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What days of contrasts we’re enjoying. Yesterday morning was absolutely spectacular as we cycled high up through the Ardèche gorge. Then the afternoon was simply a long slog to Caderousse along busy roads where cars were more concerned about getting home fast than worrying about us cyclists. We’d decided to cycle further than the book suggested, hence the 50 mile day, and were both exhausted on arrival, yet satisfied with our progress.

But what a difference a nights rest makes. We were both up and running from the start. The sun shone brightly as we left the plane trees lined streets of the walled Caderousse, picking up fruit from a tiny market and bread from the bakery. We immediately discovered a perfect cycle route along the Loire towards Chateauneuf-du-Pape. It made us almost celebrate yesterday afternoon’s slog which gave us this stunning start. Chateauneuf-du-Pape was Mum’s favourite wine. She died during my final year of university. She was such a good laugh and an intelligent, adventurous lady of her time. Cycling through these vineyards made me feel like she’s been with me all day, even after all these years. I don’t drink any more, but today I made an exception in her memory. Neil and I enjoyed the most delicious glass of Chateauneuf du pape in the town square …. at 10.30 am! Both of us ended up really chatty as we celebrated passing the 800 mile mark and cycled merrily away through glorious undulating vineyards. I know Mum would approve.

◦ After lunch the wind had really picked up almost blowing us off our bicycles. The skies were vivid blue and the views to Mt Ventoux crystal clear, but the Mistral blew constantly from the north with us cycling east. Yet it was only 30 miles so we took our time cycling leisurely and arrived in Mormoiron with plenty of time to chill before finding a restaurant.

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Sometimes it’s best not to know what’s in store .Today was a case in point . We had almost dried out from yesterdays deluge . Excited to see the only natural arch across a river in the world. We felt so lucky to be there early, clouds and mist skirting around the limestone cliffs . Huge car parks that would be used later . Around a corner to my surprise a huge hill . It just went on and on an on to the top of the cliffs . We meet a lovely group of elderly French cyclists like ourselves. Lots of hand shaking at the top and cries of Vive Angleterre and vive La France 🇫🇷. Some had electrical assistance but some not . None had “ poids lordes “ as Ceri and I did ! The views were spectacular and we had an early lunch looking down to minuscule canoes 1000 ft below . Lots of viewpoints which meant the road kept going down and up . I’m glad we are doing the ride this way !

Finally it is done and we look around a beautiful village of Aigueze. Flat riding to eventually cross the Rhone reputedly where Hannibal crossed with his Elephants in 218 . I shall need a quiet day tmw ! Caderousse is like Lucca walled in … to prevent flooding. I’m writing this with a G and T in hand to help my poor knees

Neil thought today would be flat since we were following the river on the map. We ended up 1000 feet up (300 surprise metres!). He was unstoppable. Simply amazing.

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To me, this has been the most thrilling and exciting cycling day of the trip, possibly of all our trips, so Neil asked me to write today’s blog as I’m still bouncing around with enthusiasm. He reckons this could be because I found yesterday tough, … maybe so, but the cycling and the views have been absolutely spectacular.

We chose not to follow the book, but left Villefort on the D51 which turned out to be a dramatic deep gorge. The road twisted its way along a contour, across beautiful old arched stone bridges, passing a huge hydroelectric plant and through an 1800s derelict mining town. We came across mile upon mile of sweet chestnut trees which had been the locals’ staple food in past centuries. Neil was very understanding of my ‘WOW’ at pretty much every single turn, and my constant stopping to take photos or videos. After endless bends, the road finally reached Les Vans which was a pretty little town. The rain kindly stopped to give us just enough time to eat our picnic in the town square. Even with the gentle rain, the temperature was rising. The alpine features had given way to oaks then fig and apple trees. Down we descended through such pretty scenery until we reached the Ardeche. Suddenly the land was flat and smothered in vineyards. Such a contrast to most of our day. Admittedly, the heavens did open quite a few times, but even that was fun as we dived for cover into barns or coffee shops. We successfully avoided some cloudbursts but not all, and we arrived soaking wet. So here we are in Vallons Pont d’Arc , chilling out with our possessions spread all over our kind landlady’s garden, hopefully drying.

By the way, did you know that the Mediterranean dried up millions of years ago? The straits of Gibraltar closed and the Med evaporated, so the Rhone and the Ardeche carved out deep canyons as the water ran down into the empty space. We’ll be cycling in these dramatic canyons tomorrow. AND …… the forecast for the next few days is SUNSHINE. WOOHOO!!!

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Brrrrr! I was so cold this morning I had to wear a coat and gloves as we cycled up to the Col Des Tribes at 1132m. I found it tough as I just couldn’t warm up so resorted to using more battery than usual. I was tired after yesterday. Neil cycled steadily up. On the way, we stopped for a coffee in a place with an electric charger stand for e-bikes! Free! So I topped up and arrived at our destination with almost a full battery. As we crossed over the continental divide, it warmed up and we had a delicious picnic overlooking the valley. Usually people fly down the 35km descent the other side, but there was such a strong headwind we still had to peddle a little. Villefort is a small, pretty mountain village with few tourists. We relaxed in our warm and cosy B&B enjoying a home cooked supper. Ahhhhh.

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Deep in the Massif Central

We have been following the Lot river now for 3 days as it gets smaller and smaller . One of the consequences of this is that it enters very steep sided valleys , impossible for a road to go through. Today was a case in point. As soon as we left the hotel it was relentless up . The roads that we now find relatively easy we would not have found on day one or two . I am still not on the smallest cog and Ceri hardly using much electricity.

People have asked how we practiced for our trip and the answer is not at all . I like to call it the Don Whillans approach to fitness . He climbed with Bonnington and is a real working class hero from Salford . Sadly he is no more . I attended a lecture once and he was asked the question how he trained before climbing in the Himalayas. He answered that when he has left the last ‘ Changi ‘ pub in Nepal he would get fit ! But I digress . We are slowly riding up hill all day and now up to 720 metres . I feel that we are working together so well as a team and each depends on each other at different times . Continental divide tomorrow

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D’Olt is actually the name of the river Lot: same letters in a different order. Today was so beautiful that we felt we could cycle on forever, even after the 14km climb. We must be getting fit. I’ve got 4 levels of assistance on my bike and only used levels 1 and 2 all day meaning I got to the hotel having used less than half my battery. I’ll need that power on the longer steeper climbs ahead of us. This route is so well planned with the flatter terrain at the start then more hills appear as our fitness improves. There were stages today, away from the river, which looked exactly like Devon – even the red earth in the fields , but with one big fortunate difference…. no potholes!! Long easy roads. The 10km wizz back down the hill felt so safe. Neil called me the kamikaze downhill speed freak! It felt just like skiing! Dare I say we’ve been lucky with the weather. Last nights long thunderstorm cleared before we set off. Long May this continue.

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Back into the groove today . My lovely cousin Alan drops us off just east of Figeac . Despite a wonderful rest and friendship it’s good to get back in the saddle with just one thing in mind . As Nice gets closer you begin to realise barring accidents , we will get to dip our wheels in the Med . We come across lots of walkers who are walking the Camino St James . At Montredon they are putting on compeeds . Our journey for the next three days is all about one thing going along the glorious River Lot . First of all few lumpy hills to get into the valley , with my highest gear now sorted hills are a lot easier . Half way along we meet a small group of people with two clergy blessing a shop and singing . This is real rural France slightly poorer I feel than the Dordogne but the whole valley os achingly beautiful. We have a swim and I have a snooze . Not far to our destination 60km . More Lot tmw !!

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Alan is Neils second cousin. He and Heather have lived all over the world and have lived for 19 years in a beautiful farmhouse in Martiel, south of Figeac which is on our route. We stayed with them 5 years ago and they are wonderful hosts and we really enjoy their company, so we were excited to return. Alan met us near Figeac and drove us home where we had a glorious swim in their pool, a super supper and watched Ireland v Tonga. Saturday morning I awoke to Neil singing the Irish national anthem. Honestly !

We had the perfect non cycling day with Heather looking after us. Neil and Alan took Neils bike in to have his gears fixed while I did the laundry. We all went to lunch in a beautiful restaurant garden owned by a friend of Heathers. The owner, Marian, was a real character and lunch lasted from 1 to 5. In the evening we all chilled swapping stories. It was so relaxing and the perfect rest day.

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Since I’m appending to my old operation blog, which some people may still be following, and we’re having a rest day, I thought I would use the free time to mention some post op long term symptoms since over five years has now passed. I very rarely mention them these days as I have learnt to live with them and I’m just enjoying life too much to worry about them.

When my surgeon warned me I’d wouldn’t be the same after my surgery, I thought quietly to myself, rubbish. I WILL be the same. But of course he was right, so I have found a way to manage various niggles.

Since I no longer have an oesophagus, my stomach now sits above my diaphragm in the same space as my heart and my lungs, so I can feel quite sick when I exert myself too much . I guess it’s because my heart pumps more and my lungs work harder using the space my stomach shares. This is where the electric bike is absolutely brilliant. I try not to use the assist power too much as I would like to get fit, but when I feel my heart rate going up, I simply press the turbo button and cycle gently on avoiding any unpleasant symptoms. This generally happens on long hills as I sail past poor Neil slogging away! I still feel I’m cheating with an electric bike, but thank heavens for it.

I can also suffer from something called dumping. It happens if I eat too much sweet stuff as it passes too quickly through my stomach. My body quickly creates loads of insulin to deal with it and I get a diabetic type of hypo, feeling woozy, hot and sick. This usually passes after about an hour. Life is too short to skip on ice creams, especially during this trip, so I just carry on knowing it will pass.

And lastly, I can get extremely painful reflux as I have no valve preventing food from coming up from my stomach, so I can no longer stand on my head ! Haha. But if I eat the wrong food, up comes the burning bile which flows down into my lungs and I end up coughing painfully for weeks. However, we’ve solved it!!! It usually happens if I eat creamy cheese in my meals or lots of creamy desserts which gives me dumping anyway, so I tend to avoid them if I can. Also we bought an adjustable electric bed at home so I sleep with my upper body elevated. Definitely worth buying!! When we camp, we park the campervan on an uphill slope. And when we are travelling like this, I just use lots of pillows and try to sleep with my body elevated. Fingers crossed I have not had one of these horrible episodes for almost 2 years. It’s great having learned how to avoid them.

So I lead a perfectly normal happy life (if you call cycling from St Malo to Nice normal). My praise for the surgeons and teams at Plymouth Derriford NHS Hospital will always be endless.

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I keep meaning to add how amazing Neil is cycling up long hills refusing to stop. I’m sure he won’t mind me saying he’s 71, and nothing defeats him. Whether it’s swimming or cycling he never gives in.

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