May 1, 2025
Bedoin to Monieux
| Heart | 1 | Comment | 0 | Link |
First, thanks to Scott Anderson who let us know - for an upcoming train ride - that the Narbonne station has no lift. Thanks very much Scott, as knowing ahead of time will help us manage the situation better. The good news: the transfer time in Narbonne is one hour, so if SCNF will only post the track number in a timely fashion we should be okay……
Today the plan was to ride to Monieux via the Gorges de la Nesque, a semi-famous ride in Provence. (Since climbing Mt. Ventoux dominates the PR of cycling in Provence, everything else seems to get a short shrift). Today was also French Labor Day, which meant (1) it was very busy with cyclists doing their rides out of Bedoin and (2) almost everything was closed.
The upshot of the holiday for us was that two out of the three bakeries in Bedoin were closed so we stood for 25 minutes in a long line in the sun to buy a sandwich at the one open boulangerie. We didn’t want to risk trying to find provisions along the way. We were only planning to pass through two small towns (Flassan and Villes-sur-Auzon) and in France an open store is definitely a bird in the hand…..
The ride was a bit of a grind. It was 1040m in elevation gain in one long climb so I just had to get in a zone and do it. Oh, did I mention it was beautiful weather with spectacular scenery?
| Heart | 2 | Comment | 0 | Link |
The only downside was the fair amount of pretty aggressive motorbike activity. I mucked up our Komoot route (not sure what I did but I am pretty sure it was user error, not Komoot’s fault) so what Dave posted above is the planned route. At the top of the climb there was a great belvedere with a rest space and we stopped there to have our perfect French sandwich along with all the other cyclists enjoying the day.
It is such a cliché, but Provence is so full of charm and beauty. We cycled pretty extensively through France last summer but not in Provence, and we had forgotten how gorgeous it is. If only Dave would agree to buy a place here……
We couldn’t check in before 4 pm so on the way in we stopped at the one and only restaurant in Monieux and made a booking for dinner at Les Lavandes. La Bastide Bourgeuets B and B, where we will be staying, is about 2.5 km away so we will be riding in the dark tonight after dinner.
We then rode a further 5 km into Sault —which seemed like a long way because there is a stiff ascent into the town. The view from the town was worthy however, and we stopped into an outdoor cafe for an Aperol spritz and communed with a zillion other cyclists doing the same thing after a ride on a beautiful holiday.
Sault, like Bedoin, is a famous cycling town due to it being the easiest jumping off point to ride up Mt. Ventoux and it had the same maniacal cycling vibe as Bedoin.
We rode back to our b and b and checked in. It was very nice, a big spread-out Provençal place with a pool (which we did not use) and large airy bedrooms, sans A/C and tub. I was very tired after the day’s climb and collapsed onto the bed for a rest, and for the first time, Dave expressed the thought he might NOT climb Mt. Ventoux the following day; he felt his knee was a little cranky and he doesn’t want to screw the pooch on the rest of our trip by having his knee blow up. We shall see.
We revived a bit after a nice afternoon siesta and shower and rallied enough to dress and get our bikes out to ride into Monieux from dinner. This is a common refrain from us I know BUT: eating in France is such a delight. This restaurant, Les Lavandes, is the only place in the town and it was delightful. We had a superior meal (with an extra calamari amuse bouche) from a lovely server and the whole thing took two and a half hours so we were riding back to our inn in the the dark at 9:45 pm after a bottle of wine! No problem though as not one car passed us on the narrow road.
We had a bit of minor drama when we arrived. Dave had custody of the room key (a situation that may need to be revisited in the future) and we couldn’t find it when we arrived at the inn. It’s one of those places where the owners are NOT on duty 24 hours a day and it was after 10 pm so we were squirming with embarrassment at the thought of having to roust the owners from their personal quarters. We repeatedly tore through our numerous pockets and belt packs and I finally found out on the ground outside the front door to the inn. Drama averted….
Today's ride: 47 km (29 miles)
Total: 415 km (258 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 5 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 3 |
2 weeks ago
2 weeks ago
Regards John de la Roo
2 weeks ago