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John and Sheila
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DIARY - Sault to Sault + Mont Ventoux 2011
Day 1: SAULT to ROQUEMAURE (76km)


Sunny and getting hotter as the day went on.

This is deliberately not too long a day to give us a chance to get our legs going.

Final sorting out of baggage, then park the car at the bottom of the yard where it was to reside until our return three weeks later.

While we are retrieving the trike from the barn a cyclist goes by and then re-appears a few seconds later. He turns out to be Ray Smith (an Audax UK member) who had spotted the AUK cycle jersey John is wearing. Brief chat about cycling, France and Mont Ventoux.

Au revoir and off, heading for the Nesque gorge. Although our B&B was beside the Nesque River itself, our tour starts with some steady climbing because we have to leave the river and head into the hills so as to climb around to reach the gorge on its summit rim. A real scenery highlight to start our tour, justifiably claimed to be the second most spectacular gorge in France. Stop at various points to take in the view, including chatting to a few other passing cyclists climbing up the gorge the other way.

After a long downhill with twists, turns and tunnels we reach the rather busy roads to Carpentras. Sheila had plotted a route to keep us on minor roads where possible. At one point we pull sharply off the road as les pompiers loom in the rear view mirrors with all blue lights on, only to observe that about 100m after they go by they turn right into the fire station (obviously just in a hurry to get home for a coffee).

Into the bustle of Carpentras for a shopping stop to buy sandwiches for lunch and PaRs; then on to a town centre square for our first tour café stop. Admire the hanging cloth art strung across the square. On to Bédarrides, some roads busier and some quieter, where we stop beside the river and sit on the wall of the old quay to eat our first tour PaRs and lunch. An excellent start so far – spectacular gorge (✔) .. long downhill (✔) ..café stop (✔) ..PaR (✔).

A short ride on to Châteauneuf du Pape. John decides to ignore Sheila’s route instructions for the village
centre and takes a short cut that ends up in a slightly difficult spell pushing the trike the wrong way along a one-way road. Sheila issues only a m
ild “told you so”. On a previous tandem tour into Provence we had sat
Sault to Sault + Mont Ventoux
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TOUR DIARY

Pre tour and Travel south
Day 1 Roquemaure (76km)
Day 2 Anduze (84km)
Day 3 Aniane (73km)
Day 4 Narbonne (105km)
Day 5 Carcassonne (78km)
Day 6 Carcassonne (0km)
Day 7 Castres (73km)
Day 8 Cordes sur Ciel (68km)
Day 9 Cahor (88km)
Day 10 Salviac (51km)
Day 11 Salviac Rally (28km)
Day 12 Salviac Rally (68km)
Day 13 Vers (50km)
Day 14 Villefranche de Rouergue (65km)
Day 15 Villefranche de Panat (105km)
Day 16 St Chély du Tarn (105km)
Day 17 St Chély du Tarn (0km)
Day 18 Chamborigaud (81km)
Day 19 Vallon Pont d’Arc (65km)
Day 20 Vaison la Romaine (88km)
Day 21 Sault (72km)
Mont Ventoux (51km & 1912m)
Non-cycling sightseeing

in this square in the early morning cool seeking a breakfast coffee. Today the temperature is 35℃ andrising, so we seek shade beside the fountain for a spell of relaxation before heading for Roquemaure. Down into the Rhône valley and over the river to reach our hotel mid-afternoon.

Check in and S&W, but encounter our first TP. Sheila’s new sports bra has performed well all day doing all the things for which sports bra’s are designed, but TP1 of the tour turns out to be that with her dodgy shoulder Sheila cannot remove said garment without assistance. Knowing Sheila to be of a strongly independent mind John tries not to look as though he is amused while offering assistance. (Note from John – short fantasy about how you would organise a women’s netball team in the changing room if this was a general requirement, but decide not to share this with Sheila). Hot afternoon + hotel swimming pool means that Sheila is soon splashing around in the water. John, still not feeling altogether fit opts to sit in the shade near to poolside.

Dinner in the hotel, provided by the three rather too laid-back fellows running the hotel, is rather poor and certainly not worth the €18 per head charged.

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Diary Abbreviations

Not too many, but some thing come up so often in the course of our cycle touring that it is not worth writing them out in full each time:
PaR - Pain au raisin: Essential fuel to get through that mid-morning dip in energy
SdM&C - Sirop de Menthe and Cassis: No, not mixed, but Menthe for John who likes the lurid green colour and Cassis for Sheila. Not a new drink, but a great cold drink alternative to fizzy pop like Coca Cola and Orangina and only really finally appreciated by us on this tour as being for adults too, not just what you give the kids in a French café
OdT - Office de Tourism: Often our first port of call in a new town to acquire detailed street map, what’s on and if possible walking tour of historic sites
ATQs - Answering Trike Questions: If you choose to travel by tandem recumbent trike as well as being regarded as eccentric “les Anglais”, one has to answer an endless litany of regular questions – Is it comfortable? Did you make it yourself? How do you steer it? Why are there 3 gear levers? (answer: dual drive rear hub, if you are wondering) Is it heavy? How does it come apart? …etc.
We never got around to, but always meant to have a multi-language laminated sheet with all these FAQs on, which we could hang over the rear seat when the trike is parked and we are having a picnic lunch or similar. But then we would miss out on lots of interesting conversations and opportunities to expand our foreign language vocabulary of obscure bicycle parts.
S&W - Showers for us and washing of cycle kit: Normally (unless the need for a drink prevails) priority number one when checking into overnight accommodation. Includes either finding a washing line or engineering our own with the length of nylon cord carried for this purpose. Years of cycle touring experience have given us grade A skills and ingenuity at this.
TP - Technical Problem: Not something one wishes to encounter too often
TdF - Tour de France
GG Gertrude (aka Gertie) Greenspeed: We aren’t great ones for naming bicycles but if the ‘trike’ is referred to in an abbreviated form the alliteration of ‘Gertie Greenspeed’ seems appropriate

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DAY 2 - Roquemaure to Anduze 


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