A Ride to the Nearest Volcano

5th Aug 08 with a temperature to match

At 13:40 we decided to get out for a ride and did a 190 mile return trip to Mary Peak (1,787m) le Volcano du Cantal Or Puy Mary as the French call it - they even have a website dedicated to it Puy Mary Grand Site - Cantal - France

This meant us riding over to the Dordogne and into the Cantal region of France.

Wendy rode pillion so that meant a host of photographs along the route

The first part of the trip was from Treignac to Egletons up over the D16 a considerably good road surface with some good right and left twisties through undulated country it is a road we ride regularly



The second part of the journey was over a road which is typical of those you see in the war films where the Resistance operate against the Nazis here you can see why their tactics of attack and hide were so successful...

The road surface was a mixture of rough to excellent but the roads were
narrow and very twisty but the scenery was worth the effort Not for your R1 riders though.

















From Mauriac the roads were excellent! Good grippy tarmac with left and
right sweeping bends to die for we did a short spell on the D922 which is a superb biking road. But soon switched to the D680 which was still a good road
But we started to pick up tourist traffic as we winded up the mountains.







































The route to Aurillac was surprisingly good and congestion free except for cyclists































From Aurillac we picked up the D922 again North







After Mauriac the roads switched between narrow twisty roads with uneven
surfaces to well kept tarmac









Coffee at Spontor on the river



The last leg was again down the D16 to Treignac a now very familiar road and biker friendly
We had set off at 13:40 and arrived back home at 19:30 (ish)