Beaulieu sur Dordogne to Brive

October 9, 2024

An Up and Down Day

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Today we were off to yet another place we had never heard of, Brive La Gaillarde. The attraction? The train station. We have a long train day tomorrow, alarms set for 5 AM to be the requested half hour early for our 5:58 AM train. It is the only west to east train from Brive that doesn’t go through Paris, which would add hours to the trip.

We left lovely Beaulieu and were immediately routed by Komoot onto a mountain goat trail. The CN took over, and into the hills we went, but at least on an excellent paved surface. We were expecting climbing today and managed to start on a long uphill, to help make up for that indulgent breakfast.

This is an old building with an old fireplace and modern chairs on our floor.

The stairwell was really ancient. We wondered how many people had gone up and done these stairs over the centuries.

Komoot suggested this trail up through the grass just off the main road. I don’t think so!

Looking back at Beaulieu. Nothing like a good climb right out of the gate!

When things finally levelled off we felt like we were on top of the world. A beautiful world. There wasn’t that swooping descent I was expecting, instead it was gradually descending rollers through tiny villages and farms.

Keith zoomed in here. We think those cliffs may be the ones we rode by yesterday.

Things were going so well, but an interesting bit was coming up. Keith’s apps both agreed that we should leave the comfortable little road we were on and take what looked like a hiking trail to me. I balked, he reassured me it would be short, and I fell for it, again!! Keith says he enjoyed it and it was the highlight of the day. It was pretty funny. It may have been short (although not short enough) but at the precise point where it really does make more sense to go forward than turn around it became virtually impassable. It took two of us to manage our way through.

Why do I fall for this every time? It rained overnight so it was muddy, but it actually looked possible here.

I was completely stuck here. I couldn’t get the bike over some rocks (it was steep) and then I started slipping and couldn’t move. Keith came back and pulled, I pushed and we made it a little way up.

Then we did the same with his bike for the next section. Here my bike awaiting rescue while we wrestle Keith’s up the hill.

We reached the paved road and were grateful and I voted for the D Road. There wasn’t any argument and it was great. Low traffic, a Tour de France surface and we made up for the time lost in the mud.

Beautiful road, low traffic and highway grade climbing.

Why didn’t we just follow this all day, we asked ourselves over dinner.

We stopped at this spot for an Orangina and our picnic.

We followed the D road until 12 km from Brive. Then we once more headed for the hills. We really enjoyed the views but the highway would have been faster. Keith had an astonishing moment when he startled some kind of hawk at the roadside and it took off, passing in front of the CN and missed his front wheel by inches. We had enjoyed a beautiful day up to this point but knew rain was in the forecast in the afternoon. It started to sprinkle lightly and we started to get serious about getting to Brive.

Image not found :( — The clouds were looking a little more threatening.

Approaching Brive we had bike lanes most of the way into the historical center. It is another small city with a beautiful historic center. The only problem was, right as we arrived it started pouring. Arriving ten minutes earlier at our hotel would have been perfect.

But that didn’t last long. It was a windy squall too and the pink umbrellas were swaying in the wind.

Our Hôtel Spa Le Meil des Muses is terrific. The bike storage is secure and the proprietor was so welcoming. I had concerns about bike retrieval at 5 AM but it isn’t going to be a problem. We are only two blocks from the train station, and that is the first place we went. There are elevators and we oriented ourselves so the morning will be straightforward. Then into town with the hotel proprietors personal umbrella. That is service.

We wanted something quick, easy and early for dinner so we could be all tucked in early to get some quality sleep. We walked and walked and WALKED. We have seen Brive, but could we find anywhere for a light and early dinner? We have seen dozens of kebab places this trip, but could we find one? Nope. Back to the hotel because right next door was a great restaurant and we had our noses pressed to the glass at 6:59 PM. Dinner was delicious.

Breakfast area. We are sorry we will be missing that!

It is unassuming on the outside but unique and gorgeous inside and the proprietor was so lovely. Our room was large, there was a huge shower and a tub.

Many, many food pictures. This one is chocolate. Bean to bar high end chocolate.

The rain finally quit as we were walking around town.

Trains are always interesting with bikes. So tomorrow will be an interesting day!

Today's ride: 46 km (29 miles)
Total: 1,569 km (974 miles)

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Pierre EhingerHello Kathleen and Keith 🤗.
What a nice ride mixed with this hiking portion, wading in the mud 😂😂.
I tell you... You are real warriors
my prefered biking ninjas🥷🥷.
Hills, mud, rocks, rain... nothing can stop you 😝.
Thanks for the "la Croix St pierre" picture... 😂
Thanks also for such a great adventures report. 👍👍
Hope you did it with the train.
Regards
Pierre
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