June 15, 2025
Day 14 - Bernas to Uzés
Cooler weather and 3 more beaux villages!
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Dealing with a noisy air conditioner threw a crowbar into our night. By the time we “fixed” the problem (application of towels and removal of some parts) it was after midnight. Without the air conditioner, we had to sleep with the window open and the bird chorus fired up early. Not a great night for sleep and hence not for recovery either.
We stumbled down to breakfast, which was a creditable effort on the part of the hotel. There was cheese and meat, along with those cute mini-croissants and pain chocolates (known as chocolatines down here in the south). So we were well-fed if under-recovered when we loaded up Schnooks in the heavy, humid morning air. At least today, there was a cloud layer reducing the intensity of the sun.
Our first task was to get to our first beau village of the day - Montclus. It was just down the hill from the hotel, lurking behind a suspiciously beautiful lavender field. We rolled into the central square, where a flea market was being held by the village residents. Montclus is pretty small and quiet. We saw only one business - a restaurant.
Rich parked himself and the bike in front of the church, and Robin went exploring.
Leaving Montclus, we had a couple of small climbs but generally beautiful, empty back roads on which we coasted down to Goudargues. We were early enough that the local grocery store was still open, so Robin went in and replenished our dwindling stock of almonds and cashews.
From Goudargues, we were once again on beautiful, empty back roads until hooking up with the departmental that led us to our second beau village of the day: La Roque-sur-Cèze.
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La Roque was a bit bigger and busier than Montclus, but not by much. We prowled around a bit and drank some sodas in the park, watching a very amateur match of pétanque.
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1 day ago
Back on the road, we had some climbs before a descent to a small river, from which the big climb of the day started. 6.5km of climbing, but not at large percentages. There were a few segments of 7% or more, but mostly it was 5% or less. There was shade along the road for most of the way up, too. And almost no car traffic. We were passed by a total of 1 car in our direction and 3 in the opposite direction. Sunday lunch time in the south of France…everyone is eating at grandma’s.
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1 day ago
Coming down the modest reward for all this climbing, we spotted beau village #3 for the day on the hill opposite. Lussan is beautiful. It sits on the crown of a hill with views in all directions. But it was almost as quiet as Montclus. Only two businesses open that we could see - a fancy restaurant that we felt too grubby to go into, and a tea shop that was closed. We sat on the church steps and ate into our stash of almonds and cashews.
And then it started to rain a little bit! What a difference it made in the air! All of a sudden the heaviness disappeared and it felt like we could breathe again. We got back on the road for our final sprint to Uzés.
The road from Lussan to Uzés is not beautiful. It’s mostly arrow-straight, but generally runs downhill. We also had a decent tailwind. So we time-trialed the final 18km to our beautiful hotel “Boutique Hôtel Entraigues”. We arrived sweaty, a bit rained-on, and on a very dusty bicycle. The lovely staff here were undeterred and quickly found a place for Schnooks in a locked garage. They then installed us into a beautiful room with a view of the cathedral.
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This is the 4th time we’ve visited Uzés and we love it. The main square, the Place Aux Herbes, is probably the most beautiful town square we’ve ever seen in France.
After cleaning up, we poked around the church and ambled down to the Place. We sat down at a cafe, ordered some drinks. We proceeded to spend the next 90 minutes chatting, people-watching, and just plain enjoying a place that we really love.
After a while, we got up and surveyed the menus of the various restaurants on the Place. We chose the restaurant “La Fontaine”. A ceviche-style poke bowl for Robin and a pizza Diavola for Rich. Good food in a really lovely location.
I think we’ll sleep better tonight. No noise from the air conditioner!
Today's ride: 59 km (37 miles)
Total: 683 km (424 miles)
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