Day 28 - Millau 83 kms - " The Day the Hamburger Walked"!

After the previous days bum buster it was a more subdued start as we prepared to cycle out of St.Come D'Olt. 

Noel had been seen suspiciously checking airline schedules while equally as worrying Rick was asking whether there were any more pitch black railway tunnels to ride through while Henley had still yet to recover well enough to put two sensible sentences together (...I know, i know how could i tell !)

Being the natural born leader that I am I didn't let them dwell on yesterdays pain - in fact it was almost immediately forgotten as todays pain started when we went straight into climbing mode leaving Saint Come and our foggy valley in search of the elusive early morning sun !

It didn't take long as our climb as although our climb was long it was gradual and when the sun finally poked through we were rewarded with beautiful views of green fields and farmhouses with silence the operative word if you didn't count the non stop tolling church bells.

We passed Lassouts at the top of our climb out where Rick made the offer of a coffee stop. With H indicating that he was keen to keep going we continued until the need for coffee became greater than the need for cycling !



Lucking out at a village with a 90 % gradient road (it seemed that way) we moved on to St Saturnin De Leone where our search found us an empty bakery and nothing else. Fortunately a passing Parisian stopped to tell us that a) there was a bakery in Campagnac 6kms away and b) it was due to close in 20 minutes !

We all rode like the possessed but with fuel for my greater body mass an incentive I soon cleared out from the group with Henley's pleading yell still ringing in my ear "Litchy get 4 of everything" !

I hurtled into Campagnac with 5 minutes to spare, jumped off my bike and ran into the open store standing there for 60 seconds trying to get my breath back. When I could finally speak I asked if they had any sandwiches (common English term for baguettes with filling). The lady behind the counter said no but indicated that we could pick some up from the cafe opposite.

With the guys now rolling in we tried the cafe to be informed that they only had 2 baguettes left which Kev jumped on asking for an " American "  (Hamburger patty + cheese) leaving Rick and Noel having to settle for a bowl of chips !

The guys though had the last laugh as when we started to eat we noticed that our beef looked like it was still moving and raw in parts !! When Kev tried to point this out to the waitress she looked at him stupefied not understanding a word. I thought at this point H might have charaded two horns, made a big moooo sound and the action of fingers walking to get his point across but he was too peeved to even try !

Back on our bikes Kev I and I hung back in case any urgent stomach action was required. Eventually with stomachs settling we made Chateau Severac Le Chateaux where a nearby car rally was in progress !

Here we literally abandoned Noel (up front) letting him cycle on thinking that we were right beside him when in fact at Henley's beckoning we exited the road to chase up some cold soft drinks at a bar.

Back in climbing mode and feeling about 5 % guilty we finally caught up with Noel at Venniers at 885 metres for our first distant views of Millau (strangely pronounced Mi-O) and the amazing Millau Viaduct !

Amazing view of the viaduct 

From our vantage point it was a stunning 10 km descent to Millau where we made our way to our supposed resort style accommodation up one more bloody steep hill !

Millau

Here we were placed in a cabin at the furtherest point from reception, been told that  the restaurant was closed on the only 2 nights we were there and found out upon entering the cabin that it had sink holes in the floorboards similar in size to those that we visited not so long ago an Padirac - we were not happy !

Still tomorrow is a rest day and we get to see up close the stunning Millau bridge so it cant all be bad!

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