The French don't go in for bike paths much. Not
like the Germans and Austrians with their heavily signposted long distance
trails separated from the traffic.
There are a few routes in France, following
small roads with a signpost at most junctions - except some critical ones where
a wrong turn will cause you to race down a hill before you realise it's the
other way. The 270km circuit of the Luberon mountain in Provence is a good
example.
Most of the time in France we take to the small
roads. The country is heavily laced with these. Reasonable surfaces. Reliable
signposting. Little traffic. The pleasure of discovery. The pain of finding a
long and unexpected climb. The yellow Michelin 1cm to 1.5km maps are ideal. Even
the narrowest lanes are accurately marked.
Day 2 in the Midi Pyrenees. This is going to be
an easy, relaxing ride in the foothills. There's a green route bike path from
our base in Foix to St Girons. 42km along a former railway. But how to find the
start? A few signs would help as its 5km out of town. Like most former rail
tracks the gradient is easy. Here the surface is packed clay with a coating of
fine grit.
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| Lake Mondely |
Before long we leave the Voix Verte and head out
on the country lanes. A long, long gradual descent and a tail wind. We are
going to pay for this later. Turn left on a tinier lane, wind up to a view of a
lovely lake far below. The map shows a rasta-hair road, curly and tangled.
Steeply down to a beach for lunch on a bench watching the swimmers. This is
Lake Mondely sandwiched between folds of steep green wooded hills. Then the
reckoning. A long climb, not too steep but on a road that the council must have
forgotten because the surface is broken, patchy, holey.
Down to La Bastide and rejoin the bike path.
It's pretty tedious. A long, straight, flattish yellow trail. If you ride the
whole 40km to St Giron, what then? Turn round and ride back?
Occasional fine views across the hills to the
great sweep of mountains beyond. It puts me in mind of Robert
Pirsig's iconic 1970s book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. He
writes about how much better the unrestricted view is from his
"cycle" compared to the landscape when framed by the view from a car.
I agree. The unrestricted view from my cycle of the distant
Pyrenean peaks should and could never be framed.
At the point where we joined the trail early in
the day it carries on. We ask. "Yes it continues to Foix". But the
surface is rough. We cross a viaduct and continue till we reach a road of
sorts. No signs. The road peters out but a track leads up to the right and
brings us to the road we left town on.
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| Rest day profile! |
Cruise down to town. Café du Commerce. A grand
café creme sets us up for the final few km. This was meant to be an easy day.
Nothing is certain when we follow a route we planned on a map. We like it that
way.
Log
62km, 700m climbiing
Coffee
Café du Commerce. Grande Crème €2.50 – not bad
at all
You said it!
Your eye for geography grows sharp. Your legs attend the lost world of
contours, the dales and hills that are ironed out by internal combustion.
Chip Brown, A Bike and a Prayer
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