Bike: Le Cheylard to Saint-Felicien, 27 miles, 2500 feet of climb
Accommodation: Stone cottage (Airbnb), hosts Nadia and Jacques. The one-bedroom house is an old restored shed with a small enclosed garden that is very nice for your meals. Patio with table, chairs, bench, and barbecue available. Parking in front of the gite. Possibility for cyclists to put bikes in a closed cellar. Sheets and linens provided. The kitchen is equipped with a fridge, hob, oven, microwave, coffee machine, kettle, and all the necessary small equipment. Wifi and washer, possibly fresh eggs.
It's Sunday again. Our destination, Saint-Felicien, has no grocery stores or restaurants open on Sunday, and only one convenience store open on Monday. This means we needed to do a bit of planning. But first we had to sit on the terrace and eat the big breakfast our host set out for us.
At 9:00 sharp, Miriam appeared with cleaning supplies in hand and we finished hooking bags, lights, and devices on the bikes. By 9:10, we were coasting down the hill and out of town.
Like yesterday, the farther we went, the smaller the roads and lesser the traffic. The riding was fun, the scenery breathtaking. Our planning told us a supermarket would be open from 9:00 to 12:30 in Lamastre, about halfway to Saint-Felicien. We pulled up to the market door at 11:30, and Ken watched the bikes while I went in to stock up on food for two days. The challenge was to buy items that would survive a couple hours on the bikes in the sun and would not be too bulky or heavy for us to carry up the rest of the ride, which was hilly. I passed up our usual staples of sparkling water and juice, and went for packaged fruits, vegetables, meat, and granola.
Back on the bikes, we had to go through the town of Lamastre, and ended up in a square with several open restaurants. We picked one out and stopped for a lunch of potato pancakes with salad and meat. As we unlocked our bikes to leave, two gendarmes stopped and asked us where we were from and how our day was going. One of the officers had spent time in New England and wanted to know about places to visit on the West Coast. He told us about a festival in a town about 20 miles away (too far for us to swing by).
On the road again, the last half of the day was beautiful. We were on a small highway with little traffic, rolling up and down hills and across rivers through small stone hamlets and villages. The best kind of riding.
The last two miles to our gite were--you guessed it--uphill. The last few hundred feet were up a steep hill.
The views from the gite are awesome.
We are here for four nights, three full days of rest. No biking. Our legs and butts are tired.
 |
| View of Le Cheylard from the terrace of our guest house. |
 |
| View of Ken eating breakfast on our terrace. |
