Day 25 - Rodez to Entraygues-sur-Truyére - Gorging Ourselves in France ...Then Basquing in the Pyrenees - 2023

May 19, 2023

Day 25 - Rodez to Entraygues-sur-Truyére

Cabbage Town

Rodez, from the limited part we saw, seemed like a very nice place. Just the right size to have everything you could need or want, but still be in the country on back roads within minutes.

It was also great to have a large, well appointed and very centrally located apartment. I was out the door at 7:30 and within a couple of blocks (use your imagination, blocks really don’t exist in medieval towns) picked up breakfast and lunch for today at a well stocked Carrefour (grocery store chain) and artisanal boulangerie. I was wearing both my down sweater and my Goretex jacket … and was just comfortable. It was about 7° c and the forecast high for the day was only going to reach 10° c. Fortunately the winds had abated somewhat and were a manageable ~10 ish km/hr, but still from the NW, our general direction of travel. Our biggest concern though was the rain that was forecast to start just after noon.

We had a pretty easy day in front of us (if you can call any day with 700 m of climbing easy) with a significant net downhill into the Lot, and a check in time of 5 pm at the B&B we booked in Entraygues. This should have left us with most of the morning to check out Rodez, but the weather forecast convinced us to try to get us much of the day done before the rain came.

The forecast turned out to be quite accurate and it started to rain, quite hard, at about 12:30 … just as we were starting the only significant climb we had for the day. On with the gortex jacket and pants and spin the pedals, nothing else to do!

It stopped raining just as we were finishing the climb and we pulled into a nice roadside picnic area for a bit of lunch where we even got a bit of blue sky. We then started the 15 km downhill run into Entraygues, and the rain started up again!

Overall, it was another great ride with really interesting and varied countryside, and apart from the first 6-7 km’s of busy road leaving Rodez, we had the D roads almost to ourselves.

It was a quick run down into the small and very interesting town that is situated at the confluence of the Lot and Truyére rivers, and we had a couple of hours to kill before we could check into the B&B … and it was still raining. We’re fortunate souls though and there was one bar open, with a couple of young guys hanging out in it. We joined them, had a coffee, and eventually a beer, and enjoyed hanging out listening to the eclectic soundtrack that was playing (Justin Bieber to Ray Charles!) while we caught up on emails and the news.

Right at 5 we checked into our B&B, La Petite Chou, which is right in the centre of town. We’d only booked the place few days ago when it became apparent that the weather was going to take camping out of the equation. The B&B also has a salon de thé (Chou) and restaurant (La Chou Rouge, Michelin recommended no less) attached to it. Based on all this and the somewhat unusual booking procedures, I had the impression that we would be in fou-fou decorated old feeling establishment with a little old white haired madame hosting us.

Those impressions were in the bin when we were met by two young guys wearing black skull&crossbones t-shirts and the decor of the very old place being what I would describe as ‘vintage shop’ eclectic. Nice big old room with a great shower and comfortable bed! We’re looking forward to dinner!

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New model for the start of the day pic, put in proper perspective of course

The view from our apartment. That’s Notre Dame cathedral on the left. It doesn’t get any more central than this. Unfortunately these are the only pics we have of Rodez. Quite picturesque narrow patchwork medieval streets in and around the cathedral, but you’ll have to check them out for yourself.

After a few km’s of busy ‘daily’ traffic on a main D road heading north out of Rodez, we were back to this type of riding. Cool, verging on cold but the winds had dropped and the landscape.was stunning ….again.

Approaching Rodelle where we dropped down into Le Dourdou de Conques river valley, and then we climbed out of the valley heading north. This was our only big climb of the day.

Approaching Rodelle. Stunning setting and a very pretty village. We would drop about 200 m of elevation in the next few km’s

the route was very well marked. No need for a GPS if you paid attention to the signs. At least one of our party does that, and I’m grateful.

Heading into Rodelle, or so we thought. The road takes an abrupt hairpin turn and descends into the valley right at the edge of the village

A wee close up of the western most part of Rodelle

More of Rodelle as we descend into the over valley

Standing out … we stopped here for a banana and water break. A few minutes later as we started to climb out of the valley the skies opened

No pic’s of my the climb. It was raining pretty good and the camera remained stowed. Once the climb was done it cleared off and we stopped for a little lunch with about 15 km’s left to go.

Absolutely beautiful looking north into the Lot valley ….. wait, what’s that!!!!

Oh, no horn … so close to spotting a Unicorn

Our very ‘vintage Shop’ chic room at La Petite Chou. Not at all what we were expecting …. But so cool and out of the ordinary. This set the tone for dinner t the accompanying restaurant La Chou Rouge

After we ‘checked in’ i.e the door was opened by the black t-shirt guys who then whisked our bags up the stairs into this room with our bikes stashed into ‘la salon de thé’ on the first floor, we got ourselves cleaned up and ready for dinner.

This vibe continued for the rest of the night. One part whimsy, another classic and then you got a jumble sale .. and it all worked into something unique and coherent. This applied to the physical space, the service, the clientele and of course the food. It was great! One of our best stumble upon ever!

We were the first folks to arrive, but soon all but two of the tables were full and everyone was enjoying the show, and the food., which was a four course dinner with choice between two entrées and two mains. Wine choices were pink or red, both were excellent. This was a strong statement that sometimes ‘less is more’.

Fresh popcorn to go along with our aperitif

We both had the same main course, Lotte (monkfish) with local seasonal veg (artichoke, carrots, potatoes, aubergine and leeks … real recognizable veg), not puréed as has been the case so often

The after pic. I did not lick the plate … I have some manners

And then the ubiquitous cheese board … or in this case, plank

We finished off with a superb raspberry, hazelnut and chocolate combo. K noted that I’ve been overusing the word sublime lately. No worries here, that word does not describe this dish. These are ‘Batman’ tastes …. BAM, POW, BIFF … in your face flavours that work so well to take your tastebuds into overdrive

SOTD Magic by Trippynova featuring Natalie Renoir. As we were winding down tonight and reflecting on the day, K said that the area we were riding through was ‘Magical’. A little while later, what came up on the eclectic but so on-point playlist at dinner? This ‘magical’ little number. Enjoy.

Looking forward to breakfast and our first day of riding down the Lot. Bon nuit!

Today's ride: 49 km (30 miles)
Total: 1,112 km (691 miles)

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Scott AndersonDon’t feel singled out. It’s the same for all of us: Andersons, Fenwicks, Mathers, Suzanne and Janos, you two, and probable Susan Carpenter and the Meyer-Wearys. Everybody’s getting wet.
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11 months ago

Carolyn van HoeveHi Lyle & Kirsten, Enjoying following your journey! What a wonderful time you seem to be having and some fabulous meals. Makes me want to go straight back to France!
Interested to know about your clothing layers for the cold? You mentioned a down sweater under your gortex jacket? We fortunately haven't had to deal with such cold temps on a tour and have sufficed with a cycling jersey and gortex jacket. What mid layer would you suggest?
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11 months ago

Lyle McLeodTo Carolyn van HoeveHi Carolyn,
Both kirsten and I have GoreWear soft shell jackets made with Gore wind stopper fabric ( not waterproof) these are our main ‘insulation’ layer when riding, if necessary. The sleeves can zip off as well. These, coupled with our waterproof gortex shells (k has a GoreWear shell and mine’s an Arc’Teryx) are good to low single digit C temps as long as you’re pedalling.
We both have lightweight non-biking insulation layers as well, mine is a Mountain Hardware down ‘sweater’ and K’s is an Arc’Teryx Atom hoody (these are great pieces of gear - synthetic fill, lightweight fabrics - I have one too but didn’t want a hood so I brought my MH down). It’s got to be freezing or below before we would add these while riding. However they are great to throw on while stopped or when the biking is done for the day. Hope this helps.
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11 months ago

Carolyn van HoeveThank you, very helpful!
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11 months ago