The Most Amazing Day: Gorge de la Nesque

September 23, 2014

It is always a mistake to write a blog after several glasses of red wine, so bear with me. Today was a day to remember. We had a recommendation from Doc and Marg, good friends of Ken and Val, for a ride up Gorges de la Nesque. We had a later start to the day thanks to the pot of coffee that needed to be lingered over before we started riding. There were also a few bouts of emailing and accommodation and train booking, but we are not mentioning any names!

Our ride began with scenic villages and back roads explorations. There was some hill climbing and there were grapes waiting to be harvested. We sampled a few of the grapes on our way by. Delicious. We stopped for lunch in Ville Sur Auzon. The food was fresh and delicious. Suitably fuelled up we headed towards our goal.

Gorges de la Nesque. What a ride. About 15 km and 1000 metres of steady, comfortable climb. The views were amazing. We were obviously tourists, stopping to take pictures and enjoy the views while the spandex crowd powered past clearly looking for a personal best at the summit. Since we had never done it before we were going to have a personal best at the summit regardless. Surprisingly we passed a few of the spandex crowd. We are old and we can boast. Two thirds of the way up there was a little house tacked to the cliff selling honey. Absolutely amazing. The woman who sold us the honey gave us a souvenir abeille which we will carry for the rest of the trip. We were cycling so fast it was wingless by the summit, but it will be the travelling bee regardless. Val has the wings in her pocket.

We had so much fun. And the descent. I was pretending I was a Tour de France rider (bear with me, I am being honest here, remember the wine) and it was just so darn much fun. I decided Ken was Bradley Wiggins and I needed to catch him. Since he didn't know this was my goal I was actually able to do it. I shamelessly drafted for awhile. The ride down was a memorable experience for all of us.

Then we trolled Caromb for fresh veggies and steaks that were amazing, for a delicious dinner to end a memorable day. Lots of red wine too! We found our Chein of the Day, Wooster, and his name reminded me of a good friend in Victoria. Thanks again to Doc and Marg for the wonderful ride suggestion. We are so lucky to be doing this.

We are just getting started here. Around every corner there is something to look at.

Riding past a cherry orchard. There are more than vineyards and olive groves here.

Posing. We are just getting started on the climb.

What a great ride. Just getting going after many photos at the first tunnel. We didn't realize there were several more.

An artisanal honey store on the side of the gorge.

More tunnels. Didn't need to take a hundred pictures of the first one.

Val and the bee keeper bonding on the descent.

And a fitting end to today's entry, Wooster, the Chien of the Day. Named after Wooster in the P.G. Wodehouse novels, not my girlfriend. A good looking chien, who came with two lovely Dutch humans.

Today's ride: 74 km (46 miles)
Total: 1,157 km (718 miles)

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