France 5

Bike Day 18 was a doddle, at just 23.3 km and 421 m climbing, mind you some of it was reasonably steep.
The weather is fantastic at the moment and is forecast to continue like this for another week.
As we get to the higher altitude, the sun is warm but it is just pleasantly warm but not hot.
Also the wind is favourable which is great and unusual for a biker, but we are not complaining. We arrived in Gueret before midday and the hotel was a motorway type hotel were people can check in at any time of the day. Great place for long distance drivers, and early arriving bikers. It is air conditioned and very modern, with a sister hotel of the budget variety across the road which has the communal restaurant.
Bike day 19 took us to Aubusson, which was much longer at 57.4 km. The climb out of Gueret was the biggest one to date, and it nearly got the better of Veronica. It was a baptism by fire and she wasn't quite prepared for an seemingly endless climb although it was only about 6 km long but with grades of over 10%.

It was a case of mind over matter, and once I convinced Veronica to relax, her fear seemed to subside and the worst was over. It was all forgotten after the long and gentle downhills that followed. I call them rewards, or km for free, after the effort of getting up there. This day we set the record of almost 1000 m climbing in one day. It was a much more gentle ride after this initial climb and Veronica was much happier and relaxed about it. The traffic is incredible considerate, especially comparing it to NZ driving behaviour. The roads are narrow especially in small rural villages and often the roads meet at very sharp angles. Stone buildings right on the corners block the view of the crossroad until one is right there. Drivers stop and look before driving across and if we meet, most drivers will waive us on and wait for us to pass. The GPS set on the shortest route and avoiding major roads, takes us along the smallest and quietest roads but also gets us in the most awkward situations as we arrive in the town of our destination. At Aubusson, which is quite a large medieval town, it took us down a very narrow street, so steep we had to walk down while holding the brakes to prevent the bikes from crashing down on their own.

Then after we crossed an old stone bridge over the river and in order to avoid the main road, it directed us up an alleyway, which turned out to have narrow steps around the back of the main street.There was no way we could have gotten up there with our bikes.

Abandoning that route we ended up right at the corner of the street where our hotel was situated, more by good luck than judgement.
One thing that happens when one travels in total ignorance, is the surprises one gets when arriving at these incredible destinations. Aubusson is famous for it's tapestries which have been produced here for the last 600 years. And they are still produced here today, we visited an historic house, centuries old, which has been set up as a weavers house as it was then. It displays the tapestries, paintings and furniture of the period and has a workshop with weavers working in the top floor of this amazing building. Maurice Dayras a historian,bought the house in 1946 and set it up to preserve the history of tapestry for us to enjoy.
Bike day 20 took us from Aubusson to Ussel, another glorious day with a cloudless sky and favourable wind. The contour gentle with long easy uphills and equally long free kms downhill.
Lots of forests and cattle farms with the famous brown Limousin cattle. The Europeans are well ahead with solar energy as we passed a large field full of solar panels and a large shed to overwinter stock with it's entire roof covered in solar panels.

Almost the entire ride was along a ridge with distance views of the central massif on the horizon. The roads are narrow and empty, ideal for biking, it took us through a very large military training area, and it was not long after we entered that an army van passed us.




I said he is checking us out, and after a few minutes he U turned and went back where he came from, which somehow confirms it.
The hardest hills were in the last 10 km or so, arriving at Ussel, just after 2 pm, at the Grand Hotel, opposite the railway station. Ready for a rest day tomorrow.