Meyrueis, Lozere June 16, 2021, warm cloudy weather. I grab my stuff from my car and assemble my bike. Just like the Rider Tim Krabbe back in 1977 – People are also watching me from the terrace, like back than in those days to Tim, the only difference from then must be that I hear them thinking out loud: What idiot is that he is now cycling here in this heat… it doesn’t‘t interup ore change my intentions, my 22 won’t stay clean and my french is as bad as my dialect to all the french
For a long time I didn’t feel the need to write down my activities in little stories. My mind was not on it and for a while my life was just before the start of a transformation. when the moment comes I will definitely come back to this period a few more times, but for now I mainly want to be busy with the now and experience it to the fullest. I’am a slow living Randonneur and this is my chronicle
It’s a strange phenomenon: whenever I’m particularly excited or close to panic, my movements slow down to slow motion. My things are packed, my car is loaded, my bike on my bike carrier and I, I am lying on the couch ala Al Bundy reading a book about the mont aigoual as if i don’t go anywhere. The Mont Aigoual is a mountain of the Massif de l’Aigoual and is located on the border between the departments of Lozère and Gard in France. It is 1565 meters high, making it the highest peak of the Gard and the second highest of the Lozère and the Cevennes.
I start my Micro Bike & Ride Vacation here after i visit the Netherlands, visit some friends and familie after and in between on my way, i didn‘t plan anything and go for the unexpected. And yes I will cycle mountain passes during my holiday and cycle through beautiful regions, when I feel i need to stay for a while, i stay
So here i’am on the road again for the commen 4-5 weeks. On 30 June a will travel to Nord Germany for a view weeks. This is a time slightly longer than Lent. So exactly the time that many say that you can change your own habits. You know the saying: “What you have achieved for 30 days, from now on you will always be able to do it“ so i will try to change things who are no longer fit in my life.
It is early June now. The astronomically determined start of summer ,is the summer solstice (around June 21 in the Northern Hemisphere) But for practical reasons, the meteorological summer starts earlier, on June 1 in the Northern Hemisphere. It couldn’t be better than this moment now ,in 2021 is also the beginning of, what i call ;Project Alex 2.0 . Fully vaccinated and free to go where ever i want , after 13 months of insanity ,travel again! And as if it should be this way- i start of becoming a better version of myself- I couldn’t have picked a better time to start writing down my activities again.
After a week in the Netherlands, hilly landscape and Hotel Mama a Papa, it goes south again. Meyrueis, in the Lozère Region of France , the weather is warm but not too hot either. Here, but in the south welcomed me a 37 hot degrees warm Ales. On my way to the cevennen i pass by coincidence because I dodged a traffic jam- i didn’t expected to drive through Ales Center till i saw the sign- A warm hospitable welcome expected me at friends home.The moment couldn’t have been better, tired and overheated from a long day of driving through France – and equally familiar faces again. The tips from locals like these have proved unaffordable. I become a King in France for a day- that welcome
Well, I like it. The car I drive to France is a 15 year old Volvo, my buddy for the last 5 years, our last holiday together , stickered with country flags that we have all visited. I feel the looks, Austrian registration, in French trough Belgium and Luxemburg driving. Or would they look at my bike on the back? I don’t care ,if they ride my wheel. I only know the course from the books so they will not folllow my going anyway, but the route is selective enough to enjoy. If you’re good…if not , it will be a hell
Liverdun France ( i stopped for the night )
Message Mon 14 June 2021 19:28 pm, I’m somewhere in the Voges along the Mosel between Nancy and Dijon under a Berke tree making plans for my micro bike trip in de Cevennen National Parc , several questions are going through my head
Plans for this rugged piece of France.
Gorges du Tarn, the bridge at Millau and the corniche des Chevennes
are definitely on the agenda. The route of the Montes
Only: what is a good base?
Was thinking of the village Meyrueis myself.
And further: how is the weather there (usually? – no current weather reports I can find)
and also: the Mont Aigoual, from which side is this ‘the real climb’
or do you have to do it 4 times, just like the ventoux three times? I don’t know, but that give me an exciting feeling. I have found a place to sleep on a camping called
There is a traffic jam coming my Navigation advised me. I get the choice to either get into a traffic jam or to drive, the time is almost identical. My choice falls on driving, not suspecting that I am driving in the direction on the way to Ales, a suburb of the Cevennes where friends live. It’s hot and I’m starting to get tired, finally I get off the highway until I’m suddenly waiting at a traffic light and the sign Ales catches my eye. I still didn’t notice until I got closer. A few hours later I’m standing on top of a mountain with my friends with a view over the City… How the unexpected always remains priceless during such road trips
La Capelan, a camping outside meyrueis on the road to Le Rozier – it already sounds great and actually I don’t have too many demands, my Volvo usually sleeps wonderfully- de Jonte nex to me – it can‘t be better, what a beautiful region is the chevennen
The rivers in the Cévennes are teeming with water (because it can rain a lot, I experienced that one morning). Beautiful is the trip over the Causse Noir and then descend to the river DOURBIE. Here too the road follows a winding river. Via a steep climb near the village of Treves, I continued my ride back to Meyrueis
What a pleasure it is to cycle along the river TARN. The road meanders between high rock walls, you always have the river in sight. From the villages of Les Vignes and La Malene you can take a steep climb ( average of 9%) to the Causse Mejean plateau. Don’t think it’s flat here, the road waves up and down over a barren, barren plain, where the wind blows hard from all sides. From the village of St.Enimie on the Tarn, you return to Meyrueis via the Col de Coperlac (907m) over the Causse Mejean.
beautiful stages to cycle are in the Cevennes (729km). A challenging cycling area with climbs, beautiful river valleys (Gorges) and plateaus (Causses). The small town of Meyrueis was my starting point for all tours. This region is located deep in the south of France, 1200 km by car from the Netherlands ore from Austria but it is word every KM. What a beautiful National Parc
On the Road 