Day 7- St Genieve to Ganges

Breakfast at 7.30 with an 8.15 start after some tinkering with the gears on Gary's bike. Weather was cold, overcast with light rain for first climb of the day which took us to over 950m. Quite a few miles at height with variable weather conditions. This was followed by the first amazing descent of the day into Tarn gorge- breathtaking views and exciting riding on the hairpins (Sarah also found it quite alarming in a right hand drive car with a sharp drop off to the side.)

Having lost so much height we then proceeded along the gorge for quite a distance, still very beautiful scenery. Sarah met up with us at the end of the gorge and provided all the ingredients for a picnic lunch - baguettes, cheese, ham, crisps pastries etc. Aidan took control and made sandwiches for everybody. We delayed as long as we could but we all knew what was coming......

First part of the climb took us to over 1000m for the first time - everybody just stuck at it and the climb didn't seem too bad, steady gradients of 5-6%. Some more distance at height and then the second part of the ascent right up to 1300m. Everyone had photos taken at the top just to prove we got there. 60 miles complete, just another 30 to go.

And so began the most amazing descent that any of us has experienced - over 12 miles of steep sweeping downhill. Strong winds made things a little interesting and at one point almost brought the bikes travelling at over 30mph to a complete standstill! After the steep descent we were unsure of what to expect for the reaming 20 miles but we were pleasantly surprised to discover that the downhill continued all the way to Ganges.

So overall the hardest day for most but also some of the most amazing cycling that any of us have experienced.

Stats for day:

93 miles

6,400 ft climbing

7,400 ft descending (mostly very quickly)

Highest point -1300m

Weather - cold, light rain, some sun and then warm and sunny once over mountains.

Tomorrow just 30 miles into Montpellier- almost there.

N.b. due to technical problems with Sarah's phone she had simon's phone today. So if you were surprised by how fast the bikes were travelling this was because the tracker was being powered by a 2.0L diesel engine today!