Thiézac

Day 1 - Basel -> Vichy	Day 2 - Vichy	Day 3 - Thiézac	Day 4 - Sarlat-la-Canéda	Day 5 - La Grande Côte
Day 6 - Rigny-Ussé	Day 7 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire	Day 8 - Cosne-Cours-s/Loire	Day 9 - Riel-les-Eaux	Day 10 - Montbéliard

May 24 – June 3, 2025
Map Link

While in Vichy, Dan and I discussed where we should go next. Previous research led us to lean towards a town called “Sarlat-la-Canéda”, and then along the Dordogne River. But during our tour of the town, we saw an aerial photo of a previously-unheard of area: Parc naturel régional des Volcans d’Auvergne – volcanos! It was conveniently between us and Sarlat and it looked like it would be an amazing place to explore. Dan was excited to camp in the park, but I was less-than-excited. He challenged me to find an inexpensive hotel and he’d go along with it. I found something better: “Chambres d’hôtes et Gîtes le Clou” The price was right and the owner had a room available for the next night. Perfect! It would be a short day of riding and then we’d have the afternoon to enjoy the mountains.

The day’s riding was amazing. I said to Dan that I haven’t had an enjoyable day of riding like that in a long time. The day started out pleasant, but as we headed south, the “hills” of the park became more visible and eventually we were riding through them. There were very few towns along our route, and even less traffic. It was a day that I would happily repeat again.

One of the towns, Massiac, looked to be a very popular location to base a holiday from and it was where we stopped for a grocery store lunch, which we ate in the handy park behind the shop. From there, it was just a few minutes to the town of Thiézac. Our instructions were to “ride passed the cemetery, take the next right, the next right after that, and then go about 6km to the end of the road.”

The road was narrow but in good repair and ended just beyond the Gite, but the farmhouse was easily identifiable. After dropping off our bags and changing clothes, Dan and I took advantage of the weather, the time, and the location, and went for a little walk. We were in the Cantal mountains and overlooked the Cère valley, neither of which I had ever heard of before despite being so lovely.

Two hours later, we had followed a trail through the forest and across wildflower-strewn fields, climbing 400 meters in the process. It was incredibly quiet – we saw one other person the entire time. We also saw a French fighter jet making a practice run through the valley below us. I also caught a brief glimpse of “something” as it dashed through the fields below us. Possibly a fox, as I saw quite a few of them that didn’t quite dash fast enough across the French roads over this holiday 🙁

Mondays in France can be difficult, as many shops and restaurants are not open. Being at the end of the road on the side of a mountain doesn’t help in this regard. Our hostess offered to make a reservation for us as the restaurant down the road, reachable via an easy 15 minute walk. This sounded ideal and we were looking forward to a casual, local, mean.

Unfortunately, the meal wasn’t quite what we expected. It was an upscale-type restaurant with upscale-pricing. And while the food was good, there was also too much of it, and we were unable to finish the last courses of the Menu. It wasn’t a terrible place, and we DID get dinner, but I wish that there had been a better option.

We walked back to the farmhouse and I enjoyed the rest of the evening, relaxing in our room with a good book.

Day 3