Tue Jun 2 : AMT Day 4 [ride] Cévennes NP → Carcassonne (plan: 4h20m 220km)
This is our 3rd riding day. Chris is sick --- looks like that person hacking on the train from Nice to Antibes a couple of days ago got him. And today is starting out rainy and cold.
Breakfast in the Château was good and they opened it early at 7:30am for us. We planned to depart at 8:15, actually moving close to 8:30, no mechanical issues today and nobody fell down. Bojidan got pictures of everyone riding out of the château.
The first sight was the Milau Viaduct, highest bridge in the world at the time it was built.
It was nice to be inside the visitor's center when the rain started pouring down. Then the rain lightened up for a walk to the viewpoint where we took lots of pictures of the bridge.
Visiting this bridge was especially nice for Chris as he had watched videos on youtube of its construction a few years ago.
Then to a region called Roquefort-sur-Soulzon to visit the cheese museum and original caves where Roquefort cheese was invented/discovered/originally-created. Interesting process. The caves are super cool, damp, and moldy, but just dry enough because of unique ventillation that a particular type of mold thrives. We tasted 3 version of their cheese, one aged 21 days, another about 80 days, and another 2.5 years. The young cheese was flavorful and melted in the mouth, great mouth appeal. The old cheese was crystalized and super intense. Really something of an aquired taste, but I think I like it, especially after the others warmed up my palate. The intermediate cheese was really an interpollation of the young and old.
Then a "quick lunch" which turned out to be not so quick.
Then some really great riding on D999, D53, D14, D169, D907, D612, D920, D12, D55, and D115.
Then we were nearly out of gas, so we detoured to the nearest filling station, but there was nobody there and the pumps did not have self-payment options. We waited for 20 minutes or so and the guy did show up. He was smoking a cigarette while filling the motorcycles. This made Tomaž nervous, so he insisted to take over.
The roads were incredible today, especially the fabulous roads through tunnels of green trees and ferns before reaching the hotel. We arrived in Carcassone at about 6:35pm. Looks like consistently a bit over double Google Maps Time.
We had an especially nice hotel, very nice as we are here for two days (rest day tomorrow), and we have a great view of the castle/fortified city from our veranda.
We enjoyed our dinner at a very French restaurant 500 meters from the hotel.
Day 3 riding Cévennes National Park → Carcassonne (276km, 5h24m riding + 4h43m stopped)
CHÂTEAU D'AYRES Meyrueis → Carcassonne (4h37m 244km)
| Time | Minutes | km | kph avg | Comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8:22am | 14.8 | at the bikes | ||
| 8:37am | 26.3 | 22 km | 50 kph | Departing CHÂTEAU D'AYRES |
| 9:03am | 3.9 | a nice spot on D996 | ||
| 9:07am | 22.4 | 20 km | 54 kph | |
| 9:30am | 2.5 | marking a turn | ||
| 9:32am | 16.2 | 13 km | 49 kph | |
| 9:49am | 33.9 | Millau Viaduct Visitor's Center | ||
| 10:22am | 5.5 | 1 km | 7 kph | |
| 10:28am | 30.6 | Point de Vue du Viaduc de Millau | ||
| 10:59am | 24.8 | 27 km | 66 kph | |
| 11:23am | 3.5 | Leaving Viaduc de Millau, heading to Roquefort | ||
| 11:27am | 4.3 | 1 km | 19 kph | |
| 11:31am | 67.5 | the Caves Roquefort Papillon | ||
| 12:39pm | 7.6 | 4 km | 28 kph | |
| 12:47pm | 67.2 | NOT quick lunch break at Les caprices de Marie | ||
| 1:54pm | 47.0 | 43 km | 55 kph | |
| 2:41pm | 4.6 | map | ||
| 2:45pm | 18.6 | 16 km | 52 kph | |
| 3:04pm | 1.6 | marking a turn onto D53 | ||
| 3:06pm | 9.2 | 7 km | 49 kph | |
| 3:15pm | 0.8 | marking a turn | ||
| 3:16pm | 14.2 | 14 km | 58 kph | |
| 3:30pm | 2.4 | marking a turn | ||
| 3:32pm | 5.8 | 4 km | 40 kph | |
| 3:38pm | 3.4 | marking a turn | ||
| 3:42pm | 18.0 | 11 km | 38 kph | |
| 4:00pm | 32.3 | gas stop | ||
| 4:32pm | 20.1 | 21 km | 63 kph | |
| 4:52pm | 8.9 | marking a turn | ||
| 5:01pm | 82.9 | 67 km | 48 kph | |
| 6:24pm | 48.1 | map | ||
| 9h47m | 5h24m moving | 276 km | 51.2 kph | 55% moving, 263 minutes of breaks |
| Google time (4h37m) + 112% | ||||
It's cool and a bit rainy this morning.
What are the "Caves Bâtardes"?
You can't tell the story of Roquefort cellars without mentioning the "caves bâtardes"... So let's go back in time, shall we? The production of Roquefort cheese was not governed by specifications until 7925. Until then, the rules were not as precise and restrictive: it was even possible to mature Roquefort outside of the eponymous village. That's where the "caves bdtardes" come in: these are cellars located outside of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon, even beyond the Combalou scree. They are all however located in the Grands CausSes area. It was a popular term in the 7920s, particularly in articles covering the drafting of the law establishing the Roquefort PDO.
The Coulet-Laur family owned several of these cellars, which were first used to mature Roquefort cheese before the specifications came into effect, and then to make "bleu de brebis" using surplus milk that could not be processed as Roquefort PDO.
These "caves bätardes" were sold in the 1930s, and the Laur family now exclusively owns cellars located in Roquefort-sur-Soulzon for maturing PDO cheese.
We've been complaining about lunch stops taking too long, so we decided that instead of a sit-down lunch at a fancy restaurant, we'd get something quick. Well, it turned out to be anything but quick. Well over an hour to grab sandwiches.
In this region, we saw several metal sculptures like this one. They are really good and there are many of them in roundabouts. Super nice!
