Sault to Forcalquier

May 24, 2019

Beautiful Ride Into Forcalquier

We love bike touring days like today. Fantastic weather, perfect ride, quiet roads, great scenery, an amazing amount of lavender. The only improvement would have been if I hadn’t sunburnt my arms yesterday which meant I had to wear long sleeves. I still can’t figure out how that sunburn happened and I paid for it because a sleeveless jersey would have been much cooler today.

We started with a leisurely breakfast at the Hotel Albion. We love starting the day like this, relaxed, the day full of possibilities and so much to look forward to. When we finally rolled out it was 10 AM. We spent some time in Sault at the grocery store, the bike shop and the bakery. Then we were on our way.

A delightful young couple we met at the Albion bike shop/bakery. A one stop shop. This couple were doing all three ascents of Ventoux, one a day.

The beginning of the ride was a gradual uphill pull surrounded by lavender. We can’t get over the size of the lavender fields. It is astonishing. It must be amazing to see when it is in bloom. Although at this point we have seen so many pictures of it it feels like we have seen it! It is also pretty spectacular in its current green.

Ventoux was always in the background, peeking over the horizon. Somewhere along here I was riding behind Keith and picked up a hitchhiker in my helmet. I ignored him for ever so long but finally it became so annoying I stopped and removed my helmet. Imagine my surprise to find a honeybee had joined me, and had been kind enough not to sting me. I hope he found his way home after I gently removed him from my helmet. Note to self, next helmet will have mesh to prevent such incidents.

The next stop was Banon where we had a quick tea and snack stop. A beautiful little village.

It was a fantastic ride. After the initial climb it was very undulating. Lots of up and down. Then we entered a gorge and went down, down, down. It was an amazing descent. We went through Le Rocher d’Ongles which was such a pretty town. The weather was perfect, the road was perfect, the day was perfect.

And more switchbacks. Downhill switchbacks are ever so much easier.

We had sun, blue skies and sunshine but this was building behind us. It never amounted to anything, it just looked dramatic.

Fortunately the wind was blowing this away from us. Sunshine shining into clouds produces such dramatic scenes.

Just before Forcalquier there was this lake, created by a dam.

When we arrived in Forcalquier we had a gelato while waiting to check in. Our hotel, the Grand Hotel is right in the heart of the old town and we recommend it. After our explore of the town we had an amazing evening. We started with drinks on an outside patio while listening to Peter play jazz and blues on the piano (he was good), then it was across the square to Aux 2 Angles for dinner. A perfect day.

Our dinner spot. We had a reservation for 7:15 when they opened. By 8 PM it was absolutely full.

We are both ready for bed and more adventures in the morning. We have made some new route decisions. We have decided we are enjoying this part of the world so much we are going to stay in the south of France and then take a train from somewhere to be decided to somewhere to be decided to get us back to Zurich. That is a decision, isn’t it? More on that later. I am sleepy.

https://www.relive.cc/view/2393295555

Today's ride: 60 km (37 miles)
Total: 1,220 km (758 miles)

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Rachael AndersonGood choice to stay in France! The food, roads and scenery is great and it’s significantly less expensive than Switzerland.
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4 years ago

Kathleen ClassenWe happened on another converted rail trail yesterday. It was on Keith’s route but we both thought the route would be all quiet D roads, and then boom, there was this amazing infrastructure. We really are enjoying France.
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4 years ago