The weather man was promising 30°C in the afternoon today, so I got up and left 'early' (0730
)
My target was the
Lac de Saint Pardoux, 30km north of Limoges.
As I was cycling towards St-Martin-de-Jussac, a cyclist appeared to my left and said "Bonjour, Anglais?"
I think it was the mudguards and the rear rack bag that gave it away
. We chatted in a mixture of languages for a while, I found out that he lives not far from me and he knows my neighbour across the road (I don't think there's anyone within 20k who doesn't know him
). He asked me how old an was and when I said 63, he said "I'm 69, I'm an old man". Apparently he has stopped racing and now just cycles for pleasure, although he is still a member of the Rochechouart Cycling club. At this point we were approaching a hill (just outside of St Brice, about where the '12' is on the route below) which I have never been too impressed with, I generally choose the easiest gear and struggle my way up. He just stood on the pedals and left me, continuing like that all the way up and into the distance
Anyway, continuing on the Saint Gence, where a small diversion let me take this picture of the church.
View attachment 134300
Somewhat further on, I arrived at Nieul, where I had something to eat in the Parc du Chateau
View attachment 134301
Getting closer to my destination, I came across this fortified church in Compreignac
View attachment 134302
Finally arriving at the lake, I was surprised to see it so empty, after all, it is July and the French do seem addicted to sand and water when on their holidays.
View attachment 134303
The strange poles are solar powered lights
After half an hour I decided to continue my journey and return via a different route. This took me first of all over a bridge crossing a bit of the lake, near the village of Saint Pardoux.
View attachment 134304
The village itself is quite small and has a memorial to the dead of the First World War, this one in the form of a statue of a soldier.
View attachment 134305
Also managed to catch a swallow(?) in flight at the same time
It was about 11:00 now and was getting quite hot, so this was very welcome.
View attachment 134306
For some reason I've always thought of farmers as very untidy, but this one seems to have a 'neat' fetish.
View attachment 134307
Passing through Nantiat, I couldn't resist taking a picture of the railway,
Doctor Beeching would have had a field day over here;
View attachment 134308
Got home at about 13:30 - 106km in 5 hours - here's the route
View attachment 134309
Total Ascent 1274m
The weather man was wrong - it was 'only' 28° when I got home