The reason the road is so quiet became apparent when I started the descent. This shot was taken looking back on the blind corner, sheer drop-off, one lane road. This is a route departementale and not a local road!
The road continued in much the same vein until just on the edge of Lodève. I stopped in the city park to have a glance at the map and found a road I could use to climb back up to the causses, the dry plateaus that mark this area.
The climb is through the forest which has taken on a distinctly non-mediterranean look with pines and spruces.
I rode through le Caylar looking for a restaurant as it had gone almost one o'clock and I was hungry. Finding one that looked good, I stopped and locked my bike to a barrier in front. The woman in the restaurant was not pleased with my bike and told me to move it around back into her courtyard, but when I tried to get in the courtyard was locked. I saw another restaurant down the street, but it too was locked up. Eventually , I rode back the way I came and got a table in still another place. The menu was terrine, steak and fries, and pear tart.
Lunch sorted, I asked the owner if she could recommend a good hotel in the area, but no, there weren't any, just some b-n-b's and she at least didn't think much of them. I had been planning to use le Caylar, or somewhere nearby as a base to further explore the causse, but it was not to be.
Riding on, I entered an area rich in the history of the crusading orders, the Templars and the Knights Hospitaliers. I wanted to see what I could of the various forteresses and hospitals, but there was no place to stop for the night in l'Hospitalet, and the two hotels in la Cavalerie were both closed for the afternoon and not answering their phones. I contented myself with this look at the well preserved fortress of the Knights Templar in La Cavalerie.
From le Cavalerie to Millau is only a few kilometers, but it is all down hill. The biggest draw-back to this route is the traffic. As it turns out the completion of the high bridge for the autoroute has taken most of the traffic off this road, and for what is left the shoulder is comfortably wide. This shot was taken about half way down into the valley of the Tarn. The high bridge can be seen in the background.
My new plan began to take shape after the disappointment at le Caylar. I would do a morning ride without my bags from Millau, then take the train to Bedarieux just after lunch. I could stay two days near Bedarieux to do laundry and avoid the rain predicted for Saturday. It sounded perfect, so after finding a nice hotel in Millau I booked a two-night stay in Lamalou-les-Bains, a spa city just a few kilometers from Bedarieux. I checked the SNCF website to see if all was well, and there were no negative indications so I thought that was set. After a shower and a change of clothes, I thought I would go to the station and get my ticket in advance. The lovely lady at the ticket window informed me that there would be no trains to Bedarieux tomorrow, or any time soon for that matter. The last train from the south had just avoided a disaster as a back-hoe driver had crashed his back-hoe into a bridge just as the train was passing overhead. Damn! My hotel reservation was non-refundable, so now what to do? It sure looked like I would be riding all the way to Lamalou starting early in the morning over several cols and into a head wind. Oh Well, go get some supper, I said. Tonight a big salad would balance a diet that has been heavy on the meat.
Today's ride: 96 km (60 miles) Total: 305 km (189 miles)
