This turned out to be just about the hardest day of the trip. The first target was Rieupeyroux, another Bastide town . It wasn’t quite on route and involved climbing back up to the top of the massif, but St Sauveterre had been so good that we wanted to see it. First there were two huge wooded ravines to cross – each about 300ft down before starting the climb back up. And then more climbing across open fields. So we were annoyed and disappointed to find that Rieupeyroux had nothing much to offer and, worse, that we had cycled past the only coffee stop just before flying down the very steep hill into town! So back up we had to go.
And the climbing just kept coming as we crossed valley after valley. The last one was steepest of all. I saw 17% on my GPS for a long time. But perhaps that was because I was cycling so slowly. Relief came at a restaurant at Savensa where we joined a bigger road for the final run, mainly down to Najac.
This is a famous village and castle on a narrow neck of land in a huge bend in the deep Aveyron gorge. It is a long way above the river, and the campsite. We were tired and didn’t fancy having to climb back up after pitching, so we booked into the village hotel. This turned out to be an inspired move, because although 2 star and quite cheap it had a fantastic restaurant that the locals travelled miles for. We had a gourmet meal on the terrace. Another change of gear after last nights bread and cheese beside the road with the hippies of freecamp.

The village was in a spectacular spot, with the castle on the end of the ridge commanding the loop of the river. I climbed to the top of the keep for the view back.

