L'Auvergne - Haute Loire

We left Roanne knowing we were in for a big climb.
A quick detour took us over the first dam on the Loire then up into the hills. The road climbed steadily and we reached the top about 40 minutes later. We had climbed about 250 metres and we took the obligatory victory photo at the top. We rode about 9 kms without pedalling downhill.

The town of Pommiers was our stop for lunch and the old priory is beautifully restored. The cobbled streets make for interesting riding.

After an hour the wind got up and my spirit got down. Sally had to nurse me along until we found a Patisserie where I demolished the biggest chocolate meringue I have ever seen in my life. That had the desired effect so we pushed on through charming villages to our hosts for the night. We had climbed over 2000 feet that day so we earned our rest for the night

Marc et Marie live in the small town of Chalain-d'Uzore in le Forez near Montbrison. Marc and Marie were life savers. Marc helped us fit the bike stand to Sally's bike and then modified it by adding a piece of copper pipe cut to length and glued in place, so it was the correct height. We made some other repairs to the bikes as well. He now knows the expression man-cave! During the day I discovered that my glasses had lost a screw, so it was a huge bit of luck that Marie is a jeweller by trade. So using her micro screwdriver we were able to put the screw back again

Sally accepted the offer of a spa bath while all this was going on. We came back to find her lounging with a cup of tea, with a huge smile, looking a bit like the Queen of Sheba. The perfect antidote to a hard days cycling. The evening was spent eating wonderful fresh food and chatting the time away.

The next day we left for Aurec-sur-Loire. Along the way we stopped for a coffee with Isabelle, another of my correspondents. Coffee became lunch, and after it started raining Isabelle asked us to stay the night. We accepted but were a bit worried knowing how hard the next 3 days were going to be. In the afternoon we went to a small village not far from Montbrison which belongs on a chocolate box. So much so that it is a favourite place for wedding photos. ( Kelly book your tickets!)
Afterwards we got a guided tour of Montbrison from Pierre (her husband) who is a keen historian. I understood enough to get a good idea of the history of the town. We cooked an apple crumble for dessert which complemented the vegetable soup of Isabelle. After dinner we played games until lights out.
The next day were very lucky to get a lift in Isabelle's van to which is at the top of the first big hill in the gorges. Her friend drove us there and we chatted away learning lots about the region.
After unloading we reassembled everything and set off for Retournac, where we had reserved accommodation previously.
We knew it would be hilly so had limtied ourselves to just 40 kms for the day. We had several good slogs, the last of which lasted about an hour. We topped out at 704 metres, before the long descent into Retournac. Our hotel was clean and tidy with a great shower. We treated ourselves to dinner at the hotel I had the best kebab ever and Sally put away a monster pizza. After dinner we just collapsed into bed and slept like a log