Our 2023 cycling club tour was booked for the first week in June in Provence so with time not of the essence we decided to extend our trip to enjoy our favourite country for touring in our motorhome.
We were booked on the 22.20 tunnel crossing from Folkestone but with delays and stacking on the M20 motorway plus another long traffic delay on the M25 we decided to leave early and avoid any stress. Getting to the tunnel three hours early we checked in and were asked if we would like to go on an earlier train for an extra £30, we declined to pay but they put us on the next train anyway.
The beauty of the motorhome is that you can adapt your travel plans as you go so with quiet roads in France we were able to drive until 2am and then found an aire for a few hours sleep, we had already cleared Paris and possible rush hour traffic.
Intermarche at Auxerre was our stop for fuel, breakfast and to stock up on supplies and then on to Magny Cours for lunch.
Traffic free roads allowed good progress and we found a free Aire at St Etienne next to the lake for our overnight stop, a beautiful spot, very picturesque and we enjoyed an evening walk beside the water.
A 5-30am alarm call came in the form of loud music from a PA system and drawing back the blinds revealed an army of people setting up for a triathlon, by 7am a long line of cars were filling the car parks as we hastened our exit and commenced the last 150 miles to Bedoin.
With no particular rush a leisurely drive that included a stop for coffee and pan au raisin which allowed us to arrive at the Camping Car Parks site at Bedoin just after lunch where a very hot and humid afternoon gave way to an early evening thunderstorm, this was a pattern that would be repeated for the duration of our time in Provence.
Sunday 28th May
For our first ride I had planned a leisurely 33 mile Sunday morning jaunt through the local villages. From the motorhome park it was first into Bedoin which was already busy with cyclists heading for the mountain and locals heading for the boulangerie.
We took the road to Flassan and the early gradient revealed heavy legs after two days driving. The fields were filled with vines and cherry trees and the verges lined with red poppies and the pungent smell from the bright yellow broom bushes. At Flassan a long 5k downhill to Villes Sur Auzon before turning North to Moimoron, the main road was very busy with large groups of cyclists going in the other direction presumably towards the other magnet that is the Gorge De La Nesque. Our next waypoint was the village of Malemort-du-Comtat, Malemort means “bad death” and refers back to an episode in the middle ages when King Charles Martel killed all the inhabitants of the old town of “Calvias” following the Saracen invasion. Leaving Malemort we were again out through fields of cherry trees and vines to the village of St Didier, our planned coffee stop.
St Didier is another beautiful village, the centre piece being the XV century Chateau Thezan and the stone gateway set across the road. The streets are lined with Plane trees and present the archetypal Provence village. Refreshment was at a crowded Cafe Le Siecle with locals enjoying coffee and the Sunday papers and after a coffee fix it was off again, past the sleepy airport at Carpentras, even the windsock was hanging limply. We wound our way through back lanes to Caromb from where there was a steady climb all the way to my favourite named village of Crillon Le Brave and then a short downhill stretch back to the motorhome. It had not escaped our attention that we could see cumulonimbus clouds building and covering Mont Ventoux, probably not a good afternoon to go up the mountain as thunder began to roll around.
Link to the route : https://ridewithgps.com/routes/43109283
Monday 29th May
Our second ride was a recce of Gorge De La Nesque for a ride I’ll be leading next week, A really warm start as we took the Flassan route out to the start at Villes-sur-Auzon. Riding up the Gorge the first thing that struck me was the beautiful flat tarmac that made pedalling easy. The roadside hedges were beautifully trimmed and again the yellow Broom was very pungent. The only negative for me was the very loud speeding motorbikes that seemed like they were all after a Strava KOM for motor bikes. We rolled back down the Gorge the way we came up and back to the van for lunch after which it was a short walk to the patisserie in Bedoin for a French Tart to accompany afternoon tea. And that was it for the day, by 4pm the clouds had rolled in and thunder, lightening and torrential rain flooded the campsite for the next four hours.
Tuesday 30th May
Clear blue sky and sunshine, the perfect combination to climb a mountain, so with Kaye taking a day off I was on my own. While having breakfast and rather spookily Facebook popped up with a memory from seven years ago today when I was also climbing Mont Ventoux, so no pressure.
I must admit to being somewhat apprehensive, it was nearly twelve months to the day that I ruptured my quadriceps tendon and although I had done the rehab you are never sure how the repair will behave. The first few kilometres from Bedoin are a quite gentle 5% but it soon ramps up to 9% and 10% most of the way to Chalet Reynard. I was soon into my smallest gear 34/34 and it really is a case of just spinning the cranks, it seems strange to think when the gradient drops to 7% or 8% it feels easier. I was conscious of not pushing too hard so rode to my heart rate monitor, staying out of the red and well below maximum heart rate.
At Chalet Reynard I paused briefly for a gel and a swig of water and then continued the final 6k to the top. Across the finish line and then the obligatory photos to record the climb underneath the official sign, its good to know I have ridden up the mountain at 3 different heights , 1912, 1909 and now 1910 metres. The temperature at the top was 12c so it was on with the rain jacket and a very steady descent, it would be very easy to get it wrong and spoil a good day. I stopped briefly at the Tommy Simpson memorial to look at the items left by cyclists, the memorial is cleared daily and the amount of items left is testimony to the high regard in which he is held by cyclists.
Getting back to the van I had a very satisfying feeling that I had again been able to climb the mountain when twelve months before I was unsure if I would ever be able to cycle again.
Bang on cue at 4pm another torrential thunderstorm with flooded campsite, seems now like a daily occurrence.
Wednesday 31st May
Yet again a beautiful start, full sun and blue skies with thunderstorms forecast from 4pm. We were going to Buis les Barronnies to recce the camp site and hotel for our club tour next week. To make it a bit more interesting I had planned a route using a few gravel tracks, what I hadn’t planned was last nights storm that had washed out a lot of the tracks so it was about turn and the main road to Malaucene. From here we followed a course of quiet mainly flat back roads. Getting close to Buis les Baronnies we could see clouds building over the mountains. On entering the town it was very busy as Wednesday is market day, having located hotel and camp site we found a cafe for coffee and cake and mindful of the cloud build up we headed foe home.
Within ten minutes the first spots of rain accompanied by the dreaded sound of thunder, the rain got progressively heavier and within minutes the roads were awash, we sheltered in a railway tunnel with another group of cyclists from Edinburgh and after ten minutes it seemed the rain was easing so we carried on, sadly it was a false dawn and with thunder and lightening raging the rain got even heavier. At Entrechaux we took shelter again, the main street was just a river of water, the only problem now was that waiting it out you got very cold and with wet feet we eventually decided to brave it and crack on with the final 17k back to Bedoin, we were absolutely soaked but a dry motorhome and a hot shower seemed to work, not everyday is sunglasses and sunscreen, it finally stopped raining at 11pm.
Thursday 1st June
After Wednesdays drenching we again woke to sunshine, Kaye wanted to get yesterdays wet clothing washed and dried so we decided on a short circular route so that at any point if the clouds looked threatening we could cut back to the van and rescue the kit on the drying rack. A lot of the roads we had ridden on Sunday with the addition of a climb up to the hilltop village of Blauvac, a climb that has been used in the Tour De France. Back to the van for bread and cheese and an afternoon of cleaning bikes and lube to the chains while Kaye was on domestic chores. Just thunder in the afternoon, no rain.
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France ever a joy to cycle there.
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