September 9, 2023
Day 5 - Laval-du-Tarn to Florac Trois Rivières
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No hotel breakfast!! After 2 consecutive nights of gourmandise, we couldn’t face anything more than a granola bar.
It made for a quick exit from the hotel and we were rolling at 1015. The weather was a copy of yesterday’s: Hot in the sun, cool in the shade with a notable cool breeze coming down the canyon.
We had another shorter day planned today, due to the combination of terrain and locations of hotels and restaurants. Our goal was the floridly-named Florac Trois Rivières.
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It was Saturday but traffic was still very light. A few more motorcycles than yesterday but everyone was polite and gave us lots of room on the sometimes narrow road.
We took a coffee stop in Sainte-Enimie, one of the “Most Beautiful Villages of France”. Maybe we’re getting jaded. It was nice but not up to the level of other villages we’ve seen. The coffee was good though!
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8 months ago
Coffee and hot chocolate consumed, we were back on the road and the gorges continued to provide great visuals.
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8 months ago
8 months ago
Eventually, inevitably, the geographic fireworks died down. The valley opened up and we hit a busier departmentale that took us the last few km into Florac. Traffic remained polite, as we’ve grown to expect in France.
Florac is one of those towns that could go either way: Tourist town or sleepy southern backwater. Today it came down on the side of backwater, as no cafe would serve us food at 1330. We weren’t the only tourists roaming around with hungry looks in our eyes.
We eventually gave up and hit the Carrefour market when it opened at 1400. Supermarket sandwiches, apples, and cool drinks from an ice cream stand worked great. A park bench under the trees gave us a great view as tourist after tourist was turned away from each cafe.
Oddly, most of the restaurants in Florac are closed on Saturday night. What can you say? It’s southern France….
We did some research and located one of the few that will be open. Kind of a dive but cute in a way. Then checkin to our hotel, the “Logis Hôtel des Gorges du Tarn”.
The hotel is very nice, but not a chateau of course :). The bike went into a designated bike garage, we went into a nice warm shower, and peace reigned over our Saturday afternoon.
We roused ourselves for a walk around Florac, but the town was dead. Not much open on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Lots of other perplexed tourists walking around like us. Only 2 cafes open, and we weren’t in the mood to drink, so we headed back to our room.
Dinner was at “Les Volets Rouges”, which has all the appearances of a local dive bar. Which it is. But the food was great!
The bartender looked like a rugby player and had the most extravagant mullet I’ve seen in years. But he gently directed us out to the terrace, took our orders for two chicken burgers, and brought us the perfect pub dinner.
Perfect! Now to rest up for tomorrow.
Today's ride: 37 km (23 miles)
Total: 240 km (149 miles)
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8 months ago
One of the many things that either endears us to, or enrages us with, France! It’s always a crapshoot in some of these towns. In May, we had an excellent dinner at the Logis Hotel … on a Monday! I would have never guessed that the town would be a zombie village on a Saturday. Vive la différence.
At least you had a stunning ride through the gorge on a beautiful day!
8 months ago