Day 10 Monday 9/9/13 Sarlat to Figeac - 61 Miles / 98 Kms

Total miles to date - 529 miles.  We have passed our half way point. 

Just the stats: 61miles, 14.6 MPH average. Four hours ten minutes  of riding time. I stopped for a total of 35 minutes the whole day.  Sunny day, 46 to 61 degrees. Elevation 670 feet.  We climbed 3,681 feet and descended 3,610 feet. Arrived at the hotel at 2:30.

Calories burned on the ride – 4,052. My average heart rate during this ride was 124 bpm.

Our ride began with a fast and easy 10 km run on a rails to trails cycle path that avoided the tourist traffic and took us straight to the southern banks of the Dordogne River. This morning was a nice ride along the Dordogne River.  We saw a lot of cyclists along the river riding the flat tree-lined roads along the banks of one of the river.

 

 

 

 We are seeing more hills as we ride along the river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After we turned south-east away from the river we began to see for the first time villages built into the stone on the tops of the hills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

True to form, we climbed up to one of those villages.  At the beginning of the climb I saw a sign Rocamanour 12 kms!!  So we had a seven mile climb on a switch backed road to the to the famous village of Rocamadour. It is well worth the climb to the top of the hill. The village sits perched in the cliff side of an abrupt canyon wall.

 

From here we had about 23 miles to go.  This last section was full of long two to three mile climbs and long two to three mile fast descents. My max speed a number of times hit 35 to 38 mph.

 

 

                                                 I love seeing a sign like this!

 

 

View from hotel

Our hotel

Another view from our hotel

Tomorrow they are calling for rain.  Fortunately it is  a 36 mile day.