Day 12 – 20 June – Sault to Moustier-Ste-Marie
71 miles ridden - 4600 feet climbed- temperature 32C We woke up to a beautiful day. The sky was clear, the air warm and sweet. At breakfast we were all moving slowly, getting in and out of chairs gingerly, and it was quieter than usual. Mont Ventoux had taken its...
Day 11 – Mont Ventoux
Here are few more pictures: I did a 'Froome' and ran up: This is not quite as it appears. As Sue and Julie approached we were concerned they would stop by the vans and not continue for another 100m to the official finish line so I ran back down to yell at them to...
Day 11 – 19 June – Vaison La Romaine to Sault
39 miles ridden - 6000 feet climbed - temperature 30C (but not all the time) We know from those who have done this trip before that the day starts with a sense of foreboding. Today is short because those of us who want to are climbing up and over Mont Ventoux, one of...
Day 10 – 18 June – Vallon Pont D’Arc to Vaison-la-Romaine
58 miles ridden - 4700 feet climbed - temperature 28C Today was about stunning views and beautiful towns but we had to earn the opportunity to see them by climbing out of the gorge where our hotel was located. After about 1/4 mile we started climbing - about 1000 feet...
Day 9 – 17 June – Mende to Vallon Pont D’Arc
75 miles ridden - 3900 feet climbed - temperature 25C It would be very easy to focus all of today's blog entry on the room we are staying in at the Hotel Belvedere starting with the jacuzzi in our private courtyard- but I won't. We had a messy exit from Mende itself...
Day 8 – 16 June – St Flour to Mende
52 miles ridden - 4600 feet climbed - temperature 22C The idea of a shorter day appealed to everyone but in the typical sense of balance the climbing made it feel long. We were either doing one of three long climbs or we were on rollers - a bit up and bit down and...
Day 7 – 15 June – Le Mont Dore to St Flour
65 miles ridden - 6000 feet climbed - temperature 20C (not trusting Garmin on this!!) Today is supposedly one of the toughest days of the tour. We were warned about the first 5 miles and actuality matched our worst fears. The climb started approximately 2cm from the...
Day 6 – 14 June – Aubusson to Le Mont Dore
60 miles ridden - 5420 feet climbed - temperature 20C (occasionally) The weather today was spectacular - a few high clouds which made the sky interesting but absolutely not threatening. The road surface was generally great. Sometimes the wind was behind us. It was a...
Day 5 – 13 June – Crozant to Aubusson
56 miles ridden - 4450 feet climbed - temperature 18C (chilly) It took us a while to come together this morning as we were spread across 3 hotels. In fact we didn't really congregate until lunchtime except for one poor soul whose navigation device failed him miserably...
Day 4 – 12 June – Loches to Crozant
71 miles ridden - 3400 feet climbed - temperature 23C What a wonderful day. No rain. It almost didn't matter what the scenery was like or how pretty the villages and towns were we had sun cream on and were dry. Fields look different in sunshine. Corn looks better,...