Ride Day 31—12 Oct 2005—48210 St-Chely du Tarn/Sainte Énimie to 48260 Recoules D'Aubrac (Nasbinals)

This was another ride under threatening skys all day…and we were again lucky not to get dumped on. The only discomforts were the cold wind and the fog at the higher elevations when we got into the Aubrac mountains near the end of the ride. While there, we were generally between 1200 M and 1250 M, with the maximum being 1280 M. Our warmer riding gear worked wonderfully. The countryside there, though, was great for cycling; such a pleasure to be in.

Along N9, we saw construction of a new bridge that reminded us of the viaduct we’d ridden under last year in 2004 just west of Millau. Part of this new bridge was hanging out with seemingly no support. A sign noted that the construction period was from 2003 to 2007. [In 2009, and perhaps other years as well, we again rode along here finding the bridge completed.]

Riding through Marvejols, we came across a sculpture of the Marvejols monster. Definitely a good place for a picture.

Background:My wife and I have been doing self-supported tours in Western Europe (a majority in France) since 1993.  This series of rides covers our 2005 2 month route through parts of France.  Our beginning and ending point is near Chaduri (south of Angoulême) where our friends have a farm with Gites and Chambres d'Hotes.We rode our Dawes touring bicycles purchased in 1993 heavily loaded with 700Cx32 tires.  All of our riding was on paved roads, mostly with very little traffic.If any questions, feel free to email me at jeffkadet@netdiving.comJeff