Two Weeks in Provence
2014 cycle tour from Marseilles to Nice
Monday 15 September 2014
It's over and done with
Saturday 13 September 2014
Day 13 Nice to Monaco
Friday 12 September 2014
Day 12 Cannes to Nice
Wednesday 10 September 2014
Day 11 Roquebrune to Cannes
Tuesday 9 September 2014
Day 10 Aups to Roquebrune sur Argens
Monday 8 September 2014
Day 9 Ginasservis to Aups
Day 8 Bonnieux to Ginasservis
Saturday 6 September 2014
Day 7 Fontaine de Vaucluse to Bonnieux
Friday 5 September 2014
Day 6 Bedouin to Fontaines de Vaucluse
Thursday 4 September 2014
Day 5 Mont Ventoux
Set off this morning without panniers, tent etc to do a wee bonus loop up Mont Ventoux, about 14 miles uphill all the way 5400ft to the top. http://www.climbbybike.com/climb.asp?qryMountainID=4
The first couple of miles were a fairly steady gradient of about 4-5% then it ramped up to about 10% relentlessly (no flat bits) for the next 7 miles until we reached chalet Reynard where we stopped for a break. It was a bit easier after that for the next 2.5 miles until the la last 1. 5 miles which got really steep and eventually got us into our lowest gear. The climb was tough, Sandra loved it, I'm not so sure how enjoyable the climb was but the whole experience up and down was certainly fantastic. The descent was brilliant, there are very few hairpin bends so you can easily keep up 30-40 mph without pedalling. We had to stop off at. Chalet Reynard again to buy some cycling tops. Sandra went for the pink outfit and was almost going to buy the matching shorts, fortunately she didn't or I would have had to buy a blue chauffeur's hat and said "yes m'lady" for the rest of the trip! The only mishap on the descent was when a big bitey beastey flew down Sandra's cleavage and allegedly started stinging. I couldn't help for laughing and taking photos. (Hopefully to be posted later)
I've been having problems with my phone throughout the trip and was really dissapointed that I couldn't record today's route on Strava. But I might have fixed that tonight. I also might be getting the hang of posting photos, I've added a couple to the first few posts and will try to add some more later.
Wednesday 3 September 2014
Day 4 Avignon to Bedoin
Tuesday 2 September 2014
Day 3 Remoulins to Avignon
Monday 1 September 2014
Day 2- St Remy to Pont du Gard
It was blowing a Hooley all night and if anything has picked up during the day, from the north of course which is the direction we have been travelling most of the day.
Set off fairly early and had breakfast at Maillane, then set off following the quiet back roads to the abbey de St Michel de Frigolet.
Some of the back roads were unmarked dirt tracks and were quite difficult to find resulting in a wee bit of doubling back to find them. The Abbey, like most abbeys was quite pretty but not much buzz about it, so we soon set off (on the wrong road) down to Brabentine then backtrack to Aramon for a bite to eat.The wind was so strong when we were crossing the bridge over the Rhone that we had to get off the bikes and walk to save getting blown all over the road.
Then onwards to the Pont du Gard, which is an amazing Roman aqueduct built 2000 years ago. we're having problems posting photos at the moment but we will hopefully get some on soon.
With any luck this link will show today's route
Sunday 31 August 2014
Day 1 Arles to St Remy de Provence
No sign of the bags this morning so we just packed up what we have and set off for St Remy de Provence.
We had a short stop to sort out some local cyclist who had broken his chain then headed up over the Alpiles where we spent a couple of hours looking round the castle at Baux de Provence.
Then down the other side of the Alpiles and in to St Remy for an excellent meal at a wee restaurant called Le Forge, but not before Sandra managed to buy her third dress in 2 days!
A short day cycling today, only about 21 miles which on top of the 12 we did yesterday makes about 33 in total.
Having missed a days biking yesterday we'll need to rejig our route for the next few days.
Saturday 30 August 2014
The bikes have turned up!
Back into the airport this morning to find the bikes had arrived safe and well. However there is still no sign of our other panniers. We each still have one missing. I should be ok as long as the weather stays good as it is mainly my bad weather gear which is missing along with our stove and cooking gear ( I didn't think there was much chance of us doing much cooking anyway) Sandra on the other hand is missing a fair bit of stuff including some clothes, her biking shoes and, apparently most important, her makeup!
Anyway, we got the train into Arles today. This had always been our plan since the roads around Marseilles airport look pretty dodgy for cycling. There was a fantastic market in Arles when we arrived and we spent the afternoon shopping for essentials such as toiletries, puncture repair kits and dresses ( I didn't bother with a new dress for myself). We also made a few unsuccessful calls to try to track down our bags.
This evening we went back into Arles for a wander round the old part of town and ended up in their Arena, a mini Coloseum, for a "Roman Spectaculaire" which was pretty cheesy apart from the short course chariot racing which was quite impressive.
Tomorrow we'll try to call and see if there is any info on the missing bags, but if not we'll just hit the road with what we have.