September 15, 2022
Day 15: Mende to Villefort
I’ll give this a try, but we don’t have wifi at our chambre d’hôtes tonight.
It was very cool as we left Mende this morning which isn’t surprising since it is over 700 meters elevation. We said goodbye to our wonderful hotel and found a great boulangerie and bought our chicken sandwich and cookies.
From this point on we climbed for the next 30 kilometers. The hardest part was the first 8 kilometers and then the rest of the climb was very comfortable. The route took us along the Lot River to the headwaters on the Col des Tribes.
We’ve also left the regional parks d’Olt and d’Aubrac and have now entered the national park of the Cévennes.
The scenery is spellbinding. Fresh mountain air.
Bagnols was a cute and active village. The baths date back to Roman era.
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We getting closer to the top and then we came to a stop with road construction. When it was our turn to go there wasn’t any traffic and it was hard pack gravel. The second construction zone was the tunnel. Again, no traffic and only one lane was open. The tunnel was short and well lit.
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This has been a great ride today. Scenery is beautiful and the route is really enjoyable.
The color of the citrouille (pumpkin) sitting on the wall caught my eye.
We’ve been following the Lot River for over 200 km now during 3 days of riding. We’ve seen it go from being a large river with multiple dams to just a couple kilometers short of the headwaters where it seems to be dry. It’s been a beautiful part of this journey.
At this point we’re feeling good and ready for the 25 km descent.
This looks like a castle from a Disney movie.
Our view from our lunch stop. When the sun was out, it was very warm. When the sun went behind a cloud, it was rather cool.
All the informational signs indicated it was open. The door said only in July and August. When they built the dam creating Lac de Villefort, it was intended to flood this chateau and the village. However, since it had historical status, they couldn’t make the lake as deep. They are required to keep the highest water level of the lake 1 meter below the floor level of the chateau. The chateau houses art from time to time. It had a fire in 2000 and the reconstruction was finished by 2004 and done in conformity to standards from its original construction.
We arrived in Villefort and decided to spend some time wandering and eating ice cream before going to the chambre d’hôtes. We don’t want to arrive too early. After consuming some good ice cream, we climbed the 1.3 km to our chambre d’hôtes. There wasn’t any answer when we rang the bell (twice). So we sat and waited. Another group arrived and sat and waited with us. At 4 pm the owner stuck her head out and was surprised we were all sitting there. She said we should’ve knocked. Lol!! She showed us to our room and dinner will be served at 7:30.
Since we’re out of town, we wandered up a trail - GR 44 & GR 68. We noticed on the map that a railroad tunnel was under us. We went exploring and found where the tunnel exit was located.
And then there was dinner! Our hosts provided an apéritif, salad, main course of pork with potatoes, olives, carrots, chestnuts & mushrooms, an assortment of cheeses, and cherry clafoutis. Wine was served with all courses and it ended with an infusion of thyme, rosemary, mint, and a few other herbs I couldn’t decipher. All was quite tasty. This dinner was shared with 10 French randonneurs, our 2 French hosts, and us. The main language spoken: French. Then the occasional English translation to help us keep up. Now we’re exhausted … good night!
Stats: 59 kilometers 635 meters elevation
Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,380 km (857 miles)
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