Dordogne Gorge
The ride starts, like the previous ride at Argentat, from the café around the corner, the only one in town that is open before 8. It appears there are two women who work alternate mornings at the café: I prefer the other one, as the one today is somewhat brusque. As usual, I order, awkwardly, and then stand waiting for my coffee, the brusque lady then insists she will bring it to me outside. I try to pay before I receive my coffee, she says ‘apres’. In Europe, there is an order to things, and you cannot do things out of this order, because that would be – disorderly, and we cannot have that. When it comes time to pay there is of course a crowd of people at the cash register and I have to wait for ages, the whole time wondering what problem I was causing by paying before I had drunk my coffee and before anyone else had walked in.
Roll over the bridge across the river, ride a further 100m, turn left, and start climbing. The lady at the café, when she brought me my coffee, should have said ‘would you like a lappo with that’. Lappo, Lapstone Hill, is the hill first climbed when leaving Penrith and heading up the Blue Mountains. It is 3km long and has an average gradient of 5%. Lappo is a unit of measure for Penrith riders because it is regularly ridden and commonly known. A bit like a sydharb is a unit of measure. Every body of water in NSW is compared to Sydney Harbour: as in, such and such a dam is 3 sydharbs. So it is with cyclists comparing climbs: ‘how does it compare to Lappo?’, ‘it’s longer / shorter /steeper’. It’s not that Lappo is the hardest in the area, it’s just the unit of measure.
So, within about 200m of the café we are starting up the first hill for the day. Once on the hill we quickly leave the town behind, and looking back as we rise we are treated to Argentat in full sun and much of the valley still in shade. Like yesterday, it is cold at the start but the forecast is for 30deg.
The hill continues at around 5%, which is fine, at 5%, I can sit on 90rpm and tap out a nice rhythm, but when the gradient lifts above 7% I am reminded that I rode yesterday and the legs start to squeal. We are riding through a forest but the road is wider and busier than those we rode yesterday so it doesn’t feel like we are deep in the forest. I pass the 3km mark, first Lappo done, and the road continues to rise. There are two significant climbs on the route today, this being the first: and it’s at least a double lappo, as I now I have passed the 6km mark and the road continues to rise.
Once we turn off the busy road we are deep in a forest – this is the type of riding we came for. It had been hard to explain to people, who hadn’t heard of it before, the Massif Central. It has mountains, but not like the Alps; it has lots of little villages dotted around the countryside, but it’s not Provence; basically, the riding here is into and out of valleys and gorges and then across the plateaus. And that’s what this ride has. Once out of the Dordogne valley it is through the forest and then out into farmland, and then back into forest, and then we are surprised by a neat little town with beautiful stone buildings that are so common through here that they are not even mentioned in any tourist brochures.
We head back down to the Dordogne river through a pretty forest on a steep hill with the ground carpeted by moss. Unfortunately the road surface is very rough and does not encourage aggressive descending and fast cornering. Across a suspension bridge above the lake formed by an unseen dam, and then back out of the valley on the second, and last, major climb for the day: another double lappo, plus some. Thankfully again the gradient remains in the 5%-6% range.
Traffic? Not a single car on the descent or ascent, and even if there had been it wouldn’t have mattered. On these back roads and even the busier D roads the drivers are as one respectful. Repeatedly they will sit behind us, not daring to pass until they have a good view, and when they pass, if you duck your head down to look into the car most times you’ll see a wave given in your direction …. YES it’s true.
Once off the major climb the road continues to rise, but at a sensible 1%-3% so we ride together and maintain a good pace. We are getting close to the next town which I had decided a month ago we would stop for lunch on this ride. Nearing the top of what I hoped would be the last rise I could hear some noise behind me … it was the English Rose starting to wilt. I ease the pressure on the pedal, but not so much that we lose all momentum, and we crest the hill together. The next few kilometres are also 1%-3%, but this time downhill, through gentle sweeping curves, a dense pine forest, on a smooth road: just magic.
And into another very pretty town, with the main road closed to accommodate the weekly markets. The man with the small stall for bicycles speaks no English so the discussion about the stiffness and feeling of grinding in the head tube is conducted entirely in French. He adjusts it slightly resulting in a marked improvement and then instructs me on the cleaning required, and re-packing with grease: not likely on this trip I think. Chocolate crepes, eaten on the step of some old building will do for our morning snack. Wander past a potter’s display of incredible bowls and then back on the bikes for the final 30km.
This is the way to finish a ride, riding tempo on a smooth road and then down a steep hill through another pretty forest to cross the dam on the Dordogne. But every silver lining has a cloud: the road back to Argentat along the river is bumpy – not as dreadful as yesterday but still very uncomfortable. River roads the world over are uncomfortable I have decided, the road here reminding me of the ride upstream from Wisemans Ferry on the Hawkesbury.
From the time we cross the dam until we reach Argentat, approx. 10km, there is only one small cluster of houses, the rest being a forested gorge above the winding Dordogne. You can get out of town in Europe, but you never get the feeling of remoteness.
Stop at the bakery as we come into town to buy a loaf for lunch, stuff it down my shirt (don’t worry – it was in a bag) and ride through town. The legs now very weary.
The numbers:
Distance: 78km
Height gained: 1,400km
