Today was 191 miles.
I left Royan and headed into the mountains, at the first town I came to the road I wanted was closed for a Sunday market. In my experience this is not good news. Every alternative road heading in the direction I wanted was also closed and there was a distinct lack of signs to give me a clue of how to get out of the town. Eventually I headed south rather than the easterly direction I wanted and was lucky that the detour was only 30 miles.
As I rose into the mountains I ran into low cloud so the temperature plummeted and the roads were damp with a coating of slippery leaves on the bends.. After a few miles the sun came out, for the rest of the day I was treated to clear blue skies and temperatures of 22° C at lower altitudes.
I found some fantastic mountain passes rising to well over 1300 metres, some were exceptionally narrow, some with fresh chippings, a great days riding in warm sunshine on mainly empty roads. Farm animals were still grazing freely in the clean cool air at the top of the mountains, it won’t be long before they will be moved down the mountain for the winter.
I settled for a cheap hotel on the outskirts of Tarbes. After the fantastic food over the past few days their offering didn’t measure up
