October 14, 2003
Tuesday Oct 14: Moustiers-Sainte-Marie to Manosque
I am now in the Luberon - ie Mr Mayle's neck of the woods.
I was awake at 5:30 this morning and was a bit sorry that breakfast was included. The sky was clear, I felt great and was excited and anxious to get cycling. Fortunately, I did stick around and was fortunate to meet the retired couple from south of Paris who had also been staying in the place.
When I did finally get going, it was about 8:39, much later than my norm, but it was well worth it. The climb out of Moustiers was not too long and not too steep (was this because of my conditioning and good mood today) so in no time at all I was over the top. Then it was pure heaven for the next hour or so. I put the bike in a high gear and just pushed along at about 35 km/h.
Riez was a beautiful ancient city, as was Allemagne en Provence. I made a slightly wrong turn when I followed the signpost for Manosque, which brought me over another hill, but again, I zipped up, and then enjoyed the sweeping turns down that basically brought me right down into Manosque.
In no time at all I was able to find a hotel right in the Old City, a great lunch of stuffed veal with potatoe-zucchini-cheese side dish, and a few parts to get my bike back into tip-top shape. No wonder the back brake did not slow me down very much - the cable was all rusty and barely moved through the casing. The next thing to tackle is the problem with the rear hub, but that can wait.
Tomorrow I head further into the Luberon, probably to Roussillon or Gorde, both of which are supposed to be rather nice, plus small.
Today's ride: 50 km (31 miles)
Total: 2,661 km (1,652 miles)
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