To Chamborigaud

Day 18 St Chély du Tarn to Chamborigaud (81km)

Sunny and getting hotter as the day goes on

Today we say goodbye to the Tarn gorges and follow the river into the hills towards its source and very different scenery. We are off to the heart of the Cévennes.

We depart St Chély and are through St Énimie far quicker than on our walk yesterday. We continue through Prades and admire Castelbouc across the river as we pass by. On the way we meet a French cyclist on a solo recumbent tandem trike with a trailer. We stop opposite each other in the road to exchange greetings. In Blajoux we pause for some food shopping. While we are there a Swedish cyclist stops for a chat and to photograph the trike. Although he is touring on a moped this time because he is covering 4,000km including Italy and France, he is a keen cyclist who hand-builds and repairs bicycle frames. Continuing through Montbrun we stop again in Ispagnac, where it is market day, to complete our shopping. For a short spell we join a main road, which is the only road along the Tarn at this point, but we - and the Tarn, now a small stream - soon turn off before Florac.

The long ascent into the Cévennes hills across the flank of Mont Lozères to the Col de la Croix de Berthel is about to begin, but we postpone it by turning into a posh campsite for a coffee at their café (and the use of their well appointed toilets). Refreshed we set off and the road immediately takes on a pronounced upward direction. We sustain about 3km of climbing, then stop again and sit on a wall to consume our PaRs. Now, fully fuelled we cannot put off the climb any longer and set off again. Finding a sustainable rhythm we make steady progress in the middle ring enjoying the Cévennes scenery of quite different high green hills with woods and upland pasture as it opens up in front of us. We have a few short breaks on the way to enjoy the view and stretch our legs, then as we approach Le Pont de Montvert the road drops down steeply for a freewheel to the village. We are crossing the Rieumalet stream into the tarn on which the Le Pont de Montvert is situated and will pay for this descent as we leave the village.

We roll to a stop just beside the Pont where there is the perfect riverside wall to be a seat and table for the preparation of our picnic lunch. John fabricates the sardine and tomato baguettes. Fairly ATQ free lunch, but an Israeli cyclist (in the area with friends by car) stops for a long chat. When we finish our lunch we walk the whole 2m to sit in the café next door for SdM&C.

We still have a col to reach and a descent to make, so once Sheila has used the café facilities we set off up the steep hill out of the village and continue climbing for the next 10km to reach the col at 1068m. From here it is a steep, hairpin run downwards with vast long views out ahead of us and the brakes squealing at every application in the dry heat. We rocket through Soleyrols and Vialas, but in Le Crepon take a wrong turning, which Sheila spots just in time so that we can turn back just before we take a short cut that dives into a hole in the ground and from which we would have to clamber out again. Instead we just have a short moderate climb before dropping down again.

From here it is freewheeling all the way to Chamborigaud, making a total of 25km freewheeling from the col - and if we weren’t stopping the night in Chamborigaud the descent would be continuing. You can’t do that in the New Forest. A friendly welcome at the hotel and they have a washing line. S&W, then we take a short and slow walk through Chamborigaud. It is still very hot. It’s a two street town. We walk down the main street, checking out the Sunday opening hours of Vival for tomorrow and then return by Rue Basse, noting the post office on the way. Round the block so to speak. Dinner in the hotel garden is simple but good and we retire to bed well satisfied with the day’s run.

DAY 19