An Attempt at a Cycle Ride to the Auvergne.

The objective of this escapade was to use the excuse of viewing the Romanesque churches of the Auvergne to enjoy the countryside of this, the least known and celebrated area of France. It is mostly known as part of the Massif Central of France and for its severe winter climate. The Droad and the Lord Warden of the Fermentations (DWF) had previously visited the area in October, probably of 1975 or 1976 when trying to cross from East to west in the convertable Morris 1000 known as "Judas". (Judas-is-chariot; unreliable male etc). Then there was a snowstorm which caused Judas to skid off the road. A herdsmen driving a herd of Salers cows up the road lent a shovel from his car but nothing would make Judas's tyres grip the unsalted slope and so a humiliating retreat took place and roads taken to Le Port which around the massif to the South.

This time the assault was to be on bicycles from Le Port in the West to St Nectaire -famous for its Romaseque Church and  its cheese which smells of the earth - to the East. Finally the church of Orcival in its lonely valley was to be visited and then the train taken from the railway station at Laqueuille to Brive and thence back to Souillac for the final 40 Km cycle ride home to Le Port.  The Droad rode her fifteen year old Peugeot hybrid and the LWF rode the virgin Jamis Bosanova touring bicycle with drop handle bars and light weight steel frame. Each bike had saddle bags weighing a total of 10 and 11kg and riders weiging 75kg and 95kg respectively and each bike weighed 12 kg. The set off was 06:55 on Monday 14th May with a forecast of two days of sunshine with an increased risk of thundery rain over the following days. Breakfast of Croissant and Pain au Raisin with coffee was taken at St Julien de Lampon having mastered the steep hill just before Grolejac and then taken the cycle path built on an old railway line which once connected Sarlat with Souilliac. This path passes through a tunnel about half a kilometer long: as we entered the tunnel we were surprised to find it warm and with a smell of woodsmoke. Halfway down the tunnel we found a tramp with all his belongings who had lit a fire. The eastwind had carried the warmth of the fire westward down the tunnel. East of the fire the tunnel was cold so it was not clear if the tramp was benefiting from the warmth.

At Aillac where the old railway line runs above a channel from the River Dordogne where fishing boats owned by villagers are moored. An old defensive tower can be seen through the trees just to the left of the Droad. (click to enlarge)

After breakfast the quiet road to the south of the river quickly took the bicycles along the river and after La Roc down a lovely section of the Dordogne Valley bordered by cliffs with ancient villages at strong points. About to bypass a village we saw a remarkable silhouette of a fortified medieval village and so we turned around to visit it. The village of Creysse occupies a small but steep hill and  has a remarkable Church with two apses which can be reached by an ancient stone staircase. This is the only church in Western Europe with two apses although there is one in Cyprus and another in Sardinia.  There is also a Chateau and an old curtain wall the remains of which run along the river to enclose an area of water meadow to the West of the town.

The Mediaeval flight of steps leading to the town square and church at Creysse.

The unusual Romanesque double apse of the Church at Creysse.

The cliffs of the Dordogne River have many caves and these were in the past the sites of troglodyte     dwellings. Villages then seem to have evolved as houses were built in front of the caves or in the shelter of cliffs. In the village of Gluges a few miles from Creysse we found a ruined medieval church. The original church which may date back the ninth century was wholly sheltered by the cliff above and in the twelfth c. a larger nave and south wall were built. Both building periods can be seen beneath the smoke stained cliff in the photograph below. The roofless presbytery adjacent to the site may be the oldest building with a sixth century  cellar. 

The Ancient church at Gluges; oldest very small church to right but wall looks to have been rebuilt (ignore modern grave on right). House in background with sixth century cellar. All built in shelter of limestone cliff. (click to enlarge)

Then onwards to the Abbey of Carrenac  by which time we had completed more than 70 kilometres. Here there is a splendid tympanum above the main doorway complete with drill holes which contribute to the sculpture - a Roman technique revived here after it was lost in the early mediaeval period. There was another party of cyclists here, about twenty in all, in proper French cycling kit but without paniers - very friendly all round born of the confidence that comes from powering oneself around the countryside.

The Droad taking a rest in Carennac. The dwarf occupying the door to her right refused to emerge in spite of considerable coaxing.

 The Tympanum at Carennac showing apostles & Christ in Majesty.

On the approach to Beaulieu sur Dordogne tiredness was setting in ( for earlier adventures here and the beauty of the location see the blog entry for http://leport.blogspot.fr/2010_04_01_archive.html  especially the last photograph). It was from here that we did our "diathlon" taking bikes and tyeing them to the benches in the boule park beside the river and then taking the boats on the car to Argentat; after a paddle down of four or five hours back to Beaulieu the return journey then would be made on the bicycles to secure the car. The boats would be picked up and then supper taken at the Brasserie Les Voyageurs  before driving back to Le Port.)

On this occassion Les Voyageurs was shut so after some fatigue-associated dithering we opted for the neighbouring, slightly down market, Le Barrio Aguado. Here we could only think of white wine so we ordered some and whilst we sipped it we noticed that everyone in the cafe, including the bar tender and waitress were smoking. There has been a very strict prohibition on smoking in public buildings in France and this was the first time we had seen people openly flouting the law. We decided finally that as the whole of the front of the restaurant was open (it had huge folding doors) there had been some obscure legal ruling that the inside of the restaurant was technically outside. When we had recovered enough to be able to make a decision on food,  we ordered Sausages and aligot*, the latter being a high quality, repeatedly refined, mashed potatoe including fresh tome cheese peculiar to the high country of central France such as Cantal or varieties such as Laguiole although the Aveyron lays particular claim to this meal as one which was once a subsistence meal but is now celebrated as one of the great dishes of France. This meal set us up for the next twenty four hours as it must have set up many a peasant in the past. The aligot and sausage was accompanied by 50cl of rose wine.

*Not to be confused with L'aligoté   a white wine grape of Burgundy.

The Droad at Beaulieu Sur Dordogne with the tower of he medieval Abbey behind and typical town houses of the Correze and Cantal areas with a suggestion of disrepair and economic decline.

Carving on the West doorway of the Abbey probably depicting some mediaeval financial crisis with the Austrian classical school representative on the right and early Keynsian on the left. Pillar appears to be of Tournai marble (see also Winchester Cathedral).

West doorway lintel supporter with devils and monsters above which form the bottom layer of the last judgement on the Tympanum above. (See this blog August 31st 2008 10th photograph from top at http://leport.blogspot.fr/2008_08_01_archive.html )

 On the recommendation of the restaurant we then signed in at Le Relais de Vellinus  named for Beaulieu in Roman times. Our bicycles were stored in the garage together with fifteen or so powerful motorbikes whose owners were also staying at the Vellinus. Accordingly the breakfast was notably robust, more American style with a large diversity of food which set us up for the longest hill climb of the trip from Beaulieu 16 km to La Chapelle Saint Gerauld. Half way up the climb it began to rain which was useful because it cooled us down. Rain continued on and off for a couple of hours but then it cleared up. We stuck to our route avoiding the temptation to follow the siren signposts to a village rejoicing under the name of Sexcles.  After some minor ups and downs we experienced the reality of cycling in the Auvergne although technically we had not yet reached it. As we approached  LesTours de Merles we went careering down hill in a series of zig-zags seeing opposite another hill of equal gradient which we should have to ascend. Before this we saw between a gap in the rocks the  world's most wonderfully situated Castle.

Les Tours de Merle. These lie on the ancient border between Correze and Cantal in thick forest. The castle is notable for a prolonged period of occupation and use in the middle ages and consequently has  a complex structure and a number of building periods.

It was as we ascended the next hill, 40km after leaving Beaulieu that we began to realised just how tough this country was going to be. We soon took to walking the bikes up hill half the time which was subtly undermining of our morale. We struggled on another 12 km to St Julien Aux Bois near to top of a ridge where, tired and hungry, we were delighted to find a hotel and restaurant. It was run by German immigrants, was beautifully set out (with pics by T.Lautrec in the bedrooms) and  bio meals in the restaurant. We had an exceptional bottle of red wine from Saillant -Vezere  in Correze (Merlot + Cabernet Franc) a vinyard claiming its roots in the VI century but destroyed by  phylloxéra  in the 19c but replanted in 2003.

Day three took us into the hills of the Auvergne with its steep ups and downs, first to the small Romanesque church at Brageac, part of an old monastery most of which is no longer visible as the stone has either been robbed or monastery buildings have been integrated into the village as housing.

The Church at Brageac interior with some fine carving on the capitals.

Here a navigational error was made, a failure to notice a road marked as a track which tripled the distance and doubled the climb we had to undertake to get to the next town of Mauriac where we arrived just in time to be served a plat du jour in a local restaurant opposite the fine, large church. On inspection the church was open as part of the celebration of The Ascension and the black virgin, so typical of Churches in southern France was on display in her full regalia.

The fine Romanesque church at Mauriac with its black virgin in full regalia before the altar; the image had been paraded through the streets of the town the previous Sunday.(click twice to enlarge)

Here The Droad purchased some cycling glasses with multiple lenses to stop the pollen and insects getting in her eyes on the speedy swift descents.

The Droad in All Her Glory.

After lunch and having viewed the Abbey we carried on cycling eastward, down a steep hill to a tiny village called Pons, over the River Mars. Two such unchanged Roman names after some seventeen hundred years give an indication of the slow pace of life in this area of Europe and the slow pace of change. It was getting towards evening and we started to look for a sleeping place in which to bivouac as we had promised ourselves at least one night under the stars. This proved more difficult than we had expected. This was because the steep hills were heavily wooded and difficult to access. The pressure on the land meant that every other square inch of flatter land was dedicated to grazing the dark brown, long lyre shaped horned cattle called Salers or else to farms that managed them.  After two hours of walking our bikes, for we were by this time too tired to ride uphill, we finally found two areas of neutral ground on which we might sleep only a hundred meters from one another. The first was beside a newly installed water tank belonging to a water company, the second was on an ancient trackway, now totally covered in thick soft grass,  beside a roadside cross. The trackway went no where except into thick undergrowth and appeared to be only used by deer. This was out of sight of the road and farms with a wonderful view through 180 degrees to the high bare mountains to the East and the lower lusher farmland and forest to the West.  After dark the constellation of  Scorpio was opposite our sleeping place, low on the horizon and during the night time was taken to gaze through binoculars at all the star clusters and galaxies and at great red Antares directly in front of us.

After a good nights sleep despite a cold east wind we awoke to cloud coming in from the West and noted the wind had changed through 180 degrees. We cycled into the nearest village which had a hotel and bar but was shut, a notice said on the door because it was the feast day of Ascension. This was a disaster as there were no villages for miles, we had very little food and the map showed only tiny hamlets in front of us for many miles. Even if we did find shop it would probably be closed for the Holiday. It was also clear that the weather was breaking and we were very tired.  We gazed at the very foursquare Chateau in the village. 

After half an hours discussion we decided to return to Mauriac but by a different route, taking in a possible railway station at Ydes which was on an unusually long downhill run and then to come back to Mauriac up the river Mars on a gently rising road. The railway at Ydes proved to have been long closed but the ride up the Mars valley found us in a beautiful wooded valley with rock faces and ravines and a lively water course splashing through the rocks and boulders of the river bed. Beside the road were a mass of wild flower, notable were the yellow archangel and masses of celandine, intense, puce campion, large daisies and yellow broom.  When we at last reached Pons we managed the long hill back to Mauriac without too much trouble although we stopped at a house by the roadside to ask for water for our bottles. We found a Boulangerie which was open and had an instant bun, later we found a bar which had just opened and ordered iced tea. A thunderstorm was threatening and the hotel L'ecu de France was welcoming us from accross the road. We checked in, taking an excessively expensive and very large room due to a mistranslation of the price by the LWF. However expensive as it may have been it was good enough to sleep in and we had a two hour sleep before an excellent dinner which started with the local aperatif called Salers - not to be confused with the cattle or the cheese for this drink was made from the yellow gentian which grows abundantly in the mountains. It has a pale yellow colour, a bitter taste and a fine herbal smell. It was not clear if the drink was made from the root or the flower of the gentian. This was followed up by top class fillet steak, seignant, with blue cheese sauce, chives and aligot. Then there was a cheese board the shape, and almost the size, of France with cheeses displayed in their region of production.

The next morning it was drizzling enthusiastically so we did another tour of the Church and decided it was time to take to public transport.

The Droad being protected by a sympathetic 12th century lion at Mauriac.

The previous day we had discovered the station which was no longer in use, instead various buses ran north to Clermont Ferrand or south to Aurillac. We sat in a cafe and waited for a bus to Aurillac. The bus driver was very unenthusiastic about taking the bikes, saying they were "very large". After removing the front wheel of the Jamis everything was fitted in and fortunately although there were about 25 people on the bus no one was carrying large luggage so the bikes were not a problem. In Aurillac we discovered a train down the valley of the Cere would take us to Brive and from there we could get a main line train to Souillac. After buying tickets for both us and the bikes for the main line section of the journey we repaired to the Les Relais D'Alsace just across the road from Aurillac rail station.  Here we had one of the largest meals of our lives comprising  hock of ham and four sorts of sausage all set out on the world's largest heap of saurkraut all washed down with two glasses of blanche beer. There was plenty of time to eat and we made a good account of ourselves.

The sad disused station at Mauriac where trains have been replaced by bus services.

The train ride to St Cere passed through the gorges of the Cere valley with the river running white amongst the rocks and boulders below. This is still quite a wild place, difficult of access and with only one or two hyrdro-electric developments. We reached Souillac on time, sorted out our bags and set off on our bikes at high speed covering the 40 km to Le Port in almost exactly two and a half hours and arriving just as the light was fading.