We spent the weekend in Provence, near the foot of Mont Ventoux, to celebrate Guy's birthday (39th). Found a great campsite with the most luxurious and hottest showers I've ever encountered outside of a hotel, marvelous. The shower block itself was about 30 degrees, it was tempting not to abandon our pitch and to sleep in there instead!
On our arrival on Friday evening, the top of the 'Giant of Provence' was veiled in a heavy grey cloud, not promising. The following day the Ventoux summit was clear, but we were surprised to see that there was still a fair bit of snow laying about in pockets. The treeless, white rock summit can sometimes look snowy from a distance even at the height of summer, but this was the real thing! It didn't take long to make the decision not to ride up there on such a chilly and blustery day. We know from past experience that if there's even a light breeze on the flat, at the top of Ventoux that is amplified into howling winds that do their very best to blow you off the bike!
So, we stayed low, Guy found a great area for an explore; the 'Dentelles de Montmirail' (see photo top left). The 'Dentelles' are a chain of rock formations in forested lowland, where the woods are punctuated by lots of neat little vineyards. The road in places was a bit more mountain bike than road bike, but we had a beautiful ride nonetheless (despite the lack of tarmac and the rocky surface we remained puncture free - then back on the main road, ripped a brand new Continental to shreds on a 'discarded' glass bottle, ouch!).
My spirits were lifted after the puncture repair by a much better reason to stop at the side of the road - a 'fruity pit stop' as Guy called it! Local strawberries for sale by the punnet, ripe and warm from the sun and full of flavour - just the thing to keep us fueled up before we rolled back into Malaucene, up and over the lovely little Col de Madeleine and on back to the campsite for a slap-up tea on the camping stove and a boiling hot shower.
Sadly Sunday was a washout, even the local vintage tractor rally looked to have been canceled due to rain. The rival event, the 'asparagus fair', didn't really grab us, so we trundled back home to the village where the rain was clearing up and a beautiful rainbow welcomed us back to the Col d'Ornon.
For some photos of the trip (including mouthwatering strawberries!) see our photo album: Click here.
Helyn
www.kingofthemountains.co.uk
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Tuesday, April 28
April Showers in Provence
by
KOM
on Tue 28 Apr 2009 14:06 BST
Friday, April 24
Spring news
by
KOM
on Fri 24 Apr 2009 08:54 BST
Well, sorry everyone for the lack of updates. It won't be so long next time....
Breaking news: All the snow in the village has now melted. The cross country skis have been put away for the season. It was good. See you next December. Helyn has been up Alpe d'Huez on her bike and generally riding a fair bit of late (I was away working for a bit so she filled the void!). I have been taking it steady and not riding SO much but getting back into it gently now. Lots of flat stuff to ease me in, so to speak. I have fitted a load of new windows on the ground floor (someone appears to have turned down the volume on the stream!). They look lovely (and actually open and close well too!). Au Cadre Rouge (our favourite little bike shop here in Bourg d'Oisans) run by our pal Jean-Charles has some new rental bikes (and they're carbon!), whch is good news. See photo alongside (we had to coax him into posing for us). We've also been doing a few cyclo randonnees, which have been lovely. At 7 euros for a beautiful route, 3 feed stations and a slap-up meal on your return, I'd say they are also quite good value! Helyn has been demo-ing new cakes (the macaroons were, I can assure you, a triumph). Look out for those coming to your table soon. I'll do more blog posting - I promise. Guy PS: I have been busy putting together a hardtail mountain bike too, so looking forward to doing a bit more of that this summer. I found an old steel frame and bought a good fork on eBay and am now just cobbling together a few other bits and pieces and I'll be on my way. PPS: Off to Ventoux this weekend for some sunshine, riding and birthday celebration! www.kingofthemountains.co.uk Monday, April 6
A little bit of YouTube silliness...
by
KOM
on Mon 06 Apr 2009 20:28 BST
Here's a little clip taken a while ago while we were riding near Gap. The location is where Beloki fell during stage 9 in the 2003 Tour de France and Armstrong was forced to take evasive action.
Featuring our very own stunt man/action hero, Guy! (Go to YouTube clip) www.kingofthemountains.co.uk |
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