I owe Pierre-Ives for suggesting Gorges du Tarn as a place I might enjoy. He was spot on.
You pull out of Millau and head up...and up...and up, on narrow roads with sharp turns...even some of those hard right, down-or-up-hillers I don't care for much. But that's a small price to pay for such great scenery and wonderful riding.
The Tarn River adjacent to Millau
Across the river, this guy.
Given a mountain like this, people are going to do some crazy things.
Crazy things. Like this.
Have I mentioned I don't even like how tall I am?
A final look at Millau and her bridge.
Then we go up, up, and away. Along great roads.
It can be dangerous out here though. I watched as a big BMW carrying two, slipped on pea-gravel and wound up nose-down in a sharp ditch on a sharp left-hand turn. I was no more than 100 meters behind them when they "bit" it. In fact, I'm pretty sure I inadvertently created the conditions which contributed to the accident.
I was tooling along, minding my own business when I came up behind these two big BMWs. When I did, I noticed the lead rider speed up, as if he wasn't going to allow some big-assed Harley overtake his svelte German machine. (Silly boy, Betsy isn't a Harley...but it seems most over here think she is on the highway.) There were spots of pea-gravel all along this section, and, while I have never been a fast rider, especially on sharp curves, I'm especially slow where that stuff is concerned. The only time I ever lost Besty (The first) was on pea-gravel...I really hate it. And I'm afraid of it.
Anyway, the lead rider made the turn and gunned it up the hill. The second rider was about halfway through when he gunned it to catch up with his buddy. Bad mistake. The rear tire slid, he hit the rear brake, and goodbye Heinrich. There wasn't much he could really do, other than enter the curve like a sissy. You know, like me. I did that all day. I'm sure there were several "cagers" who commented on the "fraidycat" (how does one spell that?) who was creeping around some of those turns. My response is: the operative words are "around those curves."
I stopped and helped them up, and, with a couple of cage drivers, we pulled the bike out of the ditch. I believe the wife was a little more hurt than she let on, but I know there was no serious damage done to either of them. The Beemer appeared a little embarrassed about the entire thing. I don't think the Beemer rider screwed up. There are just some situations that develop out here you can do little about. My way is to err on the side of caution. Worked so far. (You'll notice you see no "one-handed" pictures of pea-gravel road.)
A little Garmin sample of some of the road today.
You can believe that everyone of those switchbacks were hairpin curves and sloping sharply.
I probably ran through fifty or sixty like this.
Some scenery from the ride.
Pulled into Le Puy-en-Velay about 4:00pm, found a room using my trusty iPad and am settled in for the evening.
I'm staying at the All Seasons Hotel, just behind that restaurant. The restaurant is a Taverne de Maitre Kanter. There is one in Nantes and I can testify they have good beer and food.
According to legend, Le Puy-en-Velay was one of the earliest Bishoprics founded, circa 250A.D. and gathering importance throughout the middle ages. Later, around 1100A.D., an alter to the Virgin Mary was erected on Mons Anicius, a previously sacred pagan religious site and became one of the main starting points for a pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in western Spain. Among those who have paid homage at Le Puy-en-Velay are Charlemagne (772 and 800), Robert II (1029), Louis XIV (1245), Charles VI (1394), and Francis I (1533).
In 1860 a bronze statue, Notre-Dame de France (The Virgin Mary) was dedicated on a hill overlooking the town.
A beautiful morning shot of Le Puy-en-Velay
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