It was quite a pleasant morning, if a bit windy, so it seemed a shame not to get out on the bike. I packed a sandwich and a flask of coffee and decided to head for Pic de Nore, in the Black Mountains. Looking across at them there was a bit of cloud hovering over them, but it didn't look like it would be a problem.
I stuck my winter jacket and gloves on.....just in case!
Manoeuvring my bike out of the garage I managed to drop it against Mandy's bike! Fortunately there was no damage to either of them, but I was a bit annoyed, which isn't normally a good mindset to get into before going out on the bike! Anyway, I set off and stopped at our local supermarket to top up the tank.
I went around the Narbonne northern ring road and came off it at the Carcassonne road. Traffic was fairly light, so it wasn't too bad. I carried on that road until La Redourte and turned northbound through the town and up towards Villeneuve Minervois. From there I headed up through Cabrespine, climbing into the mountains.
There was a lot of low cloud covering the top of some of the peaks there, but I pressed on in the hopes that the wind would break up the cloud cover. It was a vain hope, as I started running into banks of mist. The road was getting pretty wet and the temperature was really starting to drop. I stopped for a minute, considering whether it was worth pressing on, but I was only 8km from the peak, so I decided to keep going. It was getting pretty foggy and wet, with a hint that some of the wet was slightly more solid than I would have liked. Regular signposts warning of road ice didn't help my confidence! Bear in mind that the road was climbing into the mountains, so it was pretty twisty with regular hairpin bends (switchbacks) and some pretty impressive drops from the unguarded roadside. I was now riding with my visor up, because I couldn't see a thing through it, not that I could see much even so. Eventually I reached the summit and the radio communication station, not that I could see much of it! I'm sure that the views from up there are great, but today it was difficult to see my hand in front of my face! It was blowing a hoolie up there too! Thoughts of having a coffee from my flask soon evaporated when I took my gloves off and my hands nearly froze! If certainly felt like it was around freezing, which, at 1200m, is probably not surprising. Time to find my way back down!
I found a sheltered picnic spot just above Cabrespine and stopped for a coffee and my sandwich. It still wasn't fantastically warm there, but it was a damned sight warmer and drier than at the peak!
Dropping down the mountain the temperature was rising nicely and, without the cloud cover at the lower altitude, the sun was drying my jeans and gloves quite nicely.
I followed the same route back, but then carried on through Argeliers and to Capestang, where I then headed back down through the lanes to Coursan and back home.
190km in about 3.5hrs. And I've nearly thawed out again now!
One for @Clive.
