The perfect one-day ride

What features would you select for the perfect one-day bike ride? Here’s a circuit which seems to have everything. Does it fit your profile?

Starting with a gentle climb, first through vineyards, then cherry orchards with the soft voices of pickers chatting as they work.  The early morning sun is glistening on the white tower atop the Mont Ventoux and highlighting its bare stone crown.

 

Looking back over the olive grove to the village of Flasan

Then a little steeper through a tiny close-clustered village and glance over your shoulder for views across the olive orchard to the ochre walls of the houses huddled round the church. The rocky soil is the brown of a milky coffee.

The climb is steady. The road is pretty good for France. The traffic?…there is no traffic. The scent of scrubby bush, herbs and wild flowers basking in the sunshine, waft over you. Across the Rhône valley the mountains of the Cevennes are blue humps in the far distance. Towering above the route is the bald summit of the Mont Ventoux. But we aren’t going this way.

 

The Mont Ventoux towers over the route, but we aren't going up there

At 900m this climbing is nearly done. There has been no further sign of habitation. The road slips into a forest. Stunted oaks, diminutive pines and bushes. This might be truffle country. Across the D1 highway is another small road winding around the side of the hill.

This road finally breaks out further along the D1. Big views all around: the town of Sault, lavender fields in the valley below, mountains in the distance. The descent is steep, breathtaking – fast, smooth and there’s even a strip for cyclists.

 

Even from the highest point, you can smell the lavender in the fields below

At the bottom the lavender fields are long lines of bluish-purple. The air is heavy with their scent. Turn right into a valley, a gentle climb, another golden village clambering up the hillside.

At the top of the hill, the valley narrows, this is the start of the Gorges de la Nesque. From here the road descends steadily all the way to the start of the ride. Switchbacks, swinging bends, short tunnels carved out of the rock. Huge drop-offs into the gorge.  Cliffs towering high above the road. Umpteen photo opportunities. Down into the narrow cleft between grey rock. The ride of dreams.

 

The ride of dreams - the Gorges de Nesque

At the end of the gorge, a left turn and roll back to the start. Right in front of you, the Café du Soleil. Chairs and tiny tables full of cyclists who have also just had the ride of a lifetime. Time for coffee, or better still, a pression.

Start and finish: Villes-sur-Auzon, Vaucluse, Provence, France

Route taken: Villes-sur-Auzon, D19 to Flasan. D217 to La Gabelle, D1, D942 via Monieux, Gorges de la Nesque, Villes-sur-Auzon

Map: Michelin Departments 332, Drôme, Vaucluse

Distance: 57km

Climb: 1184m (Garmin)
Links: http://europeanrandonneur.blogspot.co.at/2016/07/10-reasons-for-cycling-in-provence.html
http://europeanrandonneur.blogspot.co.at/2015/09/mont-ventoux-take-it-easy.html

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Café du Soleil - a fitting conclusion to a perfect ride

10 reasons for cycling in Provence

Think of the south of France and what comes to mind? Super yachts, expensive hotels and casinos, the glitterati? Just a little way north of the beaches are the hills and vineyards of Provence. Warm and sunny, with a crowd of small villages, bustling markets, good food, cheap wine, reasonable hotels and b&bs, and wonderful opportunities for some unforgettable bike rides. Here’s why you should give it a go. 

1 Roads

The web of tiny roads offer endless choices and variety - all you need is a Michelin Departmental map 332 for Drôme and Vaucluse. However, the roads are sometimes terrible, patched, cracked, crumbling, potholed and rough. They will, at least, make you realise how lucky you are when you next ride back home.

2 Aroma

Pines, thyme, rosemary: the scent of the wild flowers and plants along the verges accompany every ride. Lavender fields baking under the sun are almost overwhelming .

3 Bonjour! Perdu?

Stop to look at a map and "Bonjour! Perdu?" Helpful friendly people to help guide you on your way.

4 Bars, boulangerie

You're never far from a bar for a grand cafe noir or from a boulangerie for French picnic classics.

One thing that I like, a baguette on my bike

5 Wine

Rich Rhone reds, crackling rosés. Vineyards everywhere. There are no bad wines here.

Bottle - caged

6 Villages perché

Ochre-walled houses, huddled on a hilltop, lure you up the long steady climbs. At the top, huge views, steep-stepped alleys, a bar and a rest.

7 Weather

Hours of sunshine, lashings of sun cream, loose muscles, limber joints, warm evenings, a long hot summer. Beware the Mistral's chilly blasts from the north, strong enough to knock you off your bike.

8 Cols

The cols (passes) are everywhere. There's rarely a col without a reward at the top: a sign to say how high you are. After a long climb it's the moment you know you've done it. The thrill of the descent is about to begin.

 

This Col features on the 2016 Tour de France

9 Mont Ventoux

The cyclist's Mecca. The Géant dominates every view. It's one of the great rides whichever way you choose to ride up.

http://europeanrandonneur.blogspot.co.at/2015/09/mont-ventoux-take-it-easy.html

Mont Ventoux: towering over the vineyards

10 Pedal Power

Possibly more cyclists per kilometer than anywhere other than Amsterdam. Friendly French riders: always a bonjour or a wave. Motorised traffic waiting patiently behind. Bunches of riders in the latest tricots. Cyclists rule here. OK! 

Oh, and here is another reason: the Auberge du Vin, Mazan

Surely one of the best b&bs anywhere. Nice people, surrounded by vineyards, brilliant coffee, good wines, fabulous view of the Mont Ventoux.

www.aubergeduvin.com

Auberge du Vin - vineyards on every side

Loire à Vélo – or bateau?

At Nevers the river was huge, muddy, flooded and fast-flowing

Not everything goes according to plan. Starting a tour along France's longest river at a time when much of the country was flooded, when unions were organising disruptive strikes and the country was in the grip of two major international sporting championships - would be a challenge to the best laid plan. It could be described as foolhardy.

Riding over carpets of white blossoms

The Loire is a big river. 1000 kilometers long. After weeks of rain, by the time it reached our starting point at Nevers, 650km from the sea, it was already a huge, muddy mass, flowing fast and surging over the banks. The forecast for the next few days was for cloud but no rain.

France in June! It should be warm and sunny. But the skies are 50 shades of grey and panniers light because we are wearing everything we've got. 

There's a spirit of defiance among the few cyclists we meet. Those coming the other way stop to compare notes about flooded paths and ways around the "inondation". There are charming moments: riding over carpets of newly fallen white blossoms, struggling to overtake a two-girl, three-skittish-packhorse, one-wayward-dog caravan on a narrow towpath.

Water sports near Sancerre

We are riding along a clearly signposted route. The Loire à Vélo. It would be hard to make a wrong turn. The signposting along the Loire is so good you could follow the route without a map. 

After 30 years of cycle touring on three continents, nothing would get us to join an organised group. Part of the fun of being independent is making decisions about when and where to go and where to spend the night. It isn't always perfect, but the element of surprise, pleasurable or otherwise, is always there.

 

Fields, campsites, picnic areas and the trail suffered flooding

Following a river dictates approximately the route you will take. Finding the best way with detailed Michelin maps over the whole distance would be a tedious task. The tourist authorities have worked out a route which includes tiny lanes, field tracks, parks and a campsite and generally avoids traffic. It also includes off-beat attractions you'd never find otherwise. So sticking largely to the signposted route is a good compromise.

 

The Loire Canal as it crosses high above the flooded river

With further showers brightening our days, and more and more signs of inondation and Route Barré, our maps were often in use. Being “old school”  (steel frame bike, paper maps etc.) I don’t use a satnav and don’t know how useful it would have been finding a way around impassable trails.

Jewels in the crown of this river are the many chateaux. You could never see them all but the ride some of the most famous are well worth including These 500-year-old symbols of opulence, taste, humour and style make today's mega-yachts look like toys. 

 

Chateau Chambord is bike friendly

It's not fair to judge the countryside at a time when fields are flooded and crops flattened under stinking silt, when private vegetable patches have been swamped, and when parks are pools. But the scenery is pastoral rather than dramatic and the villages mainly functional rather than picturesque.

The flood damage and need for diversions increased as did the number of cloudbursts that occurred just as we were exposed in open country. A serious debate in Angers. Carry on or call it a day? Next morning under patches of blue sky, the wettest, muddiest, dodgiest track of all as we headed out of town. But the scent of the sea was in our nostrils. We will complete the ride!

 

No way through this flood where a fast flowing stream rushed into the Loire

Not everything goes according to plan. Our next stop should be Nantes. There's not a room to be had for 50km around the city. The Hellfest and a big basketball tournament have filled every bed. There's no way around it other than to try a 100km ride into an area almost devoid of accommodation. Getting back to our start at Nevers from the Atlantic coast with bikes on the dispute-ravaged rail system was also not going to be easy at the moment.

 

The bike path at Bouchemaine near Angers

So we call it a day. Ride to the next train station and hope for a train. And then drive south to Provence, where the sun is shining and lavender fields are blossoming. Not everything goes according to plan. But being independent, being flexible means making the most of every opportunity.

Links:

www.cycling-loire.com

Coffee:

Best coffee of the ride: Café á la Gare, Ancenis - Lavazza

At Bouchemaine the bike route was … unusual?