St Ybrd 2008 Thursday

We hope you enjoyed Cav’s win yesterday. I didn’t get an Equipe today to see how it was received but the commentator on France 2, speaking just after the finish yesterday, managed to give Mr Bean and the Isle of Man TT a mention but I didn’t pick up anything about Her Gracious Majesty.

Today was supposed to be a rest day, with a short ride this morning and a snooze by the lake this afternoon. Some hopes! We’ve been coming here for 6 years and each year we’ve noted, on a turning not far from here, a small signpost depicting a black silhouette of a bird flying across a setting sun between two hillsides. “Probably a bird sanctuary or Bird of Prey Centre,” we’d decided. We’ve seen many birds of prey this week so what better way to fill a rest day morning than a bike ride to the falconry? Into the narrow lane we turned and after a further kilometre left again into an even narrower one. Finally it petered out into a track and there was a sign inviting us to garage our car in the car park and proceed to reception if we pleased. The car park had quite a few cars in it, many old bangers and we weaved our way through them to regain the track where we turned right again. On the corner there was a strange chap picking away at his Blackberry in Christina fashion, dressed in only a towel and that slung across his shoulders. Unperturbed we gave him a polite “Bon Jour!” and descended steeply into a water mill complex where were sat five people having their coffee round an outdoor table – all stark bollock naked.
“Hello,” said their leader over his shoulder, in a distinctly Flemish accent, “what do you want here?”

At moments like these one prays for an appropriate repost but all that came out was, “We want to see the birds of prey, are you the falconer?” I ask you. “Are you the falconer?” Is that what you usually ask a naked man you meet by accident in the open air? “Falconer? Falconer? No, I am not the falconer. This is a naturist centre. Did you not see the notice?” “Well, yes,” I pleaded, “But nature to you means taking your clothes off; to us it means falcons diving out of the sky onto bunny rabbits.” We left in a hurry and laughed all the way back to the main road.
Next stop was the bottom of the Vizere Gorge below Estivaux, a place we have visited many times before. It was still impressive but at the top we had a brief shower and Mick decided to miss out on La Roche and to meet his companions further round the loop at Sadroc – without a map.

This is where things started to fall apart. Mick found Sadroc eventually but never arrived at the cafe. Using his sense of direction he headed north on D920. Eventually the three musketeers arrived at the Sadroc café and phoned Mick to gloat that they were in the café and he had the hunger knock 5 miles north. At about 3 o’clock Mick staggered into a roadside bar and restaurant and asked in his best French for something to eat. “English?” the charming damsel replied in a Liverpool accent, “ham sandwich and a beer do you?” Thus he sat under a sunshade outside, ate, drank, slept and recovered while he waited for the others to come along to meet him. The Liverpool lass, Sian, with her husband Brian had been at the Hotel Bariolet on D920 just north of Perpezac le Noir for 18 months making a go of the business. Pizzas too!
We said we’d give them a plug so if you ever want a stop off motorway A20 between Junction 45 and 46 for a meal or overnight rooms then give Hotel Bariolet a call:- Hotel du Bariolet, Le Bariolet, 19410 Perpezac le Noir, 00 44 555 73 74 09 sianconnell@gmail.com

It was now well late and Denbo and Norman had got fed up waiting for us at the lake and returned home. We got there at 4.30 in time to see the finish of the tour on the TV in the café before limping tiredly home. After supper Trevor and Martin fitted the new door to the bathroom. We’re not sure if we will drive 100 miles tomorrow to see the tour stage finish at Aurillac or go for a ride. Not another rest day!

4hrs 1 min, 47 miles, 11.6 mph, 2452 calories, cad 61, av bpm 139, climbing 3,136 metres.