Day 10: Biscarosse to Lesperon

Leaving Biscarosse, the sky looked ominously grey, and sure enough it was not long before driving rain made cycling increasingly hard work. With no wrong turns made however, we covered ground relatively quickly, and despite being soaked to the core, we planned to stop in the small town of Mezos for lunch. Once there, we quickly discovered that there was only one establishment open in town (a recurring theme of our trip thus far). The place was heaving with workers from the factory in town however, and even though it had just passed 1pm, that they could not offer a full menu, but would make us a sandwich and chips if we wanted. Not in a position to argue, we quickly agreed, and were pleasantly surprised by the quality of what we got, and it turned out to be the cheapest meal of the trip! Trying to wait until the rain had subsided somewhat, it was to no avail, and thus we were forced to make way again towards Lesperon as the downpour continued.

Two hours later, after battling through the elements, we arrived squelching at the only hotel in town in Lesperon. With no sign of anyone around, we understood from what we could read of a notice on the door, that the receptionist wasn't here (and wouldn't be until 6 or 7 this evening!), and thyat if you had a booking, your key was on a table in the hall, go in and help yourself! We did as instructed, and found the hotel to be perfectly comfortable. As we dried off and attempted to warm up, we watched yet another stage of the Tour de France, something that was increasingly becoming a daily tradition.

Walking through the village, we stumble upon one of the many travelling circuses that seem to be touring the area, and were surprised to see 3 lions, a tiger and what looked like some dwarfed goats on view for passing pedestrians to have a look at. With nothing else really of interest in the village, we made our way into the only bar, had a few beers and a couple of games of pool. This passed the time until the hotel restaurant opened (again, our only choice if we wanted to eat that evening!) where we had a good meal, and a couple of bottles of local wine before bed.

Distance: 56 miles