Praline Brioche and Cols

4:10 / 44 miles / 4882ft. Pailhat, FR Our string of Warmshower hosts continues to be awesome. Tonight we found ourselves in a little French village named Pailhat ( pop. ~35) For the seventh day in a row the winds have not been the most favorable and have chilled our bones as they have come out the north. We cherish the moments of sunshine and keep saying, “at least it is not raining.” I never thought I would be wearing my arm warmers and every layer of cycling Gear, I brought with me, including my windproof shoe covers and my winter cap. My thin wool gloves have almost not been enough warmth many times. Leaving Veauche we had about 15 miles of flat riding and the a 12 mile climb of 4.4%. Reaching Montbrison we found the Pralus Pâtisserie Chocolaterie and bought their specialty a sweet praline brioche. We found a nice place in the sun to eat half of it, and as we sat enjoying the treat many sports cars were flexing their muscles on the many drag in front of us. We realized there was a sports car show going on and decided to wait until 1pm to ride and avoid the craziness on the roads. Lisa went back to the bakery to get another brioche for our evening’s WS host family. We continued climbing and found the ruins that are being somewhat restored of a church built around 1079. We crested two different passes, had a long descent, and one more tough climb of about 2 miles to Pailhat. During one of climbs today I saw 25% gradient on my Garmin! We were Yann and Claire’s first WS guests. They were great hosts. We got a tour of their late 1800’s restored farm house. Ate cheesy potatoes (best I’ve ever had), bread, fruit, salad, cold meats, a cheese plate of about 6-7 different varieties, homemade desserts, a liquor Yann made, and lemon balm tea and honey from their garden. Their children Ronan (13) & Eulalie (10) helped host and it was fun chatting with them and trying to get them to practice the English they had studied. Another nice night and got to bed about 10:30pm.Read more