September 3, 2024
Day Four - Saint Flour to L'Habitarelle
Another morning laying in my tent at about 6:30AM, telling myself just another ten minutes. I still managed to get out of the sleeping bag by 7AM, which isn't too bad but so far on this trip experience has taught me it's not early enough to leave by my preferred time of 9. Oh well, better than getting up at 8 or 9! Weird, for anyone else's holiday it would be the reverse! Once I'm awake, I usually want to get up pretty soon after. Despite knowing I wanted to leave by 9 I could not help myself but try to be mr eco-friendly and attempt to patch my punctured inner tube rather than replace it. After getting the tube out, it quickly became obvious what the issue was two thorns. Lucky me! I tried to patch them with a big rectangular patch, but as I often find with these things different edges kept coming loose...maybe I hadn't roughed up the tube enough. I gave up after about fifteen minutes and put a fresh tube in instead.
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Getting to the local bike shop to buy a new inner tube was relatively straight forward, although I didn't enjoy the steep descending in to the town centre. At least my hands were saved by the hydraulic disc brakes. The shop staff member who got the tube for me was friendly, and knew just about enough English for me to tell him what I was up to. I wonder how often they get scraggly looking cyclists with all their belongings strapped to their bikes passing through. I'm not even following a euro velo route so perhaps here it's pretty uncommon.
I passed a supermarket and tried my current strategy of just walking in to a supermarket with the bike, without asking permission. It worked in Portsmouth a few days ago, and it worked in Milan too last year (although there I think I asked). Not so this time, the lady who accosted me suggested I lock the bike up. I'm not too keen to lock the bike up outside a supermarket when it's got all the bags attached. We came to a compromise of leaving it inside the shop by the info kiosk. Even so I rushed around the store more than I would have with the bike. Maybe she did me a favour after all!
I passed through a commune called Le Malzieu-Ville. According to its Wikipedia page which I've just looked up it's a member Les Plus Beaux Villages de France (The Most Beautiful Villages of France). Who knew! The day I passed through it had a pleasant market on where I bought an extra apple - I was sorely tempted by the apple juice too. I suppose I could have decanted it in to a water bottle, which I've done before with orange juice. Oh well! Sadly I didn't encounter any desserts which were tempting enough for me to buy to go with my lunch.
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Having given up on the market I proceeded to the Carrefour Express to buy the next meal. It turns out this one at least would have been open throughout the day, such convenience! I think at this point my default strategy when getting lunch in France is to try and buy it before 11:30AM, as being caught at 1PM with no food when everywhere is shut is not my ideal situation. Towns and villages can appear deserted on a mid-afternoon weekday, it's rather unsettling - a bit like a zombie movie!
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After I set off (probably with my lightweight backpack full of food, I didn't have anywhere else to put it), the weather began to turn, but I couldn't decide whether it was actually bad enough to warrant putting on my waterproof jacket. In the end the temperature was warm enough that an extra layer was only really needed for descending.
When I did stop for lunch, the precipitation continued, and I didn't manage to find shelter, well, there was a tree to sit under at least. I was glad to have brought my lightweight Helinox chair. It wasn't warm enough to hang around however, I recall being glad to get moving again by the time I had finished eating. A recurring theme perhaps?
Despite the day's climbs appearing rather foreboding on my garmin's elevation chart, they transpired to be fairly straight forward. What a relief!
When I did get to the top of the biggest climb of the day, I encountered a local cyclists who I attempted to communicate with. You've probably already guessed that he didn't know much English, and I don't know much French! Still, we smiled and wished each other well, that much got through at least. He commented on how beautiful the surroundings were and the lack of traffic. He wasn't wrong!
My route had a small but steep climb at the end of the ride. I had plotted the end point at the centre of the Chateauneuf-De-Randon, knowing that the campsite I was aiming for was close by. What had not occurred to me was that the village was on a plateau surrounded by steep roads! Oops. Of course I only realised that the campsite was not on the plateau after I'd got on top of it. Oh well, it was a fun climb nonetheless, and I bought some supplies from the convenience shop that was there anyway. The hotel called out to me somewhat but I was set on using the campsite.
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The reception of the campsite was only open two hours per day, so first I had to set up my tent. I spent a bit too long riding around the campsite deciding on a good spot to pitch up. I was also keen to choose somewhere I could lock my bike, which in the end I found to my relief. It was a really good campsite actually - cheap and had a heated lounge area. Brilliant for someone like me whose tent doesn't have much in the way of space to read a book or something similar.
That night was the night I would finally eat at a restaurant, the first time on the trip - and what a delight it was! I did feel awkward not knowing any French, and the staff were taken by surprise by my rather dull taste in drink, but the food was delicious, and the decor was appealing too. I did get the impression I was the only camper there, as the restaurant was attached to a hotel. I think i was the only person there eating alone - go figure. I've gotten over that hold-up a long time ago.
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