Posted on 08.04.2019 by admin

The Mounts of Cantal (duet)

September 1999No, Graulhet is not the name of an SM club unearthed on the edge of the N88 between Toulouse and Albi, in the direction of the Monts du Cantal, but the name of a small town in the Tarn formerly rich in many tanneries, peausseries and other tidbits…

ROADS

IN SHORT

Stroll stages

Please note: the hostel "Au Bout du Monde" can only be recommended to your best friends (although the damage has already been done, because it already appears in the Guide du Routard) … Claude, the former boss , has more and more difficulty taking his 1000 CBX out of the garage because it hurts his kidneys. His son, who has just taken over the hotel-restaurant, had "several odds and ends" as motorcycles, including a legendary 500 XT. It still happens to him to take a little tour, but between the kitchen (it is he who excellently prepares the truffade, the steak with blue cheese from the Auvergne, the trout with bacon, the tripoux and other slimming specialties), up to standard and his baby bawling in his pager, he hardly has any free time! The hostel therefore has 3 bedrooms, but the annex, just opposite, has 5 more. Finally, there is a possibility of lodging, 2 km further, or you can rent fully equipped apartments for the week (around 1600 FF per week).
Auberge "Au Bout du Monde", Mr. and Mrs. Delteil, Le Mas, 15590 Mandailles. Phone. 04.71.47.92.47. Fax 04.71.47.95.95. Attention: closure for works from 11/15 to 12/20/99.

Stroll words:

"ALBI: massive traffic jams, 2 km of traffic jams. Because of the works, our photographer took nearly a quarter of an hour to get out of the city!"
(On the front page of La Depêche du Midi on August 17, 1999. The Parisians laugh stupidly …)

"Oh my Harley is not so much for riding, it’s more for the legend"
(a bar owner in Albi)

Walk readings:
"(…) Gabriel smiled as he took the Norton onto a motorway exit ramp. He had left Paris at dawn, taking advantage of the fresh early morning air which, still damp with dew, made Sing the bikes so well. Fifty heating terminals a bit boring on the highway and the Norton was ready for the long curves of the national. A motorbike is made to switch from turn to turn and the highway of the West was as curvy as a ten-year-old girl. The Norton was a little gift from Gabriel to the Octopus. A way to get down to work, starting with a vacation. (…) "
("The Octopus: Stop the tiling" by Patrick Raynal, Editions Librio, 10 FF)

E.M.

A SUMMER 99 ON THE ROAD (4)
The Cantal Mountains
Back from a 3-week station wagon after 4,600 km of asphalt riding a 900 Trophy weighted down by my favorite passenger, the best plans from Moto-Net. 4th part.

Graulhet, the leather empire

No, Graulhet is not the name of an SM club unearthed at the edge of the N88 Between Toulouse and Albi, in the direction of Mounts of Cantal, but the name of a small town in the Tarn formerly rich in many tanneries, peausseries and other tanneries. In fact of empire, it is rather the vestiges of a small barony in disgrace, because obviously, the megisseries did not resist to the "crisis of the textile" of the Eighties and put little by little the key under. the door. There are still a few, such as AF Cuirs (see "" file), which unfortunately was on annual leave during our visit … If you want to take a look at the local production, follow the N88 and the N2088 in the north of Toulouse, and turn left at Rabastens, on the D12 in the direction of Graulhet and Realmont. Some manufacturers are still in the center, but most are in the industrial area, on the road to Gaillac. After Realmont, the N112 rolls great up to Albi.

Albi, inexplicably preserved

During any summer peregrination, it is common to notice that as soon as a village is a little pretty at the base, it quickly finds itself disfigured by the stores of postcards, of Tibetan monkskin gourds and other lighters. artisanal olive oil. The municipalities, to earn 3 francs, let this kind of horror proliferate, without realizing for a second that the result is obviously the opposite: people flee! well Albi, which is an absolutely splendid city, is – for how long? – preserved from any ostentatious tourist trap. Certainly, in the evening, some terraces are more reminiscent of Place du Tertre than of the prefecture of Tarn, but nothing prevents you from going 30 m more and having dinner, in peace, in a very good inexpensive restaurant. , like April Fool’s Day. Sophia will make you taste her crazy tapas and her rather successful culinary inventions, and that, it does! Anyway, Moto-Net is not here to give you a tapas / Moorish comparison, but rather to tell you about the roads of Auvergne. So let’s leave Albi with the delicious D600 via Ropes on Sky (here, no need to look far to find an example of a magnificent but disfigured village!), then let’s take the very beautiful D922 via Laguepie (on the border of Tarn, Tarn-et-Garonne and Aveyron) to Villefranche de Rouergue, where you can sip a coffee in the shade of the lime trees of the Grand Cafe du Globe, on the banks of the Aveyron. We then arrive at Figeac, always on the D922. This is then the N122 which takes over, and earns us a stretch of road shared with two Germans in K100 and 900 CBR. The latter also has the particularity of rolling with your feet on the rear footrests, which gives it a very touching little duck-toad air. Having only retained from Goethe’s language the coarse rudiments of 4th melee of Nina Hagen ("Das Telefon Klingelt" and "Ich bin dein Hund"), I will unfortunately not be able to discuss with him the comparative merits of this new position. Very rolling once passed the Germans, the N122 and its varied charms continue pleasantly until Aurillac.

CRS International Street Festival

Aurillac, welcoming city if there is one: of the three entrances to the city, two are blocked by a copious barrage of CRS! Any Volkswagen minibus over 10 years old is thus duly checked, especially if its occupants are under 30 years old and have little regulation. All this for what ? Mystery … I dare to hope that it is not for the International Street Theater Festival, which begins tomorrow. Or, one day, it will be necessary to explain to the "peacekeeping" forces that if this famous "peace" were to be threatened in France, the danger will certainly not come from a few troops of itinerant actors, and even less from 2 or 3 smashed zonards, irremovable pillars of any festival. (If there are CRS who read Moto-Net, thank you in advance for your explanations!). In short, not very sensitive to this welcome we continue on the small D17 towards the end of the world. Not that Emmanuelle suddenly convinced me to go and show the steppes of eastern Patagonia at the Trophy, but rather to spend the night in Mandailles, in this tiny hotel aptly named: "Au Bout du Monde".

Three days at the end of the world

You know plenty of "small hotels". "Small hotels" of 3 rooms, already a little less. But some like this, certainly none (see box). The hostel "Au Bout du Monde", run by Elise and Claude Delteil – who have just passed the business on to their son – is obviously full for tonight (that’s what happens when you never reserve!). Thanks to Emmanuelle’s legendary strike force, mingled with her treasures of charming diplomacy, a small possibility is emerging for tomorrow, so we are falling back a little into the beautiful Jordanne valley in the meantime. Excellent opportunity to discover the Route des Crêtes (D35), which meanders above the valley towards the Puy Mary (1787 m) and No Peyrol (1588 m). We will also find with happiness the rapid currents of the N122, which continues quickly and well in the direction of Vic sur Cère, Murat (thanks to Michel, very attentive reader, who tells us that the name of the guy Jean-Louis does not come from this Murat there but from Murat le Quaire, in the Puy de Dôme!) and Massiac. Between Aurillac and Massiac, the N122, with its nickel coating (except in the tunnel, which is also nicely lined with lights, red on the port side and green on the starboard side), its 3-lane sections and its sumptuous meanders, is the essential passage point for sportswomen (or those in a hurry) . Indeed, the Route des Crêtes (D35) and the D17 require a saddle comfort and suspensions a little higher. To avoid the rotten tunnel of the N122, better to climb the Col de Cère over there D67. You can also take the opportunity to drop some cluster bombs on the abominable buildings of Super-Lioran. Between Hot Acute and St Flour, the D921 is also very well made. Can you resist the call of its incredible straights between two tight virolos? After St Flour, the D926 until Murat retains the same spirit as the N122 until Aurillac. Once on the N122, we can cut the Jordanne valley up to Mandailles without going through Aurillac, on condition that you do not miss the junction of the D317 at St Jacques des Blats (just at the entrance to the village on the right, between two curves). It will be an opportunity to spend the very pretty Perthus Pass, who managed to remain modest (1309 m).

Direction volcanoes

Going north again, one last visit to the splendid Puy Mary on a clear day is essential. When you have had your fill of these mountains with soft lines and infinite shades of green, and the delicious scent of the forests – full of porcini mushrooms, chanterelles, blueberries and wild strawberries – you can leave Cantal. But first you will discover a second Route des Crêtes, the D680, who strolls peacefully to Salers (locals do not pronounce the final S) via the Cirque de Falgoux and the Col de Neronne (1242 m). We can easily resist the call of a sign "Here sale of skin and leather clothes" on a shop on the side of the road, which offers some very average leathers in the middle of a jumble of key rings "J ‘ loves the truffade ", pieces of cantal in snowballs and cowhides worthy of a diplodocus bedrock. Speaking of cows, know that the very beautiful Salers, who stroll casually at the top of the collars in their plush dresses, do not produce enough milk to make Cantal and … Salers, and that the producers are obliged to ‘use the milk of vulgar Holsteins, or more often of simple Montbeliardes – thank you again Michel for this clarification!). To leave Cantal, the D678 Between Mauriac and Riom ès Mountains is quite tricky (gravel, holes), but improves appreciably between Riom ès Mountains and Condat (beautiful forests, coating OK). It then turns into D978 when you enter the Puy de Dôme at Egliseneuve d’Entraigues, after Chanterelle, and then becomes purely and simply one of the best open road circuits of my knowledge…

Eric MICHEL

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The Mounts of Cantal (duet)

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