Thursday - Mt Ventoux & Chateauneuf de Pape

Thursday evening, Sept 10 Big day for the men…. We drove about an hour and a half to the village of Bedoin at the foot of Mont Ventoux.

This little town was on the Tour de France route on the 19th day of this year’s Tour, and it is where Steve and Tim had reserved bicycles to ride to the top of the mountain.

It is a grueling ride, only about 22 kilometers or 13 miles, but the elevation difference is substantial at 5,312 feet, with an altitude of 6273 ft. at the top from 951 ft. in Bedoin.

The beginning of the ride is through forest, but near the top is almost bare rock, which can be almost blinding in the sunlight. There were lots of riders on the road and lots of anxious companions waiting at the summit. All very dramatic. The roadway on the way up has numerous signs of encouragement painted on it, left over from the Tour de France in July.

The men zipped down the other side after they recovered with water and food to the village of Sault (pronounced like “soo” – rhymes with “moo”) where we picked them up and took them back to Bedoin to return the cycles.

We then headed for Orange to see the Roman ruins – car windows open – the men were a bit sweaty…. but arrived just after the gates closed, so we had to settle for peering through the fence.

We ended the day with dinner in the beautiful village of Chateauneuf du Pape, drinking the house wine for dinner and pretending that we were getting a great red…..