Day 81 – Ally to Saignes

Saturday July 23, 2011, 43 km (27 miles) – Total so far: 2,950 km (1,833 miles)

It was a pretty lousy ride today on hilly main roads. There was also a lack of hotels on the route. We checked with a tourist office earlier in the day, and there was a hotel in Ydes. We stopped there but the hotel was closed.

It was getting late in the day and was threatening rain. We were a bit worried about getting wet and cold with no place to stay. We saw a sign that Saignac was only 6 kms away along a cycle path that followed an old train line. Even though we were pretty buggered, we figured we could handle 6km of flat riding.

We left Ydes and it immediately started chucking it down with rain. We sheltered under a tree for a while waiting for it to ease off. That last thing we wanted to do was get cold and wet.

After about 30 mins, the rain stopped so we continued on. We had about 3.5km of flat riding, then the road to Saignac headed away from the cycle path and up yet another lousy hill for the final 2.5 kms. By the time we reached Saignac we were wet, cold and buggered.

We found a hotel which was 46 euros for the night but it was completely full. Despite the fact we were dripping all over the hotel floor, the kind lady rang a nearby Chambre Dote (B&B) for us but there was no reply.

We decided to go and check it out the b&b for ourselves. It was up the top of another bloody steep hill. So steep that we had to push our bikes up. To top it off, it was chucking it down with rain.

I was really starting to complain at this stage. We made it to the top of the hill and the b&b was totally deserted. Nobody was anywhere to be seen. It was 7pm, getting dark, it was cold, wet and there was nowhere for us to stay. We had no idea if there was anything in the nearby towns. We decided to head for the municipal campground as a last resort, although putting up a tent in this wet weather would be seriously miserbale.

As we cycled into the campground I noticed they had on-site caravans. Please Please let them have one free I thought to myself, not wanting to say it out loud in case i jinxed it.

Thankfully the camp ground was still open and they did in fact have a caravan free. It was awesome. It had a huge lounge area, two bedrooms, a toilet and shower, and a full kitchen including cooktop, oven, microwave and fridge/freezer. It also had a heater.

It was 50 euros a night and we ended up staying 4 nights here, as everyday we woke up to rain.

Castle in the mist: