It was hard to make it through the night with someone snoring like some kind of wild animal. But, it wasn't raining, so eventhough I was a bit groggy, I felt good. Here is the tower that I was sleeping in.
Here is my bed for the night.
Breakfast was cereal, milk, bread, butter, hot drinks and whatever fruit I had from the day before. I took a shower and packed up. Everyone seemed to leave in a group. I rode up to the main square and bought some bread and a pain au chocolate. On my way back up the road to my route, I passed a gaggle of pilgrims crossing the highway onto a foot path heading toward Figeac. They all had backpacks on and seemed to be enjoying their trek. The sun was out for the first time in a few days and it was nice to be in riding without a rain coat.
My goal for the day was to ride over to and down the Gorges du Lot. I was aiming for the town of Espalion about 40 miles away. If possible, it would be nice to get even further, but I didn't know if that would be appropriate.
I rode back to the junction I'd skipped the day before an continued on from there. The route was gently down along the cliffs that make up the Lot Valley.
It was a bright sunny day when I finally got down along the Lot river after about 30 minutes of riding.
It had rained so much the day before that water was streaming down the sides of the valley. I would see (and take photos) of several cascades by the end of the day.
The exposed cliffs I was riding next to seemed a bit other worldly.
All the rain had swelled the Lot and turned it the color of top soil.
After about an hour and a half, I was down in the valley and riding along the river. Here is what the valley of the Lot looks like.
I was riding on a narrow, quiet, overgrown lane that hadn't quite dried out yet.
This road was right next to the river and I had constant views across it. Note that the trees on the other side are actually in the swelled river.
Here's another river shot that shows trees in the riiver.
The village of Viellevie stood just above the river. This pretty shot also shows that it was a sunny day!
The raging, brown river wasn't what I imagined the Lot would be. But, the views I got were memorable, nonetheless.
I stopped for lunch at Entraygues-sur-Truyers
This is where the Truyere river meets the Lot. Here is there confluence.
I bought some fresh vegetables, a bagette, and randomly chose a round of goat cheese and sat on a park bench and made a salad. The goat cheese was a bit too strong and it over-powered the meal, a bit.
As I ate lunch, I watched the swollen Lot sweep by.
The road from Entraygues-sur-Truyere to Espalion is a main road that goes through the Gorges du Lot. There wasn't much traffic when I rode it but the occasional large truck did rumble by.
The Gorges are a narrow, steep section of the river. You can see the hills the rivers twists through just up ahead.
There are lots of exposed rock cliffs going down to the river.
I have no idea if this waterfall flows year-round or only on rainy days. I could hear this long before I saw it.
You can tell this is a main road because it had both a middle line and margin lines. As you can see, there is much in the way of a ridable shoulder. On my map, this shows as green, not a color I would usually ride.
As you can see in this photo, the waterfall simply comes off the side of the gorge.
I had to walk around sime trees to see this one.
As the gorge narrowed, the river had more whitewater in it.
While this isn't a spectacular shot, it shows just how hard it was not to take a picture around every bend!
Then, I came upon a dam who spillway was in full flow. The sound of this plunging water was scary.
After that, everything was placid and calm. In fact, the dam would mark the end of the Gorges du Lot.
I saw this bucolic old building sitting right on the side of the river.
There was a sign in French that, as far as I could tell, told a story about a couple who met here or lived here or came here after they met. I wasn't sure. But, this sign suggested that the building is called the Chapelle del Dol and it was erected in the 13th Century.
A few miles after the dam, I saw the town of Estaing in the distance.
When I came around a bend, I saw that the town on the river was very picturesque.
For the next 6 miles, until Espalion, I saw more and more houses and signs of commerces, such as building supply and other "big box" stores. But, the older section of Espalion was very attractive.
I pushed my bike over that bridge and got this view.
It was about 3:30 when I hit Espalion and I wasn't all that tired. I wondered where I might stop for the night if I decided to carry on past Espalion. I spent a bit of time at the TI talking with the women there who didn't have all that much knowledge of the roads I was heading over. One of them spotted an older guy (my age!) walking past and asked him in to talk with me. He knew the local roads well and was able to give me a good idea of what kind of terrain I would face if I kept going east.
The road out of Espalion was flat for a few miles and then the climb out of the Lot Valley started and I would be climbing for many miles after that. I decided to try for St. Geniez-d'Olt about 15 miles away. Before I left, I wanted to eat something. I ate a small pizza at a bakery and didn't find anything else I wanted to buy.
The road out was just as the man said. It was flat for a few miles and then the road got smaller and started climbing. First, I rode up and over into this valley.
This photo shows the village of Lassouts from below and across a canyon and also gives you an idea of the hill I had to get over to get to my destination.
When I got to the top of the climb, I looked down into this valley. My map showed a large reservoir on the Lotjust northeast of this spot. I couldn't see it but I assumed it was tucked into the hills off to the left and it was being fed by the part of the Lot.
I was getting tired from all the miles and the uphill grind. Finally, I was past the crest and could coast down to St. Geniez-d'Ort.
I don't know the name of this little village but it sure is in a pretty setting.
St. Geniez-d'Ort is a small town full of older buildings and narrow streets on the Lot River, which on this day was close to flood stage. Here is the view looking upstream from a bridge over the river.
Note the side walk on the right side of the picture. The water was just a few inches it below it. There was no other barrier to the street and those houses after that. It looked serious to me but no one was putting up any sandbags. The view downstream didn't look much better. I wondered what the owners of those nice new houses right on the river would do if there was a few more inches of rain.
There were several hotels in town. I picked one on a pretty little square right across from the town's market (in the lower lefthand corner). I didn't quite understand the woman at the hotel who said something about 8:30 tomorrow. I thought she was talking about breakfast. Nonetheless, I got a nice, large room on the third floor. I carried my bike up on floor and locked it and took the rest of my gear up another floor. Here are two views out my hotel room window.
After I got situated, I walked around the town and found the, now closed, TI. It was in a pretty courtyard that was part of the town offices.
While the town was attractive, it didn't offer much in the way of restaurants. I ended up eating a tasty pizza at the hotel's restaurant. By this time, it had started raining and I went up and went to sleep.