Last year we stayed in another spa town in France, Bourbonne-les-Bains. Unfortunately not one healthy option available only high sugar cereals and bread and jams.
At least the company was good! We were first to depart the town riding down the main pedestrian strip. I was quite taken with this fruit and vegetable shop, particularly the colours and presentation. We did not stop as the temperature gauge was showing only 9 degrees Celsius. Whilst we had plenty of clothes on our top half, our legs were bare and we were keen to keep them rolling over, albeit slowly as today was short in km and we could not arrive too early!
From the Lac we rode through undulating fields and vineyards. Grapes and maize were the main products. Villages past through included Cuxtan 9.
The next two photos show the views in this area. One thing we always notice in the sleepy hamlets and villages are just how quiet they are. It is like the people have all been spirited away. They are often ghostly quiet. If the silence is broken, it is generally in one of two ways. The tolling of the local church bell and every town has an ancient church or it is the local dogs we upset. You also look for places to stop, take photographs, have a coffee. However today towns with coffee were light on.
The route continued to be undulating with a couple of shorter climbs having 14 percent pinches. That is when you would like to dump the extra kg hanging off your handlebars! By about the 25 km mark I had dumped my long sleeve jacket and had arm warmers on! It was a balmy 14 degrees!! Ha ha. But the sun was nice. However, the route was totally blocked with fencing closing the road. What to do? That is the advantage of having a Garmin satellite showing local roads.
