The route was via Fournoules to St Julien de Pignaniol - I got there just as the church service was starting (10 o'clock), and surprising numbers of people going in to. It took a little while to find the very small road behind the church that goes to St Santin - like the road from Cassaniouze to St Julien, it is the boundary between the Aveyron and the Cantal. At St Santin I stopped to check out the two adjoining churches (both apparently built on the site of the original fortifications). Curiously, neither is dedicated to St Santin: the one on the left in the Cantal is Notre Dame and the one on the right is St Peter. The Cantalian church has a romanesque west door and appears to be older than the Aveyronese church (mostly 19th century?). There's no real explanation for the boundary going where it does, though one suggestion is that it marks a watershed. It's now marked in coloured lights set in the ground between the two churches, and the war memorial sits exactly on the line. One face is engraved "St Santin du Cantal", with a list of names, and on the opposite side the other "St Santin d'Aveyron" with a second list.
From there I went on to La Garenne, and climbed the mound (leaving the bike at the bottom). Disappointingly sparse views from the top as a result of all the trees, and I couldn't make out Lessal with my binoculars either. So on from there to Montredon, and the road down to Ladinhac (which is where I took the GR 6 / 65). Curiously I only met walkers on it (seven or eight) on the one section that was a good metalled road. I should have looked at their boots. Once finally down to the Lot it was a pretty easy ride along to Port D'Agres and then St Parthem, where I stopped for lunch by the river. It looked as if the floods had taken away a lot of the surface of the unmade road down there. I sat right at the edge of the river and ate the apple I'd brought. I'd previously cursed slightly that I was too late for lunch in the restaurant there.
On from there to the bridge over the Lot, and winding road up to Cassaniouze.
At this point I realized I wasn't going to enjoy the six miles uphill, but by the time I reached the top I was grateful I hadn't eaten much. I'd decided when I set out in the morning that I'd photograph the orchids I passed, and the very first ones I saw were on the uphill section. After pausing at the first ones for a picture I then ignored all the rest, as getting started again was ... an uphill struggle. At Cassaniouze I took the road via the Chateau de la Mothe, and discovered that - in the other direction - it really is much more downhill than up. Or was I just totally exhausted by then? I started getting off to walk at the shorter uphill sections, and finally teetered up the road to Lessal at a quarter to four. I found that I was having to walk bandy-legged owing to the amount of chafing - definitely saddle-sore.
Resolution - try to pick a ride that ends with a good downhill section - Marcoles might be a better bet next time (and it's closer). But there's certainly a drawback to living half way up a hill.
The bits I can remember - I'm trying to forget the last hour - were a perfect spring day outing. The cowslips and wild violets are still out, buttercups everywhere, grass knee high, and the trees are all coming into leaf, with a lot of blossom still on the fruit trees, though the oaks and walnuts aren't making much of a show yet. I even passed a small patch of wild bluebells looking quite exotic - we don't see much of them round here.
But it will be an early night I think. Eight o'clock?
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