September 2, 2024
Day Three - Bort les Orgues to Saint-Flour
Despite knowing that I had things to do that day, I was still feeling a bit lethargic getting out of bed. I enjoy cycling holidays for the cycling, everything else around it can be a bit tedious. Bikepacking is the best way to see lots of new places in a short amount of time though, so sooner or later as I lay in bed I convince myself being a layabout probably isn't the best way to spend the morning, and get up. It's in these moments I think to myself I'd rather be at home. If I was at home however I wouldn't have anywhere new and interesting to cycle!
First stop (downstairs) was the breakfast I'd paid for, which was pleasant. The apricot/nectrine/whatever it was I had was not ripe though, it was about as soft as an apple and not as sweet. Never mind. Onwards to the supermarket. I managed to find myself some new flip flops (non-spd) to replace those which I'd lost. Turns out they're not very comfortable either, woohoo! Back to the hotel.
This time I was ready to go at 9:45...not terrible. I don't really have much of a plan for this trip but I still don't like leaving late, even if I'm not planning on being anywhere in particullar.
That day was the first big climb, De Puy Marie. If it weren't for seeing its interesting valley shapes that surround it on Google's terrain layer map I wouldn't have considered starting this trip in Limoges.
I knew there'd be lots of climbing that day, but long before I even got to where Mary was in sight, I already had a 20% climb to get up! It felt like some random country lane that no-one ever drives or rides up. I gave it my best effort but eventually I gave in and walked. I think by this point I hadn't switched auto-pause off on the Garmin cycle computer, so I don't know whether Strava will even think I got up the hill. The horror!
After that nasty hill, the riding leading up to the main climb for the day was beautiful. Quiet and peaceful forests with a shallow gradient which I could just slowly plod along up in the lower gears. There was actually a penultimate climb before the extinct volcano appeared. Getting to the top of that resulted in some stunning views of the valley below.
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Time for the first proper descent of the trip. I get a bit nervous with how much abuse disc brake rotors can take. I know you're supposed to pulse the brakes rather than drag on them, but what if between pulses you're going too fast within 2-3 seconds? It becomes rather similar to a brake drag pretty quickly. I got down the descent safely though, and railing my bike around the corners was as ever enjoyable. Fortunately the descending never got too steep, which is what I don't like.
All that descending only to climb again. Couldn't someone have built an ugly bridge between the last summit and where I wanted to go? OK, slightly ridiculous. As I approached the big climb, some graffiti on the road appeared - "Cav the GOAT". Well I guess I'm following a TdF climb then! I'll have to look that up at a later date. I bet no-one I speak to about this climb will have heard of it though.
Shortly after the CAV GOAT markings on the road, a dog started running beside on the road. I'm not unfamiliar with this sort of thing happening. What did take me by surprise was the dog kept following me beyond what seemed to be the limits of the property it appearerd from. "Surely it's going to turn back soon" I thought. Five, ten minutes pass. Still with me. At this point I'm beginning to wonder if this dog actually plans on turning back at all - it didn't seem like it. The first big climb of this trip, one of the ones I had planned the holiday around, and this blasted dog is getting me stressed! Don't get me wrong, I love dogs. A chap in his car stopped and briefly spoke to me. I remembered some of my GCSE French and said "Chien", but he seemed non-plussed. I continued on. Dog still followed, running behind, beside, and ahead of me. I really didn't want to accidentally steal someone's dog, even if it would have been their own fault for not looking after the poor pup properly. Accidentally alliteration appears apparently (again). I decided to turn back and go to the house where the guy I'd briefly spoken to had pulled in to. I spoke to him, and after the language barrier confusion had passed (he asked if I was trying to get to a city!), we established what was going on. The dog's name is "Salsa" and the dog will follow me then turn around, and it's not a problem. OK then. So on I go. What's that, is Salsa's run up and down the foothills of this climb worn him out? I seem to lose him behind me as his run deteriorates to a meagre trot. At last, the climb to myself once more!
I think it was about 30 seconds, maybe 2 minutes until guess what, Salsa reappeared. Right, fine, well I've done my part to try and be responsible for something I'd inadvertently caused, even if it wasn't my fault. I wasn't going to try and reunite Salsa with owner and delay my plans for the day. I guess it's Tom and Salsa climb the mountain time!
The majority of this climb had a relatively manageable gradient, of course the tarmac was wonderfully smooth too. While the novelty of a mountain climb with a dog coming along for the trip wasn't lost on me, it did make the climb a bit more stressful than it would have otherwise been. Most of the time Salsa did a good job of staying close to me such that we didn't present a larger obstacle to drivers than I would have alone. Sometimes though, good grief - running on the other side of the road, even on blind corners! Not helpful. I haven't told you what breed Salsa is. Golden retriever so far as I could tell. I did get the distinct impression this might be a common thing for Salsa - he seemed to know all the spots where he could take a dip in the water to cool off or have a quick drink. At one point he disappeared up the wooded hill to my right. Was this just an excuse to visit some hermit in the woods? Oh, no, he's still tracking me. Fleeting glances of him passing between the trees in the mid-distance. Aha, I'm passing over a bridge, and he's up in that forest. No, of course not, it's only a stream and he can just bound over it without a care in the world. Eventually Salsa did reappear beside me. I got lots of confused looks from drivers and cyclists coming the other way. Did they think Salsa was my dog? Did they think it was somehow my fault? I didn't ask for this! Anyway, with my swanky Garmin Edge 1040 I have a better idea of how steep climbs are as I ride up them. I knew that this climb would increase in difficulty towards the end. As I approached the hardest part, the prospect of pedalling up that section became less and less a viable prospect, so eventually I got off and pushed the bike up instead. Not what I would have wanted, but it is a mountain climb and I did have luggage. Would I have been able to get up it without luggage? I'll probably ever know. Can you guess how Salsa was doing? Yes that's right, staring back at me up the road - "Come on Tom, I've got a schedule to keep to, hurry up!". Well, he's not got any kit to carry!
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As much as I would have suffered cycling up this last section (15-20% gradient at least, I think), walking wasn't much fun either. Arriving at the top of the mountain at a reasonable time to eat my lunch seemingly became less and less likely.
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Well, I arrived eventually at least, I think at about 2:30/3PM. Before I sat down to eat my lunch, the route I would be following to descend again appeared to be closed. Uhoh. A quick check on my phone suggested the only other descent back down besides what I'd just climbed would end up in a significant detour. Never mind, eat lunch then worry about it I thought. After eating lunch I bought an orange juice from the restaurant I'd spent several months looking at on Google Street View. A quick visit to the little boys room and then to the issue of asking the road worksmen if I could get passed. Yes came the answer! Time to engage the pedalcell dynamo (have I mentioned that yet?) and get descending.
To my great relief, the descent was not as steep as the ascent. I hardly had to brake at all, just casually cruising down at about 30-40KPH - fantastic! The dynamo is somewhat difficult to decide when to use, but of course the most obvious time to use it is when descending. If nothing else it makes for a bit of a drag brake!
The rest of the day's riding was a bit of an anti-climax (literally?). The riding was still good and the views were fine, but obviously getting to the top of Puy Marie was the high point (sorry) of the day. It did not help that I told Komoot to use the "Bike Touring" profile again to get me to the campsite I was aiming for. Much like the day before, it ended up routing me off-road. I was not very pleased about that! I ended up resolving to give up with bike touring route plotting on Komoot. It's not necessary in a country like France anyway as the drivers are well behaved and the roads are easy to get on with anyway. This did result in three separate Strava activities however, oh dear.
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I got a flat tyre just before getting to the campsite, not welcome! Fortunately it was within walking distance so that's what I decided to do. There wasn't any staff at the campsite and it turned out using it legally was rather expensive as I had to sign up for some membership. In the end I didn't need anything gained from paying them to use the facilities, and at no point did I see any staff ayway. I have been known to do a bit of campsite piracy (accidentally!) when it's been too inconvenient to actually pay the staff. Maybe I should have done it intentionally for once! I probably paid about 20-30 euros just for the privelege of somewhere to pitch my tent, a toilet and a shower. Possibly a bit excessive.
Locking the bike up against the fence took longer than it should have! Sorry, Strava in three parts as I'm feeling lazy!
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