Just back from a top month in France.

Took the long ferry to Santander – such a great boat, and not at all like the crappy British ones.

There’s even a Podcast accompanied Art tour on board! and a superb restaurant.

Started off with a week with Ian & Kate Potter at AQR for some fantastic big riding around Luchon. The climbs were something grim and by the last day we were climbing over 4,000 ft to do the day’s big descent. And boy, were they big. Great techie, rocky, switchbacks in the woods, or fast and steep gulleys through mountain pastures. So varied.
Great food put on by Russell and Bene at Le Lutin too.

Then we pootled down the other end of the Pyrenees to a place near Quillan for a weekend party and I managed to sneak a favourite ride Ive done there a number of times. Awesome singletrack descent from 1,000m to 100m.
see it here
http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2872129
or download the *.kmz for google earth from my site here
http://www.northmalvern.co.uk/Nebias-Montmija-Ginoles.kmz

Here’s the last descent (taken at the end of last year)

clicky to go and zoom in
saw so many beautiful butterflies (as well as wild Iris)

Then over to Florac on the Gorge du Tarn/Cevennes border.

Such a great place at the junction of limestone causses, chalk and granite hills. Can highly recommend the ”Pont du Tarn” campsite – especially to those with kids.
The gorge side above the town:

and the route back down 🙂

Had a brilliant method of exploring trails as a family. We’d walk a likely trail with Jr in his off road buggy, while Mrs S runs on ahead for a few km at a time then back to us – so we get a good walk, she gets a 20km run and I get to scout out trails like this one for riding later:
Going up en famille:

and coming back down the next day, just me:

and back down the gorge bottom:

and more bugs – a train of caterpillars…!

and all possible because of the best bit of biking kit I’ve ever bought…the campervan!

Sorry for so much flare on some of the pics – camera phone scratched to s***.

now thats a holiday! we used to do 6 week roadtrips in our vw when i was a kid, mainly alps/pyras my dad had my bmx on the roof. best memories ever. keep it up and jnr will thank you so much later on. adventure will be 2nd nature!

fantastic, sooo jealous!

ooh don’t touch those caterpillars – we get them in Spain and they make you itch for a fortnight.

Looks lovely. I hope Kate was in training as she was here in Madrid last weekend racing in the World Cup!

Lovely, I spent a week in the Languedoc region (just East of Quillan ) a couple of yrs back. Beautiful part of France, very remote and unspoilt.

eck – she was sleeping up at superbagnieres (1800m) for altitude traning in time for Madrid.

Looks like it might have worked with a p30 (better than a p46 in Belgium) 🙂

I remembered your comment about those caterpillars from an earlier thread so didnt touch them! LOL

tang – we try and do 2 or 3 one month trips a year in the van. We love travelling and exploring. And its the only economical way of keeping up my second expensive hobby: My wine cellar! 🙂

Git.

I’ve never liked you
🙂

Looks rubbish.

Superbagniere’s not worth the bubblecar ride up.

Did you bring much vino back?

Me. In denial? No never. 😀

fab!
did you add gears to your 29er?

how much was the ferry? assuming somewhere between “very expensive” and “crushingly expensive”??
van looks lovely – lucky boy!

look ace

I’ve done some of the trails around the Gorge du Tarn-fantastic.
I think you have made up the family mind, we have been umming and ahring about buying a camper for a while but I think I can see where things will be going

nick – the feeling is mutual. You up for some more mutual loathing this side of the country any time soon?

Stu – I usually aim to bring back about 90 bottles a time. This time I only came back with 5 cases because 2 of them cost about as much as your new forks and one bottle about as much as a new stem 🙂

Clink – had the Ti29er rohloff’d-up. Really is a great system when you dont have a workshop for such a long period of riding. Does weigh a bit though – the whole bike is pretty lightly built, but with the big gordo rims, WTB weirwolf tyres, reba 20mm forks and a rohloff in the back it comes out at 29lbs! Today I have just stripped it back to it’s weight weenie 22lb carbon rigid SS build. I need all th ehelp I can get.

Petrieboy – £355 one way.
But if you allow for the £100 diesel, £60 tolls and £150 ferry to go via Le Harve instead, there’s not much in it and its a lot less hassle.

Fog – best thing we’ve done since our pompino trip, and its because of the pompino trip giving us the wunderlust together with the arrival of Jr that we realised it was the solution.

because 2 of them cost about as much as your new forks

It’ll please you to know that when I tried to order them they had no stock left at that price. 😕

nice one! looks good.

It’ll please you to know that…

yes, yes it would.

Since mine cost £100 more!

🙂

Bastid. 😉

looking at those photos makes me really delighted that my parents have just sold their place in Tarn 👿

Aye, we need to that walk along Offa’s we were planning under the influence of all that beer. Soon, yeah?

Brilliant pics from a brilliant holiday. Nice post.

Offa’s sounds good.

Bivvy & Tarp?

eck – you live in spain, you’re not allowed to be jealous! 🙂

Nice pics .

My home town is Millau , just at the entrance of the Gorges du tarn .

Chris – lucky you!

We rode the gorge de Jonte on the pompino trip (vulture belvedere was cool)

We didnt get a chance to explore the southern bit from Valleraugue which I cant wait to do.
Next year.

Kent is not so nice to ride mTb . lol

cant wait for home holiday in august .

you poor expat, you! 🙂

Gorges du Tarn is a wonderland!

Stoner in talking shite shocker… Tarn is not France profonde, sorry but please I know it’s hard for you but show a bit of respect…

Gorges du Tarn is a wonderland!

That’s just reminded me of a kayak trip i took down there a few years ago. 😀

don’t be so pompous juan.
I know perfectly well the Tarn is more touristy than “profonde”. I was referring more to the parts of Aude and old Occitane that I also regulary visit.

I really must become self employed….

only came back with 5 cases because 2 of them cost about as much as your new forks

Pah! My last pair of forks cost roughly the same as two bottles of Blue Nun (true – 1 inch threaded 1996 Rock Shox Judys tend not to hold their value). Of course, I wouldn’t be so vulgar as to talk loudly about it on the interweb. 8)

Welcome back, comrade! Nice pics and trails. You have indeed missed all the fun – namely Daily Mailograph headlines in the kind of large font normally reserved for a state of war. 😀

self-employed rools 🙂

Hello comrade!
Although I have missed the ding-dong, Im looking forward to Friday and Sunday after the election results are in. It’s going to be a massacre for the darling Labour party. I could almost be sympathetic… 😉

This all looks marvellous. 4th pic down in your Gorges du Tarn set is straight out of The Rider. 🙂

That looks fab. We stayed near Quillan a couple of years ago, it’s gorgeous round there.

Juan , if aveyron and lozere are not france profonde , i dont know what is .

Gorges du Tarn are gorgeous , lots of campsite along the way and riding is amazing .

Hey some francophiles on here….Ive ridden round Prades…bit further south than Quillan…I will def try your ride when Im next there….I know a little vinyard Nr Couza…I stock up with cases n cases of Blanquette organic fizz utterly delicious for £4.50 a bottle……campers look like a good way to go….next plan! Thanks for the inspiration though at the mo who needs to go to France…had a ride round Cotswold local trails with mates on Sun eve and it was heaven….