since his wife passed away so he brings in a chef to prepare evening meals. It was very good. We started with salad, then chicken with roasted potatoes, green beans, and sautéed julienned vegetables. This was followed by a cheese course and then dessert, all washed down with a bottle of red wine.
Salad. I gave Al my anchovies after he took this photo. The rest of the meal was not served plated so we just ate and drank. Luckily our host shared in the wine because it was too good to leave any.
We started the ride by cycling a short distance back up the D117. Going uphill, there were a few places to pull off the road and take a photo, so Al did so while waiting for me.
This isn’t the narrowest spot, but it’s the nicest photo (and it has no trucks in it). The Aude is just below the wall on the left and there are river rafting trips along this stretch. Our host told us that, every year, a few people watching the activity while standing on the wall get blown into the river by the breeze of passing lorries.
After less than 6 km, we took the second right, onto D107, a quiet narrow road up the left bank of Le Rébenty. The Michelin map had given this road a green highlight and it was a lovely ride.
Flower of the day. There were so many blue columbines beside the road today and yesterday. I thought I was repeating myself, but these are definitely blue and those on the route to Vitoria-Gasteiz were definitely purple.
Eventually, we turned onto D20 at Niortais-de-Sault and started climbing, steeply. Eventually the grade moderated but by then my legs were mush and it felt just as steep.
Scott AndersonThis spot! I nearly matched both your two photos a decade ago, on a day ride from Quinlan: https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/girona2014/layover-in-quillan/#3249_1912877_1zGsoq_image. After that we biked the other direction through the amazing Joucou Gorge on our way back. Thanks for the reminder of a spectacular ride. Reply to this comment 5 months ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Scott AndersonHah! I copied much of your trip for my 2016 tour, but not the day rides. This time, I was just creating my own. I guess I’ve learned from the master! Reply to this comment 5 months ago
We stopped for a much needed lunch in Camurac, perhaps the only place we passed all day where we could get food. I’d done a Google search for restaurants along our route and verified the existence and hours of L’Edelweiss on its website. There’s always a worry, though. Happily, it was there and open and serving burgers today. Fuelled up, we set off on the second half of our long day.
Not far after leaving Camurac, we entered a new département.
I filled one of my bottles at this font in Prades. Al had stopped here to wait and as I was catching my breath, another cyclist rode up and filled his. Nice, cold, non-plasticky water (my bottle makes water taste bad after a couple of hours).
If you look carefully in the photo above, in the greenery below the no-entry sign (for a path leading up to the left), you can see the edge of this sign. I had seen some of these signs flashing past and finally stopped to get a proper look. I don’t think we went all the way down to the official start of this climb.
Still on our descent, we came to a mirador with information about what we are seeing. The large white complex at the centre of the photo is l’usine de Luzenac, which processes the talc from the largest open-air talc quarry in the world. It ships more than a thousand tonnes every day. And, apparently, the quarry is a tourist attraction. Our route will take us along the high road on the right.
Along that road, we saw this. The talc quarry is far above us, at an elevation of 1700 m. The processing plant is well below, on the valley floor. These gondolas are how the raw material is transported.
If you missed it 3 photos up, there are the ruins of a Cathar castle on the hill. Last night’s host told us there are many of these in the region because it was the last holdout of the Cathars.
Yes! After the Pas de Souloumbrié, the road tilted down and stayed that way. Then we got to Cazenave. There we saw a clearly temporary sign that clearly said “vélos interdits”. Bicycles prohibited on our route ahead. We consulted our maps. We could turn off to the right, onto a road that would soon become a path over yet another col before descending to another road, we could backtrack 13.5 km uphill to Lordat (where we saw the Cathar castle), then descend to the N20 and ride 20 km or so on a busy highway. Or we could just ignore the sign. It was after 5, after all. I didn’t take a photo because I never saw it.
So down we went. Partway down, we saw signs that there had been some rock scaling or similar work carried out earlier in the day, but the road was clear. At the bottom, we saw a matching “vélos interdits” sign for the other direction.
We finished the day with 3 km on the relatively busy D618. It wasn’t bad, but after a day with almost no other traffic, it seemed like a lot.
We are staying 2 nights at Belle Occitanie, a chambres d’hôte in Tarascon-sur-Ariège. They offer a table d’hôte but we will do that tomorrow night. After our large, late lunch, I only wanted a salad. Al thought he wanted a light meal too, but ended up having the menu at the restaurant recommended by our host.
My salad and Al’s first two courses weren’t photogenic, but dessert! I had Café Gourmand (a small coffee accompanied by samples of several desserts) while Al chose pain perdu from the options included with the menu. Yes, French toast with ice cream and caramel sauce. Both desserts were very good and well-earned.
