Ride Day 36—17 Oct 2005—19220 St-Julien-aux-Bois -- Circle

On this circle, we retraced part of our 2004 ride by heading east toward Salers along D37 and D35. The climb into Salers along D35 was still just as steep as we remembered, but it was sure a lot easier without the panniers. I was particularly proud of my wife (1) for choosing this route for today despite her clearly remembering this killer climb, and (2) for how she just put her head down and chugged directly up it.

Overall, great roads.  During much of the ride, we were in the Cantal Department, returning back to the Corrèze Department a little before St Julien-aux-Bois.

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 Chadurie (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