Bordeaux to Nimes - week 4

Day 21 Saturday. Roussillon to Vesasque.  25   Av 8.5

Rudely awoken at 2.30 am by our campsite neighbours 6 young guys from Amersham that we had gotten to know the previous evening who took a bit too seriously the wine tasting part of their 7 day cycle touring holiday. Absolute hoot listening to their arrival after miraculously descending on their bikes the 2km from the village unscathed. They won't be going far today and certainly not to a vineyard.

Severe thunder and lightning storm within 30 mins of their return. Kept  

dry though and tent stood up well.

Away by 9.30. Steep climb up to Gourdes, used tourist office to book into logis in Venasque - scene of our recovery from a Ventoux expedition 12 years ago. From Gourdes to Fontaine-de-vaucluse site of the world renowned source of the River Sorgue - a quite remarkable geological feature. A huge 1,000 foot deep underground water basin. Picnic lunch there and then another steep climb up and over to Venasque. Good logis ( although slight deterioration since last visit ) and good no choice dinner thrown in. Ecstacy.

Day 22. Sunday.  Venasque to Sault . 38. Av 8.3

Away by 10 after good breakfast in logis. Montmoiron and the street market to buy picnic. Found good park in three little village of Ville sur Auzon--fabulous town, 2 lovely campsites.  Great access to Ventoux and Gorges de Nesque.  Get next gite here?  Aurel--.  Very modest but superb location. On then up the Gorge de Nesque . As magnificent as we remembered it. Met the couple from Columbus OH  - Bill and Carol . Over to Sault and the municipal campsite. Dined with the Buckeye supporters ( an i-dotter of 1965 !  ) happily with them before returning to our tent. Another superb day . 

Day 23 Monday. Sault to Lafare  39 Av 10.2

Sault municipal campsite has gone downhill a bit since last here - like the restaurant we ate in last night. But a beautiful morning and virtually no one here. V much - fin de saison . Cold too !  Beautiful ride - almost all downhill to Montbrun-les-bains for coffee and almond croissants .The ride down the L'ouveze river towards Vaison was anything but a straight shoot. Significant climb over a col and down and then up again to Entrechauz. Up and down again to Maulecine and finally a killer of a hill to Suzette in the Dentelles before the descent to Lafare.The night and dinner in the hotel we were rescued by 12 years ago after getting lost and v wet and cold in an orage. As charming as ever , but a new and delightful owner - Natalie in her early 30's who lost her Dutch husband to cancer only a few months ago and with no family outsideUkraine. Excellent dinner - salmon wrapped in a v light pastry. Superb Vacquyras white Balma Venetia 2013  . Good value for 32 eu. And a room in a little cottage in the garden with a view of the Dentelles to die for. Very much a celebratory event to conclude this 24 day tour. These last 2 days must rank as about the best 2 consecutive touring days we've ever had.

Day 24 Lafare to Orange.  25  av 8.9

An easy day in relative terms. A very leisurely morning at Le Jardin and then short sharp shock with a horrendously steep climb from Lafare up to the Col de Le Deves over the Dentelle range coming down right into the middle of the village of Gigondas. Too late to buy picnic provisions - midday till 3 life apart from eating and drinking - closes down - so treated ourselves to plat du jour in a little main street restaurant in Sablet. (At top of the pass , we had another extraordinary chance encounter with a couple of enterprising women cyclists from Asheville, NC where we will be this time next week. The last km up to summit is dirt road and we met them at the very summit in a state of near exhaustion for one of them. Fair to say the relationship between them at that stage was strained !   ). An easy 20 km or so ride back to Orange via Raiox and passing right through our little village of Travaillon the scene of our family get together now almost a month ago. And from there to the Gare hotel at Orange and all set for train to Avignon and Nimes tomorrow. Walked down to main square of Orange for dinner and again by complete chance joined our new Columbus friends Bill and Carol who are headed for Avignon. Another delightful evening of shared experiences etc. 

Day 25 Orange to Nimes via Avignon by train.

Old type French train on section to Avignon so major hassle getting loaded bikes up 4 feet of steps on to crowded train . Short journey though and much easier on section Avignon to Nimes. Checked into  Ibis Styles Hotel right beside the station, and biked up to the 2nd century AD Arenas. Then out to Passieu bike shop on outskirts of Nimes which we had semi-lined up ahead of time through Gerry of Langedoc Cycling. David there could not have been more helpful in starting the process of getting bikes boxed and shipped to Inverness. Bus back to centre of Nimes and took Gerry out to delightful restaurant in old Nimes. Languedoc Cycling sure to be a success.

Day 26.  Nimes to Paris - TGV - under 3 hours!

Metro up to our hotel, and a long walk through streets of Paris ending up beyond the Arc de Triomphe at Port Maillot for bus to Beauvais airport en route to Shannon. End of a hugely successful month in France with many of the usual highs and lows of cycle touring. The old adage lives on. You haven't lived till you've cycle toured.

Bordeaux to Nimes - week 3

Day 16 Monday Ste Enimie to Le Pont du Montvert 33 av 9.2

Yes, we're back here after 10???? years. Last time coming from the north following the RLS route. This time from Florac to the south. Left campsite at 9ish and breakfast in Ste Enimie. Beautiful ride the 20 odd miles to Florac up the top part of the Tarn gorge. Stunning and v little traffic being a mon morning. Back exercises and lunch in a park whereupon it proceeded to pour for next 2 hours. V lucky. Office de tourisme booked us into a logis in Le Pont du Montvert and we went for it thunder and all - 600 metres of climbing. But no problem. M churning away! Had virtually stopped raining , but cool ( and ideal climbing conditions ) and we had a good 2 hour ride up to this RLS visited spot and scene of horrific butchery in French Wars of Religion. Real old style lodging right on the river beside the pont, but more than adequate and treated ourselves to a good bottle of Chateauneuf du pape ( 2009 - Robin ) with a hikers style dinner - all fellow guests were on the Route de Stevenson i.e. plentiful  portions.

Day 17 Tuesday.

Le Pont du Montvert to Villefort via the Col de Finials.  34  av 9.1

Up with the Route de Stevenson hikers ( masses of them in the village ) , breakfast in our v sparse but comfortable logis, coffee in the village summoning the strength for our 2,000 feet plus climb to the col at 1550 metres. Reached the closed and all shut up ski resort on the other side of the pass in time for our picnic lunch ( a long way to carry it up ) with bench a chairs in lee of wind but in warm sunshine. Then descent down to the sleepy ( was it even awake? ) village of Le Bleymard. Up a few hundred metres over our old friend the River Lot ( just a tiny stream now ) and to the Divide between water flowing to the Atlantic and the water flowing to the Mediterranean. 20 miles then of delightful downhill to Villefort. Campsite at top end of village and good dinner in v old and traditional style restaurant.  High cuisine and good bottle of Gigondas. We had downloaded Travels with a Donkey in English on ipad and enjoyed enormously reading RLS' account of his Le Bleymard to Le Pont du Montvert. Modestine was troublesome on this stretch!

Can't resist an RLS quote

"For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go, I travel for travel's sake. And to write about it afterwards. (.......) But the great affair is to move, to feel the needs and hitches of life a little more early, to get down off this feather bed of civilisation and to find the globe granite underfoot and strewn with cutting flints."

Day 18 Wednesday.  Villefort to Cavaillon ( by train ). Cavaillon to Maubec. 6 av 10.5

Managed to get tent up and all gear packed before the heavy rain which we expected came in at 8. V wet ride back into the village for coffee, double rations of pain de raisins and some major decisions. Forecast is rain for at least 3 days. We're high in the mountains and therefore chances of improvement that much less. I had picked up railway timetable the day before ( we didn't even know there was train line anywhere near here ! ), saw there was a train to Nimes at 10.21 and went for it - wet gear and all . Likelihood of rain also in Nimes as we understand it and a shame to be missing benefit if the substantial altitude we had attained ( notwithstanding the 20 miles of downhill yesterday ) . 

V quick, warm and dry, not to say beautiful , train to Nimes and likely to try to make Arles tonight . That is the plan devised on train anyway. 

Post script. Nimes gare hour and a half from Villefort. Not raining and much warmer. Things looking up. Got another train Nimes to Avignon and then another one Avignon to Cavaillon. All very easy and managed to get fully laden bikes on to trains with v little bother. Change from old days when you had to unload everything and bget panniers and tent separately from platform up to train.

Biked the 6 miles or so to the vieux village of Maubec and the campsite there had gite d'etape. Dormitory style accom but with largish living area and kitchen. Perfect for us with so much wet gear. Bliss to get everything clean and dry incl the soaking tent. Dinner at Bergerac restauraunt - as good as we've had anywhere and outside. 

Mary was sure our only dormitory companion was a travelling nun, so we had a restful night.

Day 19. Thursday. Maubec to Gargas. 39 av 8.4

This turned out to be a longer day than expected thanks to a couple of navigational errors. A fine morning - and v satisfying as we looked north to black clouds and a mist covered Mt Ventoux. Took the dedicated cycle route through Oppede de Vieux, Minerbe, Lacoste, and Bonnieux ( steep climbs to all 4 ) where we had picnic in the cemetery at very top of the village with superb views north over the Luberon ( repeat of same spot with Butters' many years ago ? ). Fabulous cycling.

In trying to find our way to a spot we had found on that former trip, we took an unpaved road out of Bonnieux at top of village and had to retreat. Then found another road with a ' chemin barre' sign with apparently half Km of roadworks which we were not prepared to risk. Straight down then to Apt and the idea then was to find another gite d'etape in face of gathering clouds. After some navigational diffs, we found the place at about 6.45 only to find it full. Turned away! Settled for a hotel a km away which gave us bed and dinner. V comfortable but but not what we were looking for. Lucky to find that though.  

Day 20 Friday. Gargas to Roussillon via Ste Saturnin-les-Apt

Leisurely departure from comfortable but inhospitable ( snooty ? ) hotel. Probably not the type  of clientele they were looking for. Surprising since only 2 out of 30 rooms were occupied and we and one other couple only people for dinner the night before. 

Back to village of Gargas for fresh pain aux amandes and coffee having declined breakfast at hotel. Went up to Les Mines de Bruoux ( 2 centuries of ochre quarrying ) but missed the hourly tour. Off then to the north of Gargas and the northern Luberon and reached chateau of lovely village of Saturnin-les-Apt with the ruins of another chateau at the top and an eglise above that. Picnic in village square where there is a moving memorial to 8 Resistance fighters shot by the SS against the wall right there in 1944.

Wind right behind us on the 10km to Roussillon and up there in time for the 30 minute walk  - sentier des ochres at the top of the village. Down then the 2km to the campsite that we remembered so well from 10 years ago, showered , rested , and back up to the village for superb dinner at Le Bistrot de Roussillon. Best service as anywhere we've been to. Wine -  Chateau la Canorgue -  a Luberon rose from  Bonnieux . Rode bikes to very top of village with stunning night views in 3 directions and easy and completely traffic free ride back to campsite by 11.