Millau to Le Caylar

October 15, 2023

Another Gorgeous Gorge

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Kelly IniguezWe are trying to develop our 2024 trip. Your trip is folding out splendidly. I can't find an overview map - do you have one? We are interested in following you!
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6 months ago

At one point we had considered taking the train out of Millau. We must get back to Barcelona in time for our flight home and that seemed like a reasonable idea. Three problems though, first, neither of us really wanted to take a train. It just seemed like a sensible idea. With further research we found out maintenance on the tracks meant there are no trains, only buses, and finally, because we would be in Millau on a Sunday, only one bus in the very late afternoon, arriving in Beziérs in the dark. That made it easy to decide that we would ride. Thank goodness we did. The Gorges de la Dourbie and the Larzac (a karstic massif, culminating at 921 meters) was a fantastic ride.

We left Millau at our usual 10:30, but warmly dressed. Things that haven’t seen the light of day since we packed them away in Victoria were retrieved from the bottom of the panniers. It was a chilly 13°C at the time. By the time we were 5 km into the ride we had both removed multiple layers, but there is no question, fall has arrived.

Another day that the road was like our personal bike lane.

The ride was beautiful from the start. Not as dramatic as yesterday’s ride, but still so over the top we would recommend it to anyone. Atmospheric villages, limestone cliffs, La Dourbie river and general awesomeness.

Another property to buy and cycle these gorges from.

Keith thought these looked like two gophers poking their heads up for a look around.

One note of interest today happened while we were stopped in a sweet little village, La Roque Sainte Marguerite. Who should roar by at a gazillion kph? The impressive cars from the other day. I can now report, not a Lamborghini, it is a Ferrari (red of course) two Porsches and a Mercedes. I know this because we passed them later when they were parked and I could take a better look. All the growly showy kind of their particular make. They passed us two more times today and it felt like The Tortoise and the Hare.

Behind me in this picture are the group who were driving the hot cars.

We stopped for lunch in Nant. It was after this that the landscape really started to change, opening up, and today’s climb began.

We have seen a lot of this sort of thing the last few days.

Then we arrived at La Couvertoirade. I have no idea how that is pronounced!! It is a fortified medieval city. To quote the information I was given “Untouched by time, La Couvertoirade is an authentic medieval village. Founded by the knights Templar, enlarged, enriched and fortified by the knights Hospitaller” and a whole lot more. Google it. It was a hoot to walk around.

This whole area, the Gorges de la Dourbie and the Causse du Larzac and Causse Noir has been a UNESCO world heritage site since 2011. It is really worth seeing.

Then it was the last few km into Le Caylar where we are staying in the Gites du Caylar. If you ever have a chance, stay here. Huge room and so lovely I tried to talk Keith into granola bars for dinner so I didn’t have to leave. That didn’t fly. We should have taken pictures of the room before the panniers exploded.

We both loved this ride. We felt so happy to be in such a beautiful place, on our bicycles, and so grateful we didn’t take the train.

Here is the Relive:

https://www.relive.cc/view/vAOZnd9dBoO

Today's ride: 58 km (36 miles)
Total: 1,101 km (684 miles)

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Scott AndersonI especially enjoyed this because we planned to bike the Dourbie on the way to Meyruis six years ago until I got food poisoning and we had to change our plans.
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6 months ago

Rich FrasierWow! I’ve wondered about that route. I’ll have to add it to our “someday” list!
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6 months ago

Suzanne GibsonWhat a spectacular ride! On my list, too.
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6 months ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Scott AndersonThat really made me laugh. Not that you had food poisoning. That’s awful. It is the fact that I was worried about the route because you hadn’t done it!!! It was a great, great ride. Keith talked to a fellow in the bike shop in Millau and he said it was definitely the way to go.
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6 months ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Rich FrasierDo it. It was another great ride.
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6 months ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Suzanne GibsonAll of these gorges have been terrific. We have loved it.
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6 months ago

Janice BranhamWhat a fabulous ride. Really enjoyed your pictures. It's warmish in Barcelona today even with a bit of drizzle. Hopefully it will still be nice when you get back down this way. Are you still thinking of going to Mallorca?
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6 months ago

Keith ClassenTo Janice BranhamHi Janice - no unfortunately it looks like Mallorca isn’t in the cards this trip. We have time now to make our cycle back to Barcelona for our flight home Oct 26. So that’s the plan. It really would have been nice to meet up.
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6 months ago

Janice BranhamTo Keith ClassenWell then, I'll look forward to following you whenever you come back for Mallorca, or really anywhere. It's funny how our contemporaneous wanderings in this land with you and other CB chums almost feel like we're traveling together. We'll hope for a meetup somewhere down the road.
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6 months ago