2019-19 Le-Puy-en-Velay to Issoire

In 2019, we did self-supported touring for a little less than 2 months from mid-September through early November.

Day 19 - Le-Puy-en-Velay to Issoire

Despite N102 being a major road, the traffic was sporatic and not too bad. And the road itself is excellent with beautfiful scenery. A pleasure to be on for the most part. While there was occasionally some rideable shoulder, it wasn't much.

The climb to the Col de Fix-St-Geneys at 1116 from Le Puy wasn't bad. The descent was definitely not technical and lasted for roughly ten kilometers.

Once we were off N102, the roads were outstanding low-traffic roads (aside from a little more traffic along D214)...with one exception that was not outstanding at all. That was Chemin de St-Barthélémy, which runs northwest from Les Graviers. This road was fine at first, but it becomes unpaved after a little while and it was not a pleasant experience...very rocky with periodically puddles and mud from the last rain. If anyone follows this route, from looking at Google Maps, it would appear that there are two better routes from Les Graviers to the north. Both involve staying on D726. One route would be to go all the way to D909 and follow it and D716 into Issoire. The other would be to turn north onto Chemin de la Couze (which appears to be paved) and then turn onto D718 to head north by the Airport, which puts you back on the route shown on this route map.

We thoroughly enjoyed this ride. Unexpectedly, despite its being mid-October, we saw one field of sunflowers in bloom.