A day of lounging in the sun by the river and we were eager to be off again. We intended on continuing our windy journey southeast-ish. Up out of the valley we climbed up a hill that was steep to start but eased off towards the col. The day rolled by towards Truyère Lake (reservoir really). We originally planned on heading down to a nice spot to have lunch but realised we would only be climbing back up a very steep hill... So Heather dragged Barney and his growling stomach a bit further to the dam where they found a bench. We spent a good few minutes on some detective work from photos to work out which dam it was until Heather looked to the right and spotted a huge sign. Barney's laser eye surgery was well worth it obviously!! ;). Back up we climbed away from the dam, a long gentle one where the views gradually opened up in front of us until we were rolling across an undulating plateau. Good old Garmin wanted to take us down a track as a shortcut, Heather was dubious as they hadn't always worked out in the past. But this one was tarmac... How bad could it get?

Steep.... Steep... Rocky... Twisty... The tarmac soon disappeared and we were both wondering why we hadn't just stuck to the road! We know we are going to come across much worse eventually but knowing there was smooth tarmac not far away made it a little more painful. Luckily the track was only a couple of miles. Both of us are the stubborn type in that once we have started something it has to be truly awful for us to turn around, and to date that track is not the worst we have now been down. We still are yet to turn around because of a poor road.

So anyway on we went. Cycling past our goal we found a lovely wooded area that is used for cross country skiing in the winter. The only thing is that there were beautiful flowers everywhere, dwarf daffodils, orchids and loads of others that we have no idea of. Eventually we found a patch hidden away that was clear of flowers. That night Heather was sleeping soundly, and would have continued to sleep soundly if Barney hadn't shook her awake, at which she let out a yelp. We were at the top of a hill, in a wood. It was past midnight and yet a bright light now shone directly on the tent and a dog barked nearby. Barney was absolutely bricking it. Sat bolt upright practically squeezing Heather's hand off. After a couple more flashes of light, it then moved on and all rustling stopped. It took a few minutes to convince Barney that if someone was unhappy with us then they wouldn't have called the dog away, they would have come closer. Eventually, Barney sort of probably dozed off and got about 5 minutes of sleep. Then it started to rain.

Full waterproofs straight away to keep away the biting wind and drizzle in the morning. Blearey eyed Barney just about got clipped in to cycle - he certainly wasn't going to stay there!

Just down the road a couple of camper vans were parked up. That explains the dog walker then! We rolled on out of the Aubrac National Park steaming down hill. We eventually came to the Tarn Gorge, beautiful even in the ever falling drizzle. A cute little village with a big bridge over the river. We set out for a campsite as Barney needed some sleep. The one we liked the look of was closed and there weren't any suitable wild camping spots nearby. We back tracked to another campsite which was actually along tomorrow's route, so that wasn't too bad - it'd only be a few miles back and forth! Of course, to no surprise to anyone, the next day Heather woke up to the gorge and naturally decided she wanted to cycle along more of its length, so back we went again the way we had come. Aiming for a bakery that ended up being closed on arrival! France's habit of its shop's closing for a few hours over lunch was pretty annoying (Seriously, the really need to do something about this!). Anyway.... Beautiful gorge, the weather was dry and cloudy. Then came sandwich gate... Hungry and not wanting to wait for the supermarket to open in 30 minutes time we stupidly ordered a sandwich from a cafe that had stopped serving food, because you know.... Lunch finishes at 1330 right? Definitely should have waited for the supermarket because being able to eat a cheese sandwich on a chair with a hot chocolate is not worth 20 times the price of a baguette.

After that we escaped and tried not to think of it as money wasted. We had hills to enjoy!!! The Cevennes National Park swept away any misery from the expensive sandwich. Barre des Cevennes at the top of the hill was a village of small and old quirky streets. Photos of course don't do it justice. Winding our way down and along the river the sites just got better, helped by the sun truly breaking through. The river Gardon de Sainte Croix tumbled below us through rocks. Nothing could stop us now! Heather spotted a sign post where a place name had been blacked out as we whizzed by and wondered what had happened to it. We found out, a little bit too late. Our road kept winding down and came to a key junction (there aren't many roads around). Route barred, closed for another week... Landslide. Right, so checking the map this would now add approximately 50 miles on to our route and take us back up the hills. Well the sign said closed for over a month, maybe they'd sorted it right? Or maybe it wouldn't cover the while road. Unfortunately it was both very much closed, untouched and completely blocked off at both ends of the road. We did actually contemplate fording the river to get around the landslide but instead after referring to the map we found a forest track that zig zagged up the mountain and down to the next road. This track started off as very steep concrete but quickly eased off and turned to a rocky track which we were able to cycle up. The sun was setting, and through the trees a beautiful landscape turned into shades of grey green and blue. At the top we found a flattish bit of disused track for the tent just in time for it to get dark and make a birthday call to Heather's dad. Amazingly, Heather got her dad's birthday wrong by about four days, but it's better to be early than late surely! Definitely was a surprise birthday call by any means! The next day started with a short and steep hike up to a view point before we then made our way out of the forest and back on to tarmac (with another minor faff as Heather dropped the GoPro some way up the hill for which they had to go searching for again but it was again found safe and sound!). As we made it in to Jean-st-gaude Barney realised something was really quite wrong. It looked like his wheel was at a complete wonk. Luckily it was just a now missing screw from his front pannier rack. While Barney got the spares out Heather went and found some overpriced very dense bread and some award winning brownie like cake. Back on the road again! One thing we have noticed is how expensive tomatoes (and some fruit and veg) are.

We had our sites set on Avignon so sped away into the flat lands. The roads got significantly busier which was a bit of a shock from the last couple of weeks. We cycled over a bridge built in 2BC by the Romans and took a short detour to Pont du Gard but as you have to pay to see it and we were there very late in the day we decided to keep going. Our arrival in to Avignon was busy, so many vehicles even on the quietest roads we could find. But finally, we arrived in Avignon to our camp site in the centre. It started well, Heather managed to get free electricity and an adaptor, so everything was put on charge as we set off to explore Avignon. It didn't last very long, a quick bite to eat and we were both shattered and headed back to the campsite. We'd explore Avignon first thing in the morning and then clear out of the campsite by 1200. A great plan, foiled by another bad nights sleep for Barney, so when we eventually got up the next day we decided on a new plan, we'd stay an extra night in the campsite, and go have breakfast, and then explore, Avignon. An incredible breakfast was followed by a nice explore, a free ferry back to the campsite and then a return to Avignon to have a drink before eating at the campsite. Well a quick pint of 8%+ beer later resulted in us both deciding we HAD to treat ourselves to a meal. What a perfect choice it was, as we stumbled upon an amazing restaurant where the owner/chef showed us all his dishes and talked us through them before we both had great starters and amazing mussels for the main. More bread was needed so Barney was sent off to ask for some and instead came back with another whole bowl of mussels on the house!! Evidently the owner thought we looked especially hungry, and he was quite right, because after demolishing the extra meal between ourselves, we had dessert! An experience to remember for sure and what brought the perfect end to our time in Avignon. Off to bed and back on the road the next day...