We started out from Mende on what was a chilly morning, we climbed out and then dropped into the Lot valley. There was a fair bit of up to start with as we meandered through the valley until we topped out with a col. From the top there was a beautiful 15 mile descent toward the Lake L'Altier which was stunning. We had a picnic lunch beside the lake and the sun eventually came out to warm us for the afternoon.
As we cycled on after lunch we dipped in towards the Ardeche, the landscape changes a lot here, as do the houses and and the use of the land...vineyards were filling the fields, the houses becoming sandstone with terracotta tiled rooftops, more and more cypress trees, crickets chirruping and even the odd cactus at the side of the road.
We cycled through the wine producing areas in the hot sunshine on our approach to Vallon Pont D'Arc, as we got closer the traffic got heavier and you could tell that tourism plays a big part in this area. We got to our hotel which was situated just up the road from the Pont D'Arc which is a mecca for swimming in the Ardeche, so armed with swimsuits etc we made our way back down for a very refreshing dip in the river under the limestone arch, a perfect end to a lovely day's cycling.
https://www.strava.com/activities/365784835
Distance - 74 miles
Ascent - 1400m
Cols - 2 today, see photos below
Weather - started cold 12 degrees, finished hot 34 degrees
Cycled with - the usual bunch
Extra interesting bits - The Pont D'Arc is a great geographical feature as is the Ardeche Gorge which will appear more tomorrow!
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