Most of us I think have the idea that riding in France equals riding in the Alps in Summer - or maybe the Pyrenees or perhaps the Alps Maritime in Provence. I know that's what I thought.
But my wife and I have just returned from a week riding in a part of France we hardly knew existed - the Gers, north of the Pyrenees but south of the Dordogne and the Lot. It used to be known as Gascony in history books.
It's an area of chalk downland and steep ups and downs, but well farmed and with quite a few forests. Nothing is over 250 metres in height, but there are plenty of lung-busting hills and plummeting descents. If you like riding in the South Downs, the Wiltshire Downs or the Purbeck Hills, you'll feel at home here (but with added medieval villages, chateaux, and gastronomic delights).
We did a 180 km round trip centred on the small city of Auch (no, that's not as in sharp pain - it's pronounced 'osh'). Stopping overnight in small provincial hotels (several with bike wash facilities) to sample local fare and get a good night's sleep, and doing an average of 30 quite rough kilometres each day - the longest was 49 km - we saw red squirrels, deer, buzzards galore, dragonflies and eccentric but friendly locals (like the old man sat talking to his cat in the middle of nowhere). In short, we had a blast.
Conditions at this time of the year are normally warm and dry, but we encountered some damp spots thanks to that pesky Jet Stream, like the clay so claggy that our wheels stopped turning, but between now and late September/October the terrain will become increasingly hardpack. Some stones but few rocks.
Lots of vineyards (great to ride through), producing Armanac brandy and some excellent local red wine plus local delicacies including duck many ways and fois gras (no we didn't). What you lose in weight during the days you put back on at night with excellent and pretty cheap meals. Not to mention hot showers and comfy beds for tired bikers like us.
We followed routes laid out and well signed for walkers and pilgrims (this is one of the Compostello ways) not to mention VTTs (velo tout terrain is French for mountain bike). We encountered some local MTBers as well as some groups of walkers - all very friendly and no rights of way issues. But often we were on our own under big skies following this amazing adventure.
Our route was arranged by SW France Cycling Adventures (www.frenchcyclingadventures.com) in the form of Denise and Ray Parker, 2 Brits who moved here a dozen years ago, and love riding and walking the area. They also managed the logistics of our baggage, booked the hotels for us in advance, and were on hand for crises or technical issues (which luckily we didn't have). Don't be put off by the roadie focus of their website. They want to get more UK mountain bikers to visit this region. As well as our circular route they can tap into dozens of shorter local VTT routes of varying distances and standards of challenge (see Sites VTT-FFC).
And on the basis of our experience, almost anyone who goes will love it. A real hidden gem of an area. Contact Denise and Ray, or if you want to know more first, I'm happy to tell you (email in profile).
Thanks for the post. Will file away. I've a friend who likes that area a lot for classic relaxing away from it all gites type holidays.