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John and Sheila
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DIARY - Sault to Sault + Mont Ventoux 2011
Day 17: St CHELY du TARN


Sunny and very hot

We had planned to spend part of today canoeing and John, who is up first, wanders down to the beach to check out the canoeing possibilities. There appears to be a half-day possibility from here to La Malène. At breakfast we ask the hotel staff about canoe hire. TP7 - the season does not start until next weekend, tomorrow. Unlike the Lot, there is no bus service along the Tarn, so alternatives involve various taxi and canoe combinations from St Énimie or Montbrun. Sheila is not keen and we agree that the effort and complication is just too much to make it worthwhile. Instead we decide to take a walk and follow the footpath for as far as we are inclined, threading along the gorge side in the direction of St Énimie.

It is hot but there is plenty of shade in the trees and we stroll slowly enjoying the views. Eventually we reach the point where it is quicker to continue into St Énimie for lunch than to turn back, so we carry on. St Énimie is a complete contrast to St Chély. The riverside is a vast car park / canoe hire depot and the shops fronting the Tarn are full of tourist tat of the “kiss me quick” variety. This is quite unlike everything we have seen in the Tarn gorges hitherto. St Énimie would have been a better base for canoeing, but Sheila chose St Chély for our overnight stop because that was already a long way from Villefranche de Panat. A good decision as it turns out because St Chély is quite magical and St Énimie is very decidedly un-magical.

Sandwich lunch in a bar, purchase of a large bottle of water and we set off back. On the way we come to a fork in the path. It is the sort you walk pass in the opposite direction not even noticing it is a junction, and, yes, on the way out we walked past it not even noticing it was a junction. We pause. It is a 50/50 decision. John thinks right, Sheila left. We go left. After a while John says, “do you remember this grass by the track?”.....and later, “do you remember these pine cones?”….and further on, “do you remember coming down so steeply as we are now climbing?”.  Finally the noise of traffic is heard. We are climbing out of the gorge and onto the causse on the wrong track. TP8, turn around and return.

Back at St Chély we complete our short, now longish, 11-mile walk. No problem, but unfortunately John’s knee and leg issues have returned and are giving him some pain. This has been lurking around for a couple of months. It doesn’t seem to interfere with cycling but is brought on by walking – real nuisance. Before returning to our room, John persuades Sheila to go down to the river so he can take
Sault to Sault + Mont Ventoux
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TOUR DIARY

Pre tour and Travel south
Day 1 Roquemaure (76km)
Day 2 Anduze (84km)
Day 3 Aniane (73km)
Day 4 Narbonne (105km)
Day 5 Carcassonne (78km)
Day 6 Carcassonne (0km)
Day 7 Castres (73km)
Day 8 Cordes sur Ciel (68km)
Day 9 Cahor (88km)
Day 10 Salviac (51km)
Day 11 Salviac Rally (28km)
Day 12 Salviac Rally (68km)
Day 13 Vers (50km)
Day 14 Villefranche de Rouergue (65km)
Day 15 Villefranche de Panat (105km)
Day 16 St Chély du Tarn (105km)
Day 17 St Chély du Tarn (0km)
Day 18 Chamborigaud (81km)
Day 19 Vallon Pont d’Arc (65km)
Day 20 Vaison la Romaine (88km)
Day 21 Sault (72km)
Mont Ventoux (51km & 1912m)
Non-cycling sightseeing

a photo of her at the waters edge. When we get there John rolls up his trousers and wades in keeping sandals on because of the stones. Big telling off. Irresponsible treatment of an expensive pair of leather sandals. Sheila takes charge of them and supervises their drying and restitution for the rest of the afternoon. John feels like an admonished child and tries not to do anything else naughty. Back in our room we decide the best cure for John’s knee (and naughty behaviour) is a shower, chocolate, and the rest of the afternoon in or beside the hotel pool.

Suitably relaxed we adjourn for aperitifs and dinner. We stay up tonight for the late evening show. Once it is fully dark there is classical music played from loudspeakers around St Chély; and the village, bridge, river and cliffs around the cirque are subtly floodlit. We wander down to the bridge with other residents for this son et lumière performance. Sheila decides, “It is very special and well worth a two-day stop”. John agrees.

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Diary Abbreviations

Not too many, but some thing come up so often in the course of our cycle touring that it is not worth writing them out in full each time:
PaR - Pain au raisin: Essential fuel to get through that mid-morning dip in energy
SdM&C - Sirop de Menthe and Cassis: No, not mixed, but Menthe for John who likes the lurid green colour and Cassis for Sheila. Not a new drink, but a great cold drink alternative to fizzy pop like Coca Cola and Orangina and only really finally appreciated by us on this tour as being for adults too, not just what you give the kids in a French café
OdT - Office de Tourism: Often our first port of call in a new town to acquire detailed street map, what’s on and if possible walking tour of historic sites
ATQs - Answering Trike Questions: If you choose to travel by tandem recumbent trike as well as being regarded as eccentric “les Anglais”, one has to answer an endless litany of regular questions – Is it comfortable? Did you make it yourself? How do you steer it? Why are there 3 gear levers? (answer: dual drive rear hub, if you are wondering) Is it heavy? How does it come apart? …etc.
We never got around to, but always meant to have a multi-language laminated sheet with all these FAQs on, which we could hang over the rear seat when the trike is parked and we are having a picnic lunch or similar. But then we would miss out on lots of interesting conversations and opportunities to expand our foreign language vocabulary of obscure bicycle parts.
S&W - Showers for us and washing of cycle kit: Normally (unless the need for a drink prevails) priority number one when checking into overnight accommodation. Includes either finding a washing line or engineering our own with the length of nylon cord carried for this purpose. Years of cycle touring experience have given us grade A skills and ingenuity at this.
TP - Technical Problem: Not something one wishes to encounter too often
TdF - Tour de France
GG Gertrude (aka Gertie) Greenspeed: We aren’t great ones for naming bicycles but if the ‘trike’ is referred to in an abbreviated form the alliteration of ‘Gertie Greenspeed’ seems appropriate

Click on any photo to enlarge and scroll through gallery

DAY 18 - St Chély du Tarn to Chamborigaud


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