Stage 10 - The Central Massif

July 08, 2019

Stage 10 - The Central Massif

Saint-Flour to Albi

A long stage (217.5km) with four categorised climbs, stage 10 will take Tony on a long descent down the Central Massif from the starting height of 824m above sea level in Saint-Flour to a finishing height of 178m in Albi. The hardest climb of the day will be the category 3 Cote d’Espalion, an average gradient of 4.9% over a distance of 5.2km, coming straight after the steep descent from the village of Laguiole.

As usual my two quite interesting facts:

The village of Laguiole, along with the city of Thiers, is famous for the Laguiole knife, a hand crafted Occitan pocket-knife.
Albi is the birth place of Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa, better known as the post-impressionist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Many of his works can be admired in the Musée Toulouse-Lautrec in the historic centre of the town.

Drink of the day – Given the mention of Toulouse-Lautrec, it has to be absinthe, La Fee Parisienne to be precise.

Song for the day - Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin

Comments

Anonymous said…

Wife - lovely red brick cathedral in Albi. Doesn't sound lovely, but it is. Less lovely were the snakes we encountered on our walking holiday in the Tarn gorges. One turned out to be very dead, but LARGE and lying across our path, on one side of which was a sheer wall and on the other side a sheer drop. The other zig-zagged straight for us - never realised how fast it was possible to run backwards. Hope Tony speeds past any snakes on his bike.

Since I'm not a fan of absinthe, can I put in a request for a local vin de Gaillac, and especially a white 'vin perlé' - a faintly effervescent refreshing wine, made with old varieties including Mauzac and Loin de l'Oeil. Santé!

8 July 2019 at 17:29