Days 40/41 - Nice - "In Search of the elusive bike box" ! - "Aur Revoir France" !

With 2 bike boxes secured it was time to throw our full energies into securing 2 more on another beautiful French morning.

With names of Nice's bicycle stores and phone numbers secured we got our receptionist to ring the relevant stores figuring it would be better if someone talked French. After 15 minutes of trying the answer was the same ... "no bike bixes" - "if you'd reserved a week ago we could have kept one"!.

This reponse had us a bit worried as the thought of using 3 x over sized 10 euro bike boxes was not appealing. Kev then promoted the idea that we visit the stores individually saying that it was too easy for someone answering a phone to say no.

So with Rick programming in some city centre co-ordinates and more importantly a how the hell do we get back to our hotel one, we set off for one concerted and final try.

Navigation was getting less painful maybe because by now with a fully insured car I couldn't care less if we hit someone or something ! We soon dropped off Noel and Kev to target the bike stores while we returned to the hotel to wait for a phone call. We'd only been gone a few minutes when the call came back that they'd secured 2 (one the worse for wear). When they rang a few minutes later on to ask where we were we replied "we're right next to you" having just pulled up !

Boxes squeezed in we returned to the hotel while the boys went looking for one more in case the dodgy one didnt't do the job. This time we made it back to the hotel off loaded the boxes and had to return straightaway as the guys had our final box (and these were the bike stores without any !)

Returning to pick up the final box the guys told us an amusing story. Apparently when waiting for us an old lady with a walking stick passing them turned around and opened up her purse to give them some money thinking they were both begging and that the bike boxes was their beds ! We reckoned  that maybe we could make a decent living working the streets here !

Noel and Kev walked back to the hotel (according to them about 63kms up mountains and across rivers and swamps -in reality about 4kms down a lovely beach promenade with ice cream vendors everywhere !) where we swung into action and by dinner time had 4 bike boxes packed and ready to go after nearly a full day spent securing and packing !

Saturday was now a day of relaxation although with Sundays logistics to be sorted out we needed to do an early morning recon drive to the airport - how to negotiate the road works, how to get to Terminal 1 and Terminal 2, how to fuel up, how to return the hire car, how long would it take to do 3 trips etc etc !

The beautiful Nice Promenade !

Once satisfied we could do our Sunday run in a reasonable time we headed back to our former hotel in Villinue to pick up Noels jumper which he'd left behind on our way through. From there we went on to Vence a medieval village about 20kms out of Nice. While picturesque Vence was touristy and not in the same class as the many more authentic towns that we'd passed through on tour

Vence

There wasnt much more to do now than head back and walk the promenade getting a few team shots prior to loading up our vehicle for our early morning multiple departure to the airport. Noel and Rick heading to London and Kev and self to Bristol ! 

You could get arrested sitting around looking like this lot ! 

One final dinner to share some fond memories. Another amazing adventure successfully completed !

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Day 39 - Nice 10-16kms - "The Blue Azure - Mission Accomplished" !

Even though there was no need to rush our usual system still took affect - Rick wakes up, Rick makes enough noise to wake Noel up, I wake up , I can't make enough noise to wake Henley up so usually have to throw things at him which results in returns of verbal abuse. Rick and Noel go to breakfast, I follow then Henley drags himself along barely awake ... the system had been in place and working well now for over 5 weeks !

We were up taking a relaxed breakfast and debating what type of finery we should wear for our parade into Nice , stinky bike gear or stinky grease / mud covered bike gear !

With the decision made we packed and then made some emergency repairs to my bike - a few cable ties to stop the broken pannier rack arm lowering any further then a unique double cable tie holding the rack up under the seat post just in case the weakened side (damaged when we tried to straighten it) should give way and drop on my rear tyre and act like one pretty damned good brake !

With repairs signed off by our in house Engineer (well Noel told me he was qualified) and reviewed by our technical expert Henley in his Stevie Wonder glasses it was time to set off for our final leg.

Rick led us off on a bike path from the hotel to join up with the famed Nice Promenade with views of the beautiful Azure coloured waters of Nice. After 2,500 km's we were finally here !

We had managed this pretty effortlessly other than one turn where Noel threatened to take us on to an expressway and were soon parading down the promenade into a stiff headwind wondering where all the celebrities had gone who were meant to be welcoming us into town !.

We made slow progress on the bike path enjoying the views while also enjoying not being on the road before we arrived at Nice Airport where our first challenge of the day started. Pick up our hire car, pack 2 bikes into it and send Noel and Kev on to our hotel by bike while Rick and I navigated by car to the same destination only 6-7 kms away - simple !!!

If you have ever entered an airport you'll have noticed that they have millions of signs making driving let alone cycling to a particular spot difficult. What made Nice Airport and for that matter as we later found out later most of Nice a nightmare, was that the city is in the midst of building itself a tram line straight through the city to the airport.

Somehow we negotiated our way in traffic through the extensive works to the Car Hire companies in Terminal 1 to be told that we needed to be at Terminal 2. Cycling to T2 was busier again requiring you to best space yourself between moving cars and go for it. I soon became separated from the guys following. I navigated my way to T2 somehow ending in the wrong lane and having to lift my bike over a barrier to reach the arrivals / car hire section and wait.

Waiting for what seemed like a fair amount of time and wondering where the other guys were I suddenly heard Noels voice from above. Somehow the guys had ended up taking the pick up / drop off ramp and were now on Level 1 in the Departures area !

After they got their way down Kev and I went and did a quick recon to make sure our car was suitable for 2 bikes and our potential bike boxes. The words Kev and navigation don't go well together so it was time for us to split up. We bid adieu to Noel and Kev sending them on their way by bike while Rick and i went by car having loaded up our car with our disassembled bikes.

A statement of how bad Nice's road system is with regard to traffic works is that by the time we'd navigated through Nice's mess Noel and Kev were already at our hotel - the only problem now was there was not a spare inch anywhere to park so were relying on Kev to get our car park authorisation for the next door public / private car park!

Somehow the instructions that Kev got from the front desk became less and less clear the further underground we went into the narrow laned car park.

 By level 4 we were somehow required to activate a full length door with a key card and a key pad. After rolling the car numerous times over the sensor plate and waiving the key card around aimlessly we finally got down the " I do not speak english" car park attendant to greatly complicate the matter.

After much angst we somehow understood that we had to hold the key card against the key pad while activating the ground sensor and voila the door finally opened !

After pulling out all our gear and disassembled bikes we took them up to our room and headed out for a coffee co-incendentally near a bike store where we scored luckily our first bike box  - now only 3 more needed !

It was time now for Kev (our resident bike box expert) and self to head through Nice's nightmare traffic in search of 3 more bike boxes !

Nightmare it was, complicated by a big soccer match scheduled in Nice but H successfully navigated us to a bike store some 10 kms away. While he raced inside I had to roll back and forth in the stores drive way as there absolutely nowhere to park.

With no result from store 1 (They'd had their boxes picked up mid week) it was around the corner to another large store. This time H scored securing a very large e bike box but only after having to pay a 10 Euros ($15) ransom for it. Extortion it might have been but at least we had a fall back option if we got desperate.

Exhausted after all the running around we arrived back at our hotel negotiating peak hour traffic. We rested up before heading down to a local restaurant to celebrate the completion of an amazing tour (more to come)

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Day 38 - Villenue sur Lorbet 83 kms -"And then there was One" !

Well this was it, after 5 weeks cycling the length and breadth of France we were finally going to pack up and head to Nice.

After so much climbing in recent days the boys had a pleaful look when asking Rick what the days profile was going to look like. When Rick said "it's mainly flat with just a little climbing" the immediate unsympathetic reply was "you said that yesterday and look what we got"!

It was an icy start (2 C) at our higher altitude of 1, 000 metres but the sun was soon out as usual. Despite Henley complaining about loss of feeling in just about every part of his body except his "mush" we were all set to give it a go !

The day started with a slow long climb across isolated countryside past La Bastide and it didn't seem too long before we crossed Route Napoleon one of the well known (for cars) road routes into Nice but too narrow in parts to be recommended for cycling.

Our last big climb ! 

Continuing we entered Seranon where we decided to stop at a supermarket / delicatessen and purchase some lunch supplies. While we waited patiently a French woman in front of us decided to buy about 10 slices of nearly every meat and cheese on display in the shop causing the usually unflappable Rick to just about blow a fuse!

Finally served after the shop owner engaged in more frustrating social interaction, Google Maps took us on a rough almost 4WD forest trail out of Seranon. With the trail getting decidely worse Rick called a halt suggesting a short cut through farm land to the road which we could see about a 1/2 km away.

Rick and Google Maps !

While Kev and secured the flank from a distance, Rick and Noel ventured cross country trying to work out how to climb out on to the nearby road . The minor problem was that the approach to the road was entitrely surrounded by houses !

Coming to the open backyard of a property Noel taking point duty repeatedly yelled out "is there anyone home" only getting an answer from a pack of wild looking dogs from the property next door. As they came flying towards Noel i bravely said to H from our distant location "i don't care how bad this trail is if those dogs get over the fence i'm out of here"! 

With the dogs stopped by the fence Rick re-emerged from his hiding place and with Noel negotiated the open backyard beckoning us to both come over. It was some weird sight as the 4 of us clambered with bikes and panniers through someones rocky back yard to get to the road !

Interestingly I notciced upon exiting that the occupations of those listed as staying at the house were a Chiropractor and a Physcotherapist both handy occupations i thought should we bump in to them as we stole our way on to the road !  

Let's get back on road !

Exiting the property !

Back on road we cycled into the town of Andon and took lunch still 40 odd kms away from Nice. Like most villages Andon was dead but it did have a soccer pitch that looked like it had hosted a recent match against two teams of bullocks given the state of the ground !


We had a brief respite here and after lunch took a 5+ km descent from our 1200 metre height. Once the descent finished we almost immediately began climbing back to 1100 metres on a road that provided for spectacular scenery of gorges and surrounding hills.

Eventually we reached at an unmarked peak with great views of our road winding down the hill in the direction of Gordon a medieval village perched on a cliff top looking down to Nice.

Our 10km descent to Gordon was rocket fuelled adrenalin stuff hurtling down a narrow 2 lane road with minimal barrier protection and a big drop on our side ! The weight of our bikes & panniers contributed to our alarming speed with poor road surface conditions, cross winds and cars trying to get past us adding to our worries !

In no time at all we reached Gordon wheeling our bikes into this lovely if slightly touristy medieval village. Here the views down to Nice were outstanding (albeit hazy) and not for the faint of heart with precipitous drops around the walled village.

Amazing views of Nice in the distance from Gordon !

Here we had our most expensive coffee on tour (much to our treasurers disgust) overlooking the million dollar view knowing that a) our trip was soon about to end and b) we'd soon have to do battle with Nice's 350.000 population and traffic !

We had one problem on kick starting our descent after leaving Gordon and that was that Rick and Noel seemed to be at a loss trying to work out which of the 2 available directions we should take.

Back and forward they rode through Gordon's main roundabout while H and I looked on with a sadistic form of amusement awaiting our instructions.

Finally Rick switched his navigation aide to car mode instead of bicycle mode and took the route suggested setting us off on another descent although thankfully this one not as steep as road into Gordon.

Heading down we got tantalising glimpses of the suburbs of Nice before finally emerging on the outskirts meeting up with H who'd descended in front because of his insatiable appetite for danger !

Now the fun (not) part started. There were roads and roundabouts going everywhere as Noel and Rick tried to establish which of the many available routes we should be taking. After a few false starts where we had to u turn in traffic, trying hard not to get run over and or lose track of each other we finally settled on another major downhill route to Villinue sur Lorbet just 8kms from Nice Airport and very much a part of Greater Nice.

If our descent to Gordon was a bit hairy then this was terrifying / exhilarating as we descended over 20 kms with minimal need of pedalling. While the exhilarating part was the descent the terrifying part was that we were constantly on busy (often) single lane roads trying to avoid a) potholes b) each other c) traffic that wanted to overtake d) Speed bumps e) and Red traffic lights where Rick had shown a great want to cycle through at speed ! 

Our descent went on and and on. One suburb to another,  one main road to another.  Just when you thought you were there you'd burst out on to a road through a section of national park ! 

Over one of the speed bumps I heard bit of a twang which I assumed was from my broken front wheel spoke which I'd noticed that morning !

Finally when I thought that traffic could not get any busier and that we must surely be about to cycle into the Mediterranean Rick guided us to our B&B hotel just shy of mainstream Nice.

I think we were all pretty damned relieved to get off our bikes after such a long and dodgy descent. Our France end to end journey was all but over.

Waiting to check in I noticed a noise coming from my pannier rack. Close inspection showed that I had snapped one of the pannier rack mounting arms (the screw was still in place) and badly warped the other one which was the only thing that prevented my rack from dropping on my wheel and acting like a brake, definitely not recommended on a high speed road in busy traffic ! Thankfully the general consensus was that we could patch it up to help me limp over the line tomorrow !

After a much needed short rest we had to again endure the busy traffic this time walking to the nearest open restaurant about 600 metres back up the main road where we lucked on to a local family restaurant that served a basic but nice 3 course meal for just 12 Euros !

Our rooms at our hotel were a strange version of a studio. One double bed down below and one pair of twin beds up an incredibly steep set of stairs (almost in a loft) something that was again going to require Henley to be inventive when wanting to use the toilet in the  middle of the night !

With only the parade into Nice to go we wondered whether the French Prime Minister would be there to greet us ! 

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Profile Comps sur Artuby

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Day 37 - Comps sur Artby 83 kms / 1550 metres climbing - "Be Careful What You Wish For " !

Every cycling trip has a signature cycle day. That day sums up your cycle journey, tests you both physically and mentally and often provides a satisfying reward that enhances the memory of your adventure!

Our planned "signature" day had been the cycle through the Gorge du Vedun a day that had been building up for weeks for all the wrong reasons. There was an underlying feeling that the day could be unrealistic I.e where the output would far outweigh the reward ! Gradients had begun to multiply, distances lengthen and road conditions deteriorate causing a fair bit of trepidation even before the ride had begun!

In short the day promised to be around 45 kms with some steep climbing sections of 6-9% for the first 12 kms. But it did provide for some outstanding rewards with reportedly some of the best scenery in Europe !

We'd set off leaving Les Salles and our beautiful resort after first stocking up with a few supplies from our small village supermarket as towns on en route today were few and far between.

Our beautiful resort

We were soon into climbing mode bouyed by our strength and the doable 5-7% gradient for the first 5 kms into the village of Aiguines. Already we were getting outstanding views looking back down to the lake from the direction we'd come.

Then the bad news ! Readying ourselves to progress higher, Rick came across some travelers who indicated that the gorge road was closed due to a collapse of a section of road. Unwilling to believe the information having not seen any sign to indicate such, we took coffee in town while we checked out different sources. Sure enough the reply came back exactly the same, our gorge route to Comps sur Artuby was completely impassable !

With no wi- fi we had no choice but to go back down the hill we'd just climbed to our Les Salles Hotel so we could plot an alternate route using the hotels wi-fi.

Here we discussed the available options, either try the gorge road from the Nth side of the gorge  (this had a couple of steeper sections and required about 5 more kms) or take a slightly longer but supposedly flatter ride to Comps.

It was no contest with the main expression of thought being that the group did not want to do more significant climbing having wasted 300 metres already.

So with the Gorge out of the equation we set off for Verignon a dot on our maps surrounded by little or nothing and only 20 kms away from Les Salles.

The ride didn't start well with a pretty steep 4kms out of town after we hit the main road ! 

Verignon was where we expected to be able to recalibrate our route and pick up a shortcut shown on Google Maps that seemed to cut out a fair bit of distance. Unfortunately for us Verignon comprised about 3 houses, 2 barns and a few chickens with not a single person or shop to be seen let alone a wi-fi connection !

It's quiet in Verignon !

Thinking we'd somehow entered an alternate universe we took lunch to now discuss plan  C which recommended adding another 20+kms to our route !

It was a tough call, either follow the suggested Google Maps route by guesswork through an area signposted as Military / Danger without an online connection or stick to the main road and a roundabout way to Comps sur Artuby !

After about 1 second of thought we chose the latter although this time all we had to follow was a road route with no elevation profile which I figured was kind of lucky because if we had we might have given serious thought to wading through land mines, bamboo pits and the like to avoid what we ended up riding.

Departing Verignon (if we actually ever entered it) after taking a lunch break we initially rode some lovely forest autumn scenery before a great descent to the plateau around Ampus.

Climbing again we reached Chateaudouble (a cliff side town) searching for a coke ("non Monsuier"!) before a small descent to Montferrat where our big climb of the day (10kms on a busy road) left Henley wishing that he'd enlisted in the French foreign legion !

No cokes in Chateaudouble !

Needing to push ahead from the top with the day now getting on and not wanting to be around when the guys told Henley there was still another 5kms of climbing to go, Noel and I headed off towards Comps eventually arriving at our centrally located basic hotel.

Nearing Comps

Kev and Rick weren't that far behind.

By the time Noel had dragged his Strava out he'd shown that instead of us doing the 45 kms and 1450 metres we'd planned we'd ended up doing 83 kms with 1550 metres of climbing (as per attached profile) a hard day in anyones language !

After a short rest we ventured out into our small town ignoring our own hotel because we couldn't read anything we understood, walking to a cafe that said they were closed, going to a Pizza Bar that said they'd sold their last 2 pizzas before walking back to our hotel to find that they did in fact serve foods that we could eat ! 

Only a day and a bit now before we arrive in the centre of Nice.

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Day 36 - Les Salles du Verdun 63 kms - "The Gorge Beckons"!

If entering Manosque yesterday was underwhelming then leaving it today was terrible as we battled busy roads and roundabouts emptying from various main roads and freeways in the surrounding area.

Finally we seemed to break clear heading out on a 7-8km climb past lavender fields and dry arid looking landcsapes. Working our way as usual across country Kev and I trailing Rick and Noel, descended down a short but bumpy hill. Rounding the corner and readying to climb again I heard a yell from Kev about 100 metres back. After pulling over and waiting for what seemed like ages for Kev to appear I finally rode back expecting the worst !

Rounding the corner I saw Kev's bike laying on its side and knowing Henley's penchant for high speed crashes (Scotland 2015) I immediately started scouring the roadside tree high branches fully expecting to see H hung over a limb many feet up in the air. When I really was starting to worry Henley finally appeared walking along the rode explaining that as he flew down the hill he hit a pothole dislodging his front bundle bar bag (with his camera inside) causing it to fly off into the hedge, the only problem being that by the time he'd stopped he couldn't remember which hedge it was! 

That camera is around here somewhere !

Showing unheralded determination H said "I don't care if it takes me the rest of the holiday but I am going to find that bloody bag"! 

H finally found the bag, checked the contents, and announced that all was ok & for us to cycle on and catch up with Rick and Noel !

We caught up with the boys who were relaxing drinking a coke at the next town not overly worried by the fact that we'd been missing for some time. I guess in hindsight they'd heard all sorts of excuses from the two of us during the length of this tour ! 

Noel's enthusuasm for more hill climbing was evident when he asked if the town we were now aiming for was on the way to our nights accommodation or off route !.Explaining that the town Moustiers Sainte Marie was one of France's designated most beautiful villages and  likely also to have ice cream seemed to be enough to motivate Noel to keep on going !

Sitting high on terraces on the side of a limestone cliff Moustiers provided a dramatic setting as we cycled into town. This really was a lovely place we thought as we parked our bikes and peered over the towns ramparts staring into the vertiginous drop below ! We walked around the beautiful town glad not to be here in the middle of tourist season (there was just enough room in town to park the bicycles !) Being an area famed for its lavender production I had to try a  Lavender ice cream - my feedback is that perfume and Ice Cream should never be mixed !

Beautiful Moustiers

With Noel happy that the extra exertion was worthwhile we cycled the 10kms on to Les Salles passing the entrance to the impossibly narrow Gorge du Verdun. Here the lake provided a stunning aqua blue contrast to the rugged mountain setting with a number of holidaymakers taking  kayaks, paddle boats and even small powered small boats from the lake into the entrance of the gorge itself !

While we admired the stunning views we also noticed the seriously high road plying its way through the gorge thinking that this could be tomorrow's much talked about route !

Photos taken, we soon entered the sleepy township of Les Salles arriving at our beautifully positioned hotel with one of the best settings on tour, a magical view overlooking the lake !

Supping cokes in Les Salles

While Kev and I "slammed" back a coke or two enjoying the views in the afternoon sun we were soon joined by Rick and Noel for some afternoon natter mainly prefixed by what tomorrow's ride might bring in terms of climbing and distance !

We took it easy once again walking only a short distance to a nearby restaurant to count down our remaining days now just 3 ! 

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Day 35 - Manosque 103 kms / 1550 metres climbing - "The Hills are alive with the sound of groaning" !

You've got to love the French ! After having spent 3 days in our apartment and having upturned everything except the floorboards to find our apartments missing cutlery I kindly informed our B&B owner on departure that she should tell her incoming cleaning to replace the missing set ! "No" said the owner on the phone "the cutlery is there right next to the toaster" - "no it isn't" i said "the 4 of us have looked everywhere" -  "no" said the owner "I was in 3 days ago and the cutlery was" ... this could have gone on forever so I simply said Au Revoir and hung up just so we could get the hell out of town !

We were finally about to get underway from Malaucene when I noticed that my rear wheel (the one on which the brake pads were replaced yesterday) was retarding i.e.when spun it was pulling up in one revolution indicating that my brake pads were catching because the bike shop mechanic had failed to reset the pistons !

Two things came immediately to mind 1) That I'd probably done 11 kms on Ventoux yesterday with a dodgy rear wheel - some here points coming my way I'm sure ! 2) That I was now faced with riding todays long distance with said wheel not working effectively unless somehow my disc pads wore down sufficiently on the way to free up movement !

Needing to get going and with France's unpredictable Sunday shop opening hours (read almost any day of the week!) we stocked up at the towns supermarket and finally hit the road.

We initially tracked back down the same route we'd ridden into Malaucene on a beautiful Sunday morning, before heading across country to Venosque where some real serious climbing started.

Climbing out of the steep river valley past the designated "Beautiful Town" we picked up a road that ran for 5kms through a steeply wooded gorge. Based on the gears we were in and Henley's level of groaning I'd suggest the gradient was a good 8-10%. To say it was steep here was an understatement and Rick soon powered away leaving the rest of us in his wake !

It's steep !

Exiting the gorge we took lunch making do with our supermarket supplies sitting down under the trees.

After lunch we headed further into the Luberon National Park with a bit of descending combined with lots more climbing ! We took in a round of cokes at some small village bumping into some touring cyclists from the Netherlands who'd conquered Ventoux the day before.

Descending again our route took us into Apt where we picked up the beautiful Luberon Rail trail going around the city itself and out into the countryside. At the end of the trail which finished strangely in the middle of a field H & self trailing behind turned right not seeing Rick and Noel hiding (I'm sure deliberately !) in the shade only 20 metres away proceeding to do 1/2 km more the wrong way before Noel chased us down !

Pulling off near Cereste, Rick consulting his map nearly became our first casualty on tour when he failed to notice a fast turning car coming his way. Luckily the car braked. Based on the amount of French words thrown out the window at Rick I'm sure the driver apologised and asked Rick about this weekends winning Tattslotto numbers before he sped off !

Climbing into Cereste was a bum buster where we collapsed in the main street until Noel noticed a nearby cafe selling ice cream and Rick raced off to order 4 cokes for the group !

Back on our main and unpleasant busy narrow main road we finally turned off to Manosque and went straight into a tough 5km climb before pulling up for our typical Col "shot" and then flying 10kms downhill on a winding road.

Manosque was not the greatest looking of towns and I was really beginning to sag having ridden the days 100km with my "wheel"!. Rick though guided us expertly through the industrial part of town to our unstaffed hotel on the outskirts where we sagged at the front door while we worked out how to use our acess codes to gain entry !

Finally inside and with bikes stored in our rooms, we lucked in when we found out that there was a Chinese all you can eat buffet restaurant within crawling distance from our hotel! After a tough day with this was a god send to 4 very hungry men. Not only did we have 2-3 plates each but gorged on the deserts with unlimited ice cream and mousse. We were well and truly stuffed but 4 very happy people after a really tough day with so much climbing (1550 metres) !

Our last action before retiring was to go back to our room to do some much needed surgery on my back wheel. Thanks to Rick and Noel i can report that the patient survived the operation and i now have a wheel that turns the way it should !

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Days 33/34 - Malaucene 52kms - Mont Ventoux !

After our recent hard work it was time to relax in the vibrant if somewhat noisy town of Malaucene while we gave serious consideration to whether or not we'd tackle the legendary Mont Ventoux.

Our first day in Malaucene was very much a housekeeping day catching up with our washing and wasting 30 mins of our lives while we attempted to work out how the hell to use our French labelled washing machine ! After our last start fiasco (cold water no washing powder) we decided to throw caution to the wind and put powder in all possible inlets figuring that one of them would be the right one ! What confused us though was the temperature settings with one selection of 1, 000 degrees making us think that we'd turn our washing into dolls clothes if we selected it - then the penny dropped what we'd been playing around with were in fact the dryer settings of a dual washing machine / dryer !

We finally figured we'd be much safer simply washing the clothes and then hanging them over our 1st floor railing just like any self respecting french person would do - problem solved !

Washing out of the way there wasn't much else to do so Rick and I headed out of town on a 26 km return cycle to take in some of the nearby (supposed) gorge scenery. While the cycling kept the legs in tune with over 400 metres of climbing the scenery was disappointing with the gorge we chose just a river bed that apparently is better known for river walking than for any spectacle unlike the Gorge de Nesque many further kms afield.

To complete a quiet day it was internet catch up and dinner alfresco at one of a number of the towns pizzerias on a  fairly quiet Friday night if you didn't count the stream of motorcycle trail bike riders (here for weekend competition) strutting their wares painfully down the main street

Saturday was D day with our plan to give Mont Ventoux a go ! This famous TDF mountain is legendary for its notoriously difficult climb. Although the traditional route is from Bedouin the route from Malaucene is very similar with 21kms at a 7.5% gradient average with high points at 12% as it weaves its way to the 1920 metre peak famed for its moonscape features.

Incredibly while reading through the visitors book at our apartment I came across an entry from a group from Tasmania who were over to commemorate with British relatives the 50th anniversary of the death of the well known British pro rider Tom Simpson who died on Ventoux supposedly as a result of a deadly combination of drugs, alcohol and the stress of the climb. Simpson's passing is imortalised on Ventoux with a memorial that is regularly added to by passing cyclists. 

As for our crack I'd arranged with Rick to give it a go in the morning with a perfect days forecast and no wind for the climb. Noel had pleaded insanity as an out for not climbing which we readily accepted based on the evidence we'd seen so far on tour. Henley also outed claiming a severely bruised bum which again was duly accepted simply because none of us wanted to check him over in order to verify it !

Now down to Rick and self and about to set off the boys noticed that I had a broken spoke on my front wheel and bugger all left on my disc pads on my rear wheel so off I raced to the local bike shop, leaving it to Rick to head off accompanied by Noel who just wanted to check out the start of Ventoux.

An hour or so in while waiting to pick up my bike Rick returned valiant in defeat stating that he'd made 4kms of the 21km climb but realised that with some big days ahead that he'd be RS if he continued with the route getting steeper by the kilometre !

That left me in 2 minds about giving it a go with mountain climbing not something this "body" does with great enjoyment especially on a mountain / touring equipped bike

Still with the bike now repaired and the sun out I thought what the heck ! After passing the sign that announced the mountains profile I got stuck in. The first few kms were pretty cruzy at 4-5% before the climb really upped the ante jumping progressively to 6-7-8 then 9%.

The notoriety of Ventoux is that the climb is relentless with few if any resting places. With it starting to get serious I noticed that every km marker noting the average gradient was a bit misleading as the gradients were all over the place e.g. a 6% gradient average could mean a few hundred metres at 4% followed a few hundred at 8% and so on.

Still I was enjoying it to this point, lovely views (although hazy) down to the valley, the beautiful autumn colour of the trees and other cyclists mainly roadies that were passing me coming up or flying down the hill at incredible speeds ! Feeling good at one point I noticed I was closing quite quickly on a couple of cyclists doing wonders for me ego until in passing I realised that they were in fact riding fold up Bromptons with their small wheels !

I knew at some point I'd hit the steep bits and sure enough at the 11km mark the sign read 12 % which now meant I was pushing harder than was comfortable to keep up any form of serious progress. At the 10km to go sign it read 11% and knowing there was more of the same in store I decided wisely t turn back knowing that I was in serious danger of not having much skin left on my rear end if I continued.

It's getting tough !

Happy at giving it a crack I flew back down the Mtn to catch up and report to the boys before going out and checking out the town.

Malaucene

So a well done to Rick for giving it a go and I reckon that both of us can feel well satisfied having come all this way to check out the legendary MV !

There was not much more to do other than go out to our favourite Pizzeria again at night and get ready for our departure tomorrow when we get back into serious touring mode !

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