Post Script

After a hot sticky night in the Mellow YH in Barcelona, we were up and away into the city for our final ride together to get breakfast near to El Clot train station. So it was tostados all round before we split:

 

Kev was catching a ferry to Mallorca; Dave H getting a flight home & Dave M going to meet his cousin, who lives near the city, and then flying home tomorrow. Alex, Neil & I struggled into the station with our bikes, panic bought tickets (Alex even left his change in the machine.....ooooo noooooo), but remarkably we got the bikes onto the right train in the nick of time. 

Great bike facilities & a really comfortable train. Puts our lot to shame! 

We off loaded at Figueres, found the hotel in Castello d'Empuries, dumped our stuff, rode through a nature reserve to the sea and hit the beach for the afternoon.

A puncture on the way for Neil was the one & only for the entire trip: 

 

 And relax 😎

 

A few stats for the N2B:

Just over 1000 miles in 80 hours in the saddle with 18km of vertical ascent. No punctures (on the main ride), one broken chain, one broken mech, a loose shifter, numerous dropped chains, 6 sore bottoms, 12 sore legs and a partridge in a pear tree 😀

Done!

Well we're there 💪!

We set off from here at 9.20:

 

First sighted Barcelona & the ocean at around 5pm (it's there if you look hard enough) :

 

It turned out to be a long, hard day. Some great roads and scenery, but some cruel climbing, made doubly hard in the heat. 

An interesting start, as we cycled through motorway tunnels ( because there's no other was down from Ribes without silly diversions & because a local cyclist told us to do it!). Then off into the countryside for the serious stuff. 

Dave M had a mechanical, breaking his front mech, leaving him with a rather limited selection of gears. Good job he's a strong lad! 

Anyway, we needed a few stops to re hydrate today and the going was tough, but we got there in good order. Tired, but well chuffed!

We are simply awesome

 

Well done to us all I say. A bunch of not so young MAMiL's averaging 74 miles a day over a fortnight of challenging terrain, in challenging conditions. 

Off to town for refreshments:

 

Tried to post yesterday's blog on repeated occasions & only just succeeded & now sitting on the Mellow Youth Hostel terrace at 1am in the morning, full of beer & tapas, having done 90 miles in 30 plus degrees. 

So that's it, done (till the next one). Hope you enjoyed the journey with us & thanks for checking in.

Over the Top

Having done the big day, everyone was quite chilled at breakfast this morning. La Belle Aude hasn't disappointed on any front. Recommended!

So we convened on a glorious sunny morning, in fresh mountain air, ready to do the 50 miler through a few Pyrenean ski resorts and down the valley to Ribes de Freser. 

It was a steady, but no less hard climb on tired legs out of Matemale. Adding a couple of hundred metres to out over night point, we were all pretty warm when we got to the top to commence a long decent towards Bourg Madame. 

 

Stopping briefly in a village a couple of miles down the decent, Dave M lost his footing whilst stationary & toppled off his bike. As is often the case with these things, he got more than he deserved & put quite a large hole in his knee. Fortunately we had a Dr on hand to remove the lump of gravel & dress the wound 👍🏻 and bind it all up with brown insulation tape. 

The remainder of the decent was very pleasant & we took a deviation through the Spanish enclave of  Llivia, a very upmarket looking ski resort, before descending into Piugcerda and having our first Cafe con leche. Yep, we had reached Spain 🚲💪😎

The coffee was accompanied by little light elevenses, which was just as well because we didn't eat again until later this evening. 

Out of Puigcerda, the road ran pretty level for about 5 miles, then we started to climb. Pretty gentle initially, but then it started to ramp up as we got to La Molina. It was Tarmac meltingly hot too & with the wind to our rear (😜) it felt as though we could do ourselves a bit of harm if we weren't careful. So, a stop for a cold Coke in La Molina was sensible. It proved to be a good move as we then got into the steepest part of the climb, up to Super Molina.

We then rejoined the main road to Ribes as it levelled out to a steadier gradient up to the Coll de la Creueta at 1888m 

 

 

That was the climbing done for the day thank goodness. The last 15 miles was all downhill to Ribes. What a decent. Good road surface, little traffic and seemingly endless bend swinging. We all rolled down it rather than attack it, which gave us chance to drink in the stunning views as we descended. So it was that we arrived in town at about 4 pm having had a harder fifty odd miles than any of us were perhaps anticipating. 

After a quick beer & a bit of wound management for Dave M, it was time to get sorted at the hotel. 

Nice little village/town:

 

The Hotel La Cacedors was good, but for some barmy reason we chose to eat at the Hostel round the corner. Not a good choice for six hungry cyclists 😩. Memorable for the wrong reasons! 

Chocolate & nuts on the roof terrace then:

 

The Big One

Carcassonne to Matemale was always going to be the 'Big One'. We'd elected to keep yesterday quite short, to give us some time to look round Carcassonne, so we knew that the climb up to the Pyrenean ski resort of Matemale was going to be the hardest day. 75 miles and 2000 m of climbing doesn't sound too bad, but there would be absolutely no let up from start to finish. A 50 mile steady drag from the start, then increasingly severe. 

With Kevin chomping at the bit, we got a slightly earlier start and rolled into the countryside south of Carcassonne under a big blue sky. Lovely conditions to be cycling in, but we knew that the temperature was due to ramp up considerably, so we had to be sensible with hydration & with the pace. 

We threaded our way along the D204/D43 to Pomas, then picked up Cycle Route 5 on the D504 to Limoux. (Kevin was a quarter of a mile up the road at this point & it turned out to be the last we saw of him till arriving at the hotel later - I think he just wanted a day on his own).

A memorable section of road, and not just for Dave H who unintentionally impaled his receding hairline on a bees arse. Poor bee!

The stragglers stopped in Limoux for coffee & cake, then headed south on the D118, through Esperaza and on to Quillan. It's quite a busy, but well surfaced road, with a steady up hill drag. Dave H sat in the front for most of it, setting a really nice pace (bee power!), which kept us in good order before a quick coffee stop in Quillan. 

Then we tackled the Gorges:

 

We stopped for lunch at a little roadside restaurant near to Gesse. It didn't look much, being a small wooden shack, and it was Hobson's Choice with the food, but wow, what a great cheese & ham salad. 

From there on in things got a little more serious as the gradient steadily increased. 

We passed through Escaloubre Les Bains (memorable from a previous Pyrenean jaunt) 

 

A thermal spa hamlet - Odour de sulphur 😖

It also gave Neil & Alex the opportunity for a spot of rural 'cottaging' :

 The rest of the ride up the valley was hard. Mainly because of the heat & our increasing weariness. Dave H had eased ahead on his lightweight setup, but waited for the rest of us at the top. Well, false summit. The remaining 7 or 8 miles of 'flat' riding turned out to be uphill & we were knackered. The village of Formigueres was only 2.5 miles short of our hotel in Matemale, but the bar there had to be done:

 

La Belle Aude for 6.30pm. Rooms ok. Great  meal. Good wine. Late evening. Oh dear:

 

Rue de Carcassonne

It's going to be hot & lumpy. Well, to be more precise, there's going to be one 1000m lump in the first 10 miles, and a 25 mile decent thereafter. Forecast for 30 degrees this afternoon, so we need to get it done. 

So after a little mechanical relief (loose bar end shifter):

 

we leave Domaine d'En Baleux near Labruguiere at about 9.30 having had a wonderful breakfast of homemade produce. The eggs were so fresh that Alex got a couple that were thinking of hatching! No, seriously!

There was a bit of cloud about & the climb was beautiful & tree lined, which made for a shaded ride. Loved it! 

 

Nice and steady at around 7% over about 10 miles. Dave H & Kev aced it, with Alex, Dave M , Neil & I easing into it. We were met at the top by a very nice Australian lady, who'd breezed past most of us on the climb. She was out for a little light training, as she runs cycle tours throughout Europe having retired from professional cycling. Ex National Aus Champ as it turns out - Lorian Graham. Nice to meet you Lorian. She kindly took our photo at the summit of the Black Mountain:

 

The route over the top of the Black Mountains proved to be a little testing at times, but was predominantly in our favour. Got our first glimpse of the Pyrenees. 

 

As the temperature rose, we commenced a very long and steady decent towards Carcassonne. Some of the valleys we glided through were stunning & there was a proper Mediterranean feel developing. 

We got into Carcassonne before 2pm. It was great to arrive at the destination with the afternoon ahead of us. It almost felt like proper touring. So we hit the city centre and did lunch!

We were on our hotel - Espace Cite - for about 4pm. Luxury!

Suitable sorted out, we walked into the Mediaeval walled city for a look around, a beer and then dinner.  

What a great place, with views of where we'd come from:

 

And where we were going:

A very touristy, but no less attractive city, we enjoyed our evening there, capped by listening to a little live rock:

 and roll:

 

Alex only wears Rapha you know 😂

A really great day. Some tough riding through some lovely countryside with great people. Memorable! 

A Stiffy first thing in the Morning

Great night. Good spirits all round. The Goon Show:

 

Another night sleeping in a stone plinth! Just who manufactures beds that hard? So, not a good nights sleep, but otherwise the hotel was fine.  Breakfast was the usual fare of coissants & bread & jam, but was also good. 

I set off in wet kit, having got it washed yesterday evening, but not dried. Turned out to be quite a good move as the sun did shine and the temperature did rise and the road did immediately go UP very stiffly! About a mile at 10%, with an occasional 15-20%, just to be really nasty. Then it was straight down and repeat. Nice 😩

It turned out to be a jagged route on very quite rural roads down to Albi. Nice looking town, especially in the sunshine 😎. 

 

 

Coffee & cakes in Albi gave us (almost) the necessary energy for the long climb out. Another tough one. South on the D71 got us to Realmont, where the complete absence of a cafe was both surprising and disappointing. It was at this juncture that Neil split off from us, wishing to take the soft (sensible) option of the flatter run into Castres on the main road. He's been suffering with a very sore 'twernt' due to his aging saddle resembling a small anvil. PPPPPP 😜😉

We attacked (laboured) over another sawtooth profiled road, stopped briefly at a crap little bar in Roquecourbe (no food) and quickly moved on a few km into the centre of Castres. We stopped in the town square and ate savouries & cake bought from a Patisserie. Alright though. 

Then it was on to our Chambre D'Hotes just outside of Labruguiere.

 

 

Proper rural setting with a very welcoming hostess who gladly washed our cycling kit. Brave woman 😖

Due to the slightly isolated location, we'd booked our evening meal there, so after sorting ourselves out and getting little r&r, we dined with our hosts. A very nice meal & vegetarian to boot. Now to sit back and watch the footy...........🙄

Rocamadour to Laguepie

All a little subdued this morning. Something to do with grey skies and drizzle I think. A bit disappointing after yesterday.

Breakfast at the hotel was extra & on the taking the p**s side of expensive, so we rolled out at 9am, straight into the village (cite) of Rocamadour and ended up getting breakfast in the same bistro as we ate in last night. 

Then it was time to attack the climb out of the valley. In the process we were rewarded with some great views of Rocamadour:

 

Thinking we only had around 55 to do today, we took it easy and enjoyed a lovely ride through lush green countryside across the hills & valleys as we meandered south. The first stop, at about 23 miles, was in Espedaillac:

 

As you can see, The weather was beginning to take it's toll on Alex's bike. 

It was a pleasant enough coffee stop (despite the coffee!) and memorable, because we interloped on a wake! 31 points. 

We left in good spirits, partly because we'd been reminded that we were alive 😃, but also because we thought we'd only another 30 miles to do 🤔. Err, mais non!

As we progressed towards Cajarc, it soon became apparent that the various Garmin sat nav devices were disagreeing with each other & with the map! We were going to have to make the best of various spurious directions in order to get anywhere near the mileage hoped for. 

We stopped for lunch in Cajarc, all indulging in a decent plateful and beer.  Nice, but maybe not so sensible given the climb we faced straight afterwards.

 

34 points........I'm just guessing now 🙄

Alex was off like a Rat up the proverbial, with the rest of us gasping in his wake. Tart! The subsequent ride across the undulating high ground prior to a long decent into Villefranche de Rouergue was good, but some of us were feeling a little stuffed. Didn't stop us doing ice creams there though 😋. 

The final stint south along the D47 & the river valley began with a few miles of predominantly easy, flat riding followed by a stiff climb. A steady 7-8% gradient for about 3 miles. 

 

Everyone got on with it though and we all seem to be getting stronger despite 9 consecutive days in the saddle. Ain't Sudocream great! 😮

A quick, tough run across the top before a long decent into Laguepie had us arriving at the Hotel Deux Rivers tired but happy with the digs. Nice rooms & hot showers. Essential after a 75 mile day! (Bloody Garmins). 

The sun came out for the evening, so we made out way into town for beer and eats. 

 

 

 

Will the Sun have his hat on tomorrow?