We’ve been anticipating this day for quite a while. Over the last few years as I followed along with other CB’ers on their adventures, the Tarn Gorge was a recurring focal point and became the seed for our current journey.
That’s a lot of pressure to put on one day, and considering the amazing places we’ve already ridden through, could the Tarn Gorge live up to the ‘star billing’ that I had built in my head?
In short, yes it did, but in a different way than I had imagined. Today we saw the Tarn for real, for ourselves, a way that was new and not what the many pictures we’ve seen had shown us before.
Sure there were the many short tunnels, the small villages plastered against the canyon walls, the centuries old fortified sentry posts and the slightly newer chateaus built in the most improbable places, but they all pulled together into a single coherent form that defines this place.
Perhaps the biggest revelation for me was the ‘The Tarn’ was not just the well known and photographed gorge section downstream from Florac, it was the whole river starting near Pont du Montvert that continued to evolve, and be lived in, as it made its way downstream.
The canyon walls and overhanging cliffs are huge, awe inspiring and a rock climbers dream, and there were a lot of them about. The tiny old stone farm buildings were intimate and hinted at centuries of this land being lived in and worked, the wild flowers growing everywhere along the roadside and river banks provided a constant change in colour and perspective… and then the clouds and drizzle arrived in the afternoon to give a moody misty overlay to it all.
You really do have to ride through here yourself, on a bike, to really understand it. You won’t be disappointed, and when you do, come in early May and in the middle of the week.
The preponderance of camping places and other outdoor infrastructure points to the popularity of this area, but today we had it more or less to ourselves. There was a car maybe every 10 minutes, and a handful of other cyclists, more on this in a minute!
This was always planned as a modest day for riding, but I made sure that I had two fully charged camera batteries at the ready. I don’t think I rode more than 2 km without stopping. More often than not, it was more like a stop every 400 m. Unfortunately, that means even after some heavy curation, there’s a lot of photos to slog through.
All the photos aren’t of cliffs and old stone buildings though. We had two amazing serendipitous ‘meet ups’ today. The first was as we were approaching Castlebouc, one of the old stone forts built into the steep cliffs above the river.
We were on a light downhill and I could see two loaded tourers coming towards us. Right at that moment, vehicles were approaching from both directions (the first ones in minutes … what are the chances) so both we, and the other tourers slowed down and pulled over as much as possible. Once the vehicles passed, we were more or less across the road from each other and stopped. Anita and Bruno were about the same age as us, fully kitted out with front and rear Ortliebs, like us, …. And they were both riding Tout Terrain Silk Road bikes … just like us!
A great roadside meet up and gabfest took place. They’re from a town near Frankfurt and were riding ‘home’ ( I’m jealous of the europeans who are able to do this) after starting out in Girona. We exchanged travelling stories and contact information and after many minutes, we continued on our way.
The second meet up occurred near the end of the day. I had mentioned earlier that it was drizzling / raining today. This started after our lunch break in La Malene and continued for the rest of the afternoon. It was fine to ride and the drifting mist lent a very interesting and moody feel to the ride. When we were about 7 km’s from Le Rozier, our terminus for the day, we came by a look out atop a very large rock outcrop beside the river. There was a small car park with one vehicle in it and we noticed three umbrellas weaving around on top of the rock outcrop. It turns out that this look-out was a ‘commercial’ establishment and there was a kiosk manned by an elderly gentleman collecting 50 cents per person to access the stair case to the top of rock.
As K and I stood in the drizzle pondering our budget and trying to make a decision to go up … or not, the three umbrellas came back down the staircase. As they walked passed us and we nodded and mumbled pleasentries, the younger gent in the group and I recognized the ‘new’ not so secret code amongst Canadian travellers … we were booth wearing Arc’Teryx gortex jackets. The younger gent tentatively asked if I was from Canada. Upon replying yes, I asked where they were from, to which he replied ‘Calgary’ (knowing the Arc’Teryx code, I was sure it was going to be either that or Vancouver). With that I countered with, Canmore.
Upping the coincidence stakes, the young gent sealed the game with “Aggy’s dad Christian (the other gent in their group) is from Canmore too!”.
There you go. About 20 minutes later after lots of story swapping, we parted ways with Ryan and Aggy, the Calgary couple (actually Cochrane), and Christian, Aggy’s Canmorite dad!
Oh, we also decided to splurge and shell out 1 euro to climb the stairs and see the views. It was well worth it (even at twice the price).
Both of these encounters added a real human touch to the day, and reinforced the feeling that the Tarn was not just about the physical landscape, but also the human one that is very much live here.
With that we were soon checking into our very nice and modernist Hôtel De La Muse just upstream from Rozier along the banks of the Tarn. Our ‘going in plan’ was to camp through this area and the Lot as well, as there are campsites everywhere, but given the current weather Agnes has been confined to barracks for the time being.
Arriving on bikes, pretty damp and dripping, we raised a few eyebrows amounts the other clientele, but were warmly greeted, and treated, by the staff. Beautiful calm contemporary atmosphere in a stunning setting right on the banks of the river with the rooms looking right out onto the it. The crowing glory, very nice bathrobes and a heated towel rack that is to die for. K was very content.
Our gorging for the day wasn’t over though. Although the hotel (which we only booked yesterday) had a very nice and inviting restaurant, I had made a booking at another place several weeks ago before we even left Canmore. Le Rozier is a pretty small place, but is has a multi generation family restaurant that sports a Michelin ‘Bib Gourmand’ (that’s the little icon of the Michelin man licking his lips), one step down from a star , the L’Alicanta.
It was everything as described, very welcoming, informal but professional, clearly family run, and the food was sensational - very refined but unpretentious … and you could see the care that went into preparing and presenting it. Pic’s to follow but I won’t even try to describe each dish … save for our entré … mine was haddock with quinoa, tzatziki and minced chorizo and K had perch with a smoked salmon foam, roasted wheat and squid ink. Just like riding in the Tarn to really appreciate it, you have to see, smell and eat this … words and pictures don’t do it justice.
So, that’s it, tomorrow we ride to Millau, see the 21st century wonder of the A75 suspension bridge, and then climb out of the Tarn valley and head NW towards the Lot. Unfortunately the wind has decided to pay a visit and the forecast for the next few days are for 20-40 km/hr winds from the NW, basically the direction we’ll be going! All part of the rich tapestry of touring!
SOTD, Mysterious Ways by U2. Both K and I when coming up with words that described and fit the day … we both hit on ‘Mysterious’. Something new around every corner, questioning why things were where they were and how they got there. Maybe the mist and drizzle added to the feeling, but the word fits …. And our serendipitous encounters with the folks we met today always have bit of mystery about them (pure statistical coincidence - probably, but you never know).
Setting off under sunny skies from La Gorges du Tarn Hotel - a very nice stay!
Patrick Parnoimagine being the contractor for this house. showing up and they say they want it here. the contractor "say what???" Reply to this comment 11 months ago
And a few minutes later as we were approaching Prades we run into fellow tourers Anita and Bruno from Frankfurt. Fellow TT Silk Road riders as well …. This is a rare encounter for both of us. Really great gab fest finding out about each others past tours and future dreams. They continued on towards their home having started in Girona, one of the last stops we’ll make on our tour.
Iconic bridge over the Tarn in Sainte-Enimie. We didn’t ride over this, we stayed on the north bank on the D986 and there was very very little vehicle traffic on it
On the south side of the river downstream from St Chely, there were several ‘villages in peril’, such as this one Hauterives. It’s only method of being supplied is through a small cable car mechanism that crosses the river
All of the above was before we hit the halfway point at La Malène where we had our classic (for us) touring lunch of hummus, red pepper and avo wraps! So yes, there’s more to come … lots more!
We were constantly ‘seeing’ things in the rocks as we road along …. This to me is a side profile of a flat faced old man … and then we ride by to the next vision
While standing in the rain debating whether to spend 50 cents each to climb up onto a rock outcrop to get a different view of the river and surrounding cliffs, we ran into (L to R) Christian (from Canmore) his daughter Aggy (from Cochrane as K informed me) and Ryan, her partner, who said he was from Calgary! All due to the heretofore secret Arc’Tyrex code! It was great to meet them and have another serendipitous gabfest.
Jacquie GaudetHa! I try so often not to look like an Arc’Teryx ad. But the only dead bird gear that goes on cycle tours are my pants, hiking shorts, and microfleece. I like my Showers Pass jacket better for riding. Reply to this comment 11 months ago
Kirsten KaarsooTo Jacquie GaudetI now have Gore cycling rain jacket that I like. Must say though Arc’teryx still gets my vote for a good hood that goes over helmets and moves with you so you are not looking inside your hood when you shoulder check. Reply to this comment 11 months ago
Jacquie GaudetTo Kirsten KaarsooI’ve found the only way a hood stays on is if it’s under my helmet. I have the accessory hood for my SP jacket but rarely use it. Skiing, my Arc’teryx hood blows off on the chairlift. Reply to this comment 11 months ago
And right below us was this …. That split rock is probably 15 m high and that ‘twig’ that’s straddling it is a very large tree trunk. A very visual indication of how high the water flows through here at times
… we’ve run the 55 km of the Tarn gorge and have arrived at our hotel, the very nice Hotel de la Muse et du Rozier, hereafter to be referred to as ‘our hotel’
Kirsten KaarsooTo Rachael AndersonIt was pretty decadent. The icing on the cake was that they had black tea and kettle so I got a great cup of tea. Reply to this comment 11 months ago
I’ll save you from a picture of every course of this 5 course dinner (plus the superb amuse-bouche) .. and just give and example of a great dinner, in every aspect you can think of.
… and K’s perch with a smoked salmon foam, roasted wheat (the black bits), and underneath, black squid ink. It was as much a visual experience eating it as a aromatic and taste one.
