Medieval Villages and hell by wind - so tough today

If it is not hurting, it is riding, not cycling.

We were cycling today.

We left Beynac at 9 am with a revised target of Figeac some 112 kilometres away.

We rolled through Domme in 22 degrees and light winds and proceeded to make our way through gently undulating roads through amazing Medieval villages before hooking up with the same bike path used by the 2006 tour to continue a roll along a beautiful river for some 10 kilometres before again joining up with some quiet roads for the run into Soulillac for a quick coffee break.

From there we picked up the roads leading to Rocamadour and completing a 10 k climb into a stiffening head wind into the "new" or hospitality section of Rocamadour where we stopped for lunch and were joined by Phil and Julie Hatcher to catch up on their dealings with the French authorities in tracking down Phil's lost property. The positive side of the 'lost property' situation is to give Julie ample opportunity to test her French speaking skills - which is going very well.

From there we descended through the amazing 'Old Cite' of Rocamadour. (although Colin bailed on the decent due to the extraordinarily strong winds and linked with the group at the bottom of the hill.

It was then uphill for a few more kilometres and we were lost.

A group of 5 in a late model BMW 7 series pulled to a stop in the middle of a very quiet road asking if we were training for the Tour de France. (Craig said we were).

After some communication challenges, they directed us down a road that does not exist on any of our 9 maps or two GPS systems to Gramat (which we were aiming for).

This non existent road was fabulous - boarded by ancient rock walls and travelling through grazing lands. Again, it was a very different experience and one we were fortunate to have.

At Gramat, we re-checked maps and set sail for Figeac, some 34 k's away on great roads.

What was not great is that in every 4 kilometres we ascended and descended terrain that was greater than Mt Coot-tha and we did so into a head wind that meant we had to pedal hard on the down hill just to keep moving forward. The up hills were hell. We did this for 30 kilometres before a long decent into our overnight destination.

We were hurting today - we were cycling. This was seriously hard however our group worked well together and shared the load to see us arriving a little after 5.30 pm.

Dinner was something else again. Steak, chicken, turkey, omelet, salad, desert plus rose and red, beers and coffee for 7 - all for 88 Euros.

The weather forecast tomorrow is for rain. Seriously, it can be as wet as it likes - as long as it is not with wind. We have done wind - we don't need any more.

The gallery has been updated. You will notice there are no post lunch photos which is a testimony to it being too hard to shoot on the bike.

Also scroll down to the d'Aubisque section to see the 2 new photos of the hang glider.

Finally, the first shot you will see is of Ern at Brisbane airport prior to his departure - thanks to Andrea.