5th October 2023 Sault To Moustiers- Sainte Marie
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We had an 80 mile ride 2 days ago and 70 today and in between we climb Mont Ventoux. Such is the nature of my lack of training, and the bit of hill climbing training I managed in August I’d take the Ventoux day every time. I really struggled with the distance in the heat again today and thank goodness for George, pictured with me here, who cycled the entire 70 miles with me and made the day bearable
It was more of a transition day getting from A to B between Ventoux and the Verdon Gorge tomorrow so there wasn’t even a great deal of interesting things to see along the way
BUT one of the necessary evils of multi day cycling is having to wash your cycling clothes in hotel wash basins, but I now have enough to last until the end – possibly the highlight of the day !
It was a hot day too but the alternative of pouring rain would have been miserable as hell, so it really was a continuation of the amazing weather we’ve had since St Malo so no complaining here – although I probably did have a grumble but pedalling and drinking water got us home.
On a day like today when the distance strings the group out a lot it was good to have the opportunity to see everyone at Lunch and as ever the quality of the feed did not disappoint
As i said the landscape didn’t offer a great deal of photo opportunity most of the day and even taunted us with ” what you could have seen” if we had done this back in July/August with lavender fields all around that had already been harvested. How amazing it would be to cycle through that Purple carpet but how bloody hot it would be too, it was hot enough today in early October. So today we just had the neatly regimented look of a harvested lavender field as our backdrop for much of the day
After many miles of roller coaster ups and downs and bendy roads winding through trees , we began to get a look at the terrain we would be cycling in tomorrow, which looked spectacular from afar although making it clearly obvious there would be a massive climb to get up among it, but it will be good to be among something more photo worthy. At the area pictured here with Richard on the road, the 4 of us riding together thought we were riding down hill but were still having to pedal – it was actually a 2% up hill gradient, it turns out everyone felt the same so some kind of optical illusion being created with the lie of the land and seeing the wall of rock ahead. ……or maybe we just think 2% is down because we conquered Ventoux….. or maybe we are all hallucinating because we’re knackered !!
So the ride was drawing to a close and I’m honestly struggling with anything over 60 miles through missing so much preparation for the trip. so I’m hoping that tomorrow won’t be such a slog
Right at the end of today though we had a treat as we approached Moustiers-Ste-Marie a beautiful town on a hill and I managed to shoot a video of George crossing the attractive little bridge at the edge of town
The town is beautiful but after showering in one of the best hotels so far on the trip I was almost nodding off to sleep trying to do this blog so left it to my room mate and roving reporter Chris to take a look around , including the chapel which we all know is always at the highest point in these places and I’m sure he almost did as much elevation gain as he did on the ride today. He also got a great shot of Vultures circling in the sky alongside people paragliding. Moustiers-Ste-Marie is most definitely a town to return to one day ( without a bike)
So, 2 days of our adventure left and tomorrow we have a mere 50 miles but there is a tough long climb early on into the Gorge du Verdon but it should be spectacular in this sunny weather. The route map is shown below and if anyone reading this wishes to support me and Zoe’s place Baby Hospice as I try to complete this challenge my fundraising page can be found by clicking here. Now for some quality sleep I hope, to recharge these failing batteries
Well you certainly saw plenty of rocks,nearly there well done you can have a long sleep and rest when your finished.xx
yep, I’m looking forward to waking up on Sunday with no bike ride to do x
When looking for your blog I kep typing “Old Bloke on a Bike” : no wonder I couldn’t find it OLD bean:)
cheeky as ever mate which is why I like you so much !