Days 8-11 Provence

The riders in our group used the first day in Provence to ride the Giant of Provence, Mont Ventoux. The non riders looked around two villages, Bedoin and Malocene. Both villages were preparing for the TDF to pass through the next day. Another hot day, 36 deg made the ride a challenge but everyone made it to the top. Bedoin is a small village which consists mainly of bars and cafes, so not much shopping!! Maree and I had Croquet Monsieur (toasted cheese and ham sandwich) for lunch before heading to Malocene to meet the riders who were refuelling at a cafe. 

The next day the Tour de France riders were tackling Mont Ventoux at the end of a 200+km ride in high heat. Our riders set off early to ride the 50km to the base of the Mont than rode up to Chalet Reynard at 6 km before the top to watch the race. The non riders returned to Bedoin to watch the TDF caravan and the race come through the village. We got a great spot in the shade on the roundabout at the base of Mont Ventoux. The caravan is a stream of sponsors cars decorated and travelling in a parade along the race route, throwing out goodies to the waiting crowd. After hours in the sun and heat waiting the crowd goes into a frenzy as pens, lollies, hats and washing powder are thrown from the caravan vehicles. Grown men dive for worthless gifts pushing children out of the way!!!!

On the way to Bedoin we stopped at Isle Sur La Sorgue to the weekly market, a beautiful small village with bridges over waterways around the village. Normally I'm not a fan of markets but this one was outstanding. We only had 2 1/2 hours which wasn't nearly enough time. There was fruit, veges, clothes, linen, hats, jewellery, antiques and ceramics, all good quality. 

After the race finish the bus took us to a winery for a BBQ dinner. We were becoming more and more alarmed as the bus wound its way up an incredibly narrow road through small villages with buildings right non the edge of the road. Our driver, Pierre had to kee stopping to check ahead to see if the road was wide enough for the bus and trailer and ask for directions. When we finally made it at the top of a hill we were greeted to a beautiful vista over the vines of Domaine Mourchin and lovely stone buildings, house and pool.

After a quick dip in the pool to cool of we enjoyed a beautiful meal prepared by a Kiwi chef and fireworks in the village below for Bastille Day. 

Most of the group enjoyed a shorter ride in the final day in Provence and the non-riders followed in the bus to rendevous with the riders for sightseeing in villages. The first stop was Abbey Senanque set amongst fields of lavender then on to the beautiful hilltop village of Gordes for lunch. By this time it was incredibly hot, reading 42.5 deg on one of the garmin computers. Next stop was Fontaine-de-Vaucluse, a busy village with a natural spring and icy cold river running through it. We walked 1km each way in the blazing heat to see the spring but found not much to see when we got there. Neil took his cycling she's off and walked up n his socks which turned out to be a clever thing to do as a couple of the guys walked up in bare feet and ended up with burns and blisters.

Au revoir

Sharon