Day 2. Monpazier to Grèzes

The Longest Day

After an excellent breakfast, spoiled only slightly by having to listen to a diatribe from our host about the inadequacies of the governments in post-colonial Africa, we set out on a crisp cool morning. The roads were very quiet with a few short climbs but no opportunity for refreshments until we reached Salviac after 35km, where we stopped for a coffee and to pick up a sandwich for lunch. The next 20km were mostly flat as we followed the valley of the river Céou through Concores but then more effort was needed as we climbed up to almost 400m on the plateau of the Causses de Quercy at Montfaucon. 

We crossed over the A20 motorway and now a flaw in my planning became evident. I had mapped out the route using pages torn from an ancient Michelin road atlas, but what was a minor country lane in 1999 had metamorphosed into a very busy road leading from a motorway junction to Figeac, requiring us to mix it with the fast traffic for a few miles until we could escape onto back roads through Fontanes-du-Causse. 

The last section was a real struggle as the route across the plateau was undulating rather than flat with several hills.  We passed through Espédaillac (to reprise a photo that I took last year in the same place) before at last arriving in Grèzes and our hotel in an old chateau on the edge of the village.

With the benefit of hindsight this stage was a bit too far for the first full day, as 60 miles of hilly riding had transformed my companion from a highly-tuned cycling machine into a rather sad figure, laid out on the bed, in pain from cramp and barely able to move.  I had serious doubts whether the trip was going to end right here. What Les needed was a masseur (or even better, a masseuse), but although the hotel was very nice its facilities did not extend that far.

After an hour of rest Les had recovered sufficiently to venture as far as the swimming pool - we had been warned that the water was très fraîche but, just as rugby players jump in an ice bath to recover from a hard match, we hoped that immersion in cold water would ease the pain in some very weary leg muscles. 

Distance today 94 km.

Total distance 140 km.