Chasing the blue
I woke to the sounds of birds - which is always lovely.
The gorgeous sunshine from yesterday was hiding so after packing up and saying my goodbyes, I went chasing the elusive blue sky. It was teasing me all day and kept appearing at the most surprising moments but it soon disappeared again.
I have four days until I am meeting the BCF crowd again at Rocamadour and it's just enough time to go and play in the Cantal region. Looking at the maps, all the roads look suitably twisted and I'm going to try and base myself in one spot for a few days and explore the passes without being loaded up.
It's Monday and there is barely a car on the road. The first 100km south was a dream run and even though the sun didn't come out, it still remained dry. As soon as I reached Tulle the road started climbing into the mountains. The road was excellent: great surface, wide lanes, clear vision around corners and twisty enough to be interesting. The next 50 or so kilometres across the top of the range were simply divine but then it was just too good to last. It turned into a goat track for the next 10kms and it was just hard work. The scenery was gorgeous as we wound our way along the river and then climbed up the hill again to the dam. There I met two German boys who were doing a whistle-stop tour of France.
I was heading for a place called Puy Mary which I had heard about but I couldn't recall when or where. I made it to Mauriac before admitting I was too tired to carry on. It was a good decision because the campsite is excellent - very quiet, beside a lake and with free internet.