Day 7: Castres to Albi (65km)

Today we were set to reach another valley and the River Tarn, but first of all it was uphill almost straight out of Castres. We stopped for food shopping in Roquecourbe before getting into some fairly serious climbing skirting and around and into the edge of the Parc Naturel Regional du Haut Languedoc. This took us through yet another very different farmed landscape to and beyond Montredon-Labessonnié.
We made our morning coffee stop in a café at Montredon-Labessonnié. VTT was very much the cycling recreational activity in the countryside here and there was a comprehensive routes poster on display.
Smaller and very quiet roads followed through choppy terrain with steeper climbs and descents. We took a break somewhere on the D13 for water and bananas. Sheila took a photo of John sitting on the road route number post but did not record the actual distance on the post.
We continued up on to the open countryside tops to reach St Antonin-de-Lacalm where we cycled past a wedding party leaving the church and stopped for our picnic lunch on benches beside the village hall.
On to Trivalou and Fauch and then it was a very satisfactorily downhill towards Albi. At first we spotted a town up a hill, and thought it was Albi, but were pleased to discover that our road continued around the hill and on downwards to reach Albi on the Tarn River (if we had thought about it a town on a river had to be down not up).
We checked into our city centre hotel, which was beside major boulevard digging works to create an underground city centre car park. The tandem was taken inside the hotel and John was led off to be shown where to park it. Some time later he re-appeared and had to explain to Sheila why it had taken so long. Parking the tandem had involved walking along a corridor and then across the end of the hotel ballroom. Not difficult, but the ballroom was laid out with tables and a large wedding reception was underway. Being French there was much interest by the guests in the tandem and lots of questions. John tried to say that their centre of interest really ought to be the bride not our bicycle, but was simply rewarded for his effort by being handed a glass of champagne. Finally the tandem was stowed away in a side room amidst many cases of wine.
Time now for a sightseeing afternoon around the brick town of Albi. We followed historic trails shown on a leaflet from the tourist office, switching by accident from one coloured route to another. Inevitably a pause was taken for drinks in a café. We also visited the giant brick pile of a cathedral to admire its painted ceiling. For dinner in town we chose a Moroccan rather than French restaurant for a couscous meal. This was followed by coffee in a café beside the cathedral square where a concert of mid-summer night folk music was taking place.
We made our morning coffee stop in a café at Montredon-Labessonnié. VTT was very much the cycling recreational activity in the countryside here and there was a comprehensive routes poster on display.
Smaller and very quiet roads followed through choppy terrain with steeper climbs and descents. We took a break somewhere on the D13 for water and bananas. Sheila took a photo of John sitting on the road route number post but did not record the actual distance on the post.
We continued up on to the open countryside tops to reach St Antonin-de-Lacalm where we cycled past a wedding party leaving the church and stopped for our picnic lunch on benches beside the village hall.
On to Trivalou and Fauch and then it was a very satisfactorily downhill towards Albi. At first we spotted a town up a hill, and thought it was Albi, but were pleased to discover that our road continued around the hill and on downwards to reach Albi on the Tarn River (if we had thought about it a town on a river had to be down not up).
We checked into our city centre hotel, which was beside major boulevard digging works to create an underground city centre car park. The tandem was taken inside the hotel and John was led off to be shown where to park it. Some time later he re-appeared and had to explain to Sheila why it had taken so long. Parking the tandem had involved walking along a corridor and then across the end of the hotel ballroom. Not difficult, but the ballroom was laid out with tables and a large wedding reception was underway. Being French there was much interest by the guests in the tandem and lots of questions. John tried to say that their centre of interest really ought to be the bride not our bicycle, but was simply rewarded for his effort by being handed a glass of champagne. Finally the tandem was stowed away in a side room amidst many cases of wine.
Time now for a sightseeing afternoon around the brick town of Albi. We followed historic trails shown on a leaflet from the tourist office, switching by accident from one coloured route to another. Inevitably a pause was taken for drinks in a café. We also visited the giant brick pile of a cathedral to admire its painted ceiling. For dinner in town we chose a Moroccan rather than French restaurant for a couscous meal. This was followed by coffee in a café beside the cathedral square where a concert of mid-summer night folk music was taking place.
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