THE PILGRIMAGE - DAY 2

7 May
Quelle surprise! Ben rang mid-morning with the staggering news that they had already cycled 20 miles towards the designated over-night's resting place of Aumont-Aubrac, having just called a vital pedalling halt in order to visit a patisserie. The hostel at Saugues had sprung into life and activity at 6am and so did the pedallers - a shock to the system for both our boys.
47 miles cycled today, cycling through Aumont-Aubrac and arriving at Nasbinals which they describe as a very pretty village in the mountains. They are residing in a communal gite and sleeping in a communal dormitory. They had discovered that the hostel (gite) in Estaing, a few miles further down the route, is closed until 31 May and the hotels renowned for being expensive - so they opted for the most economic option of Nasbinals.
They described today's route as being absolutely beautiful - meadow upon meadow with carpets of wild daffodils and fritilleria (for the botanists amongst you) and large birds of prey (no decision as to whether they were eagles or buzzards - for the ornithologists amongst you).
No foul language uttered on the phone today with reference to the hills.
They are aspiring to reach Conques by tomorrow evening and, if they happen to do so, they will have achieved the previously planned 4 days' pedalling in 3 days. I think that I ought to leave saying 'well done' until tomorrow night.
The first 7 km of tomorrow's journey consists of one very long ascent into Estaing, followed by a glorious 26 km of descent. If they do reach Conques tomorrow evening, they will have cycled approximately 114 km in a day.
On a lower note - the weather forecast is predicting four days of rain and they both say that it will be a welcome relief, for a short period, but 4 days of rain is not what they require.

Jenny