The landscape is open and peaceful: fields, patches of woodland and the odd vineyard. The hills are short and gentle, nowhere really high. But they keep coming all day, a little up, then a little down again. By the end you feel it in your legs.
It’s about 24 kilometres along quiet lanes and paths, with very little traffic. You soon find your rhythm, and your thoughts wander wherever they like. Towards the end Saint-Quentin-de-Caplong appears, a small village set among the greenery. You put down your rucksack, take off your boots and let the day sink in.