This post recounts the ninth day of my English Channel to the Mediterranean cycle tour in France with Peak Tours in June 2025. Read Day 8: Saint-Flour to Mende.

If yesterday was an unexpectedly difficult day, today was the opposite. One of my favourite days of the tour.

We cycled into the centre of Mende, past the cathedral, before heading out along the valley of the river Lot.

I had a curious incident not long after leaving Mende. My left foot slipped out of my shoe, which remained clipped into the pedal. It was impossible to slide it back in, so I stopped to accomplish this. I’d been riding for a few days with my shoes very loose to minimise pain caused by my feet swelling in the very high temperatures we’d been riding in. Originally, when I started suffering on day four, I assumed it was because the cleats on my newish shoes needed adjustment, and tweaked them accordingly. I might have paused to wonder why this was only the second time in 31 years of wearing cleated shoes I’d suffered any pain, and that the only other time was also in very hot weather. It was guide Mick who suggested wearing the shoes really loose, and this solved the problem. I just needed to tighten them very slightly.

We had a 20 mile climb at the start of the day. But, as the day’s gradient profile above shows, it was generally a fairly gentle incline. The scenery was lovely, along the Lot valley, and as we cycled across the river at Bagnolls-les-Bains the church bells sounded 10am, just as the cathedral at Mende had marked 9am as we set out.