East of Albi

On our last day cycling Stuart and I decide to head out to Ambialet, which is a few miles east of Albi, along the river Tarn.  We expect this to be a hilly route, so the others decide to take a shorter option.

We have a very optimistic plan of returning to the gite in time to have a dip in the pool in the afternoon.  I consider the chances of this highly unlikely given that we are often over ambitious in distances to be cycled, tendency to get lost and predilection for stopping to take photos.

Anyway, we set off early (9am, it is a holiday after all) and discover that it is pretty chilly first thing.  We have a strong headwind, the sun isn't high enough yet and the hills kick in after about 5 miles.

It's quite a tough cycle out, but when the road leads us to the top of the gorge, the views are very lovely.

Stuart's initial suggestion was to cycle along the north bank of the river, and then back along the south bank, but there are two long tunnels on the south side of the river, and my inner 3 year old appears, stamps her feet, refuses point blank to cycle through a tunnel (too scary) and retreats back inside.  We stay on the north bank!

Despite the chill, the sun makes for some lovely photo stops.

Eventually, we arrive at Ambialet, where two loops of the river are so close they almost join.

Just 30m on the other side of this tunnel is the other loop of the river

We stop to have coffee, where we meet a lovely Canadian couple, and spend a pleasant hour discussing all things Canadian (and how much we love Montreal!)

After the coffee, Stuart thinks that they offered to pay for our drinks, I wasn't sure, we departed without paying, and now I'm thinking it's best if we never return here.

The journey back is fantastic.  The sun is high and warm, we have a strong tailwind, and it feels like it is downhill all the way back.

Amazingly, we are back in plenty of time for a dip in the pool!!