Mt. Ventoux

Today we climbed up Mt. Ventoux - about 6000' of climbing. This climb is said to be one of the hardest single climbs in the Tour de France.

These were the kilometer markers that indicated the grade for the next kilometer.

The view was amazing!
We made it to the top! But it was a bit cloudy. The clouds cleared off 1/2 hour later but Mark had already descended with the camera. Linda took a ride in the van to avoid the cold descent. Mt Ventoux is known for being windy at the top because all of the trees are gone. It looks like a moonscape.

Another gorgeous vista.

After we got back we hiked around the town of Vaison-la-Romaine and took some pictures. Tomorrow is a rest day so we will get to do some shopping. Anybody need anything from France? :)

Chabueil to Vaison-la-Romaine

We headed a long ways south today to the Provence region. We left some good friends in Chabeuil. Mark fed the kitty some ham from breakfast so she was very friendly. The lady at the hotel suggested I take her with me in my valise!

We saw acres and acres of sunflowers!

More amazing rock formations to ride through.
These are some medieval ruins above one of the cities we stopped in for snacks.
There were rows and rows of lavendar but they were no longer blooming. And those are olive trees in the background.

A tasty treat for us at the finish. Creme brulee flavor ice cream and peach sorbet. Mark got some pastis too.

Rencurel to Chabeuil

We covered a lot of ground today. About 70 miles. We started off in the mountains and then dropped down to the valley in a neighborhood that was similar to Phoenix suburbs.

This is the top of one of the higher climbs.

The rock formations here were incredible - like stumbling on the Grand Canyon during your bike ride.
The view into the canyon was spectacular.

We stopped for a break to enjoy the view and watched a group of mortercyclist take a break too. There are lot of motorcycles in France and they seem to have a different speed limit than cars - it must be 100 mph or so because they are zooming by at top speed.

Bon appétit!

Mark and I stopped at a pastry shop in the middle of our ride the other day and got some pastries. We sat on the curb and were eating them when some passing French wished us Bon Appétit! They take food and meals seriously here and have a lot of pride in the cusine.

Here are some picture of some of the dinners we have been having. Pretty good food but the presentation is really spectacular. Salmon and rice with stuffed tomate
quiche and salad
Beef and potatoes

Eggplant pâte
Duck
This is a lemon dessert with sugar on the side and lemon sorbet.
Melon and prosciutto

Champagneux to Rencurel

Below is the profile for our ride to Rencurel. Most of the climbing was at the end of the day.

Today's ride went from Champagneux to Rencurel. It was raining this morning a light rain. It rained for about the first two hours of the ride. Then we had these ominus clouds lurking above us but just a few drops. Nice backdrop for the pictures though.

This was the last town before our trek up 3000 vertical feet of climbing to Rencurel.

We biked through several miles of apple orchards on narrow roads that looked like service roads. No one was around and it felt like we were trespassing somewhere we shouldn't be. It was very serene. The route wasn't supposed to go through this area but we came to a fence with a sign that said "danger de la mort" and decided it wasn't a good idea to contiue so we took the "deviation" (detour).
This is Michelle from Anacortes. She is a very strong climber.
The hills are very lush with green.

Here I am heading toward the cliff edge. It was a bit scary if you looked down the sheer drop over the side.
The road is actually chiseled into the face of 1000' vertical cliff.

We are now in Rencurel which is located in the Vercors region, part of the Parc Natural Regional.

Annecy to Champagneux

This is Scott, one of the riders on our tour. He took lots of pictures of the other riders while pedaling so we got a shot of him!
The word Ferme with an accent on the end meams "closed" but I leared from seeing the signs that when the last e does not have an accent it obviously means "farm". :)
We saw lots of nice sunflowers.

We climed up the side of a mountain and got some great views of Lac du Bourget (France's largest lake) below.
We stopped for a breather before the tunnel to enjoy the view.
This is Les from, you guessed it; Canada his wife Susan is just out of the picture on the back of the tandem and Michelle is in the background.

I love the symetry of the vineyards. We did a beautiful ride through lush area with vinyards in the valley and on the hillsides.
Typical field with rolls of hay.

The Rhone river is down below winding through the vineyards.

Here I am at the Rhone river.

Mark took this one with the camera in his hand. You can see the reflection of the camera in his sunglasses. He didn't realize I was in the background until he was looking at the pictures later on the computer. :)

The signs are helping me learn french words.