Total Miles - 891
Total Ascent - 59,393 feet or 18,100 m
Time on bike - 66 hrs 53 mins
Cols - 12
Summits - Le Mont Ventoux
Highest point - 1912m
Lowest point - Sea level
Punctures - Just the one thankfully!
Channel
To
Med
Saturday, 22 August 2015
Some Stats...
For those interested in numbers:
Total Miles - 891
Total Ascent - 59,393 feet or 18,100 m
Time on bike - 66 hrs 53 mins
Cols - 12
Summits - Le Mont Ventoux
Highest point - 1912m
Lowest point - Sea level
Punctures - Just the one thankfully!
Total Miles - 891
Total Ascent - 59,393 feet or 18,100 m
Time on bike - 66 hrs 53 mins
Cols - 12
Summits - Le Mont Ventoux
Highest point - 1912m
Lowest point - Sea level
Punctures - Just the one thankfully!
Day 14 - Castellane to Nice
So, this was it...the last day. How did that happen? How did it all go so quickly? I admit to feeling upset, I hate it when adventures come to an end, when you have to say goodbye to old friends and new friends...people you have cycled with, laughed with, cried with and hugged at the top of mountains and cols.
Today's cycle started off with a climb (surprise surprise), topping a col and with a lovely fast descent. Most people today were in their Channel to Med cycle tops which looked brilliant. At the brew stop we hung about for ages like nobody wanted to get going again...I am sure we drunk more coffee and ate more at that stop than we had at any other. After we did get going again it was a flat plateau cycle for a good 20 miles...randomly passing a buffalo/bison farm...
So what's the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
You can't wash your face in a buffalo!
Thanks to Bob White for that old cracker...
We descended through some tunnels towards our lunch spot...the final lunch, and again nobody was in a hurry.
The final 20 miles into Nice were pretty much downhill, not super fast downhill but nice easy going stuff. There was quite a long train of us by that point as we had gathered forces. It was a great ride down the Gorge towards the coast and it wasn't long before we started to hit more traffic and the suburbs of Nice. We found the cycle lanes which lead us down to the Med, still a few miles to go before our final destination but we had essentially made it, from the North Coast to the South Coast.
We cycled along past Nice Airport to Les Promenade des Anglais where we had our meeting spot to get the whole group of us together.
After we had all arrived the final mile was cycled in a long line of 24 of us...to the top end of the promenade. We had done it, over 900 mile through a beautiful country, thousands of metres of climbing and descending and all under our own steam...I can't even imagine how many pedal strokes, but I can honestly say I loved every one of them.
We took photographs, drank champagne and hugged each other...an amazing experience shared with amazing people.
https://www.strava.com/activities/368849651
Miles - 58 miles
Cols - One
Ascent - 800m
Rode with - Pretty much everyone.
Today's cycle started off with a climb (surprise surprise), topping a col and with a lovely fast descent. Most people today were in their Channel to Med cycle tops which looked brilliant. At the brew stop we hung about for ages like nobody wanted to get going again...I am sure we drunk more coffee and ate more at that stop than we had at any other. After we did get going again it was a flat plateau cycle for a good 20 miles...randomly passing a buffalo/bison farm...
So what's the difference between a buffalo and a bison?
You can't wash your face in a buffalo!
Thanks to Bob White for that old cracker...
We descended through some tunnels towards our lunch spot...the final lunch, and again nobody was in a hurry.
The final 20 miles into Nice were pretty much downhill, not super fast downhill but nice easy going stuff. There was quite a long train of us by that point as we had gathered forces. It was a great ride down the Gorge towards the coast and it wasn't long before we started to hit more traffic and the suburbs of Nice. We found the cycle lanes which lead us down to the Med, still a few miles to go before our final destination but we had essentially made it, from the North Coast to the South Coast.
We cycled along past Nice Airport to Les Promenade des Anglais where we had our meeting spot to get the whole group of us together.
After we had all arrived the final mile was cycled in a long line of 24 of us...to the top end of the promenade. We had done it, over 900 mile through a beautiful country, thousands of metres of climbing and descending and all under our own steam...I can't even imagine how many pedal strokes, but I can honestly say I loved every one of them.
We took photographs, drank champagne and hugged each other...an amazing experience shared with amazing people.
https://www.strava.com/activities/368849651
Miles - 58 miles
Cols - One
Ascent - 800m
Rode with - Pretty much everyone.
Day 13 - Moustier St-Marie to Castellane
The day of the Gorges du Verdon...best told in photographs. A great day's cycling, lots of climbing and lots of descending with the most beautiful scenery imaginable.
Miles - 50 miles
Ascent - 1400m
Rode with - Neil, Jen and Rhys, Bob and Dan
Cols - Col d'Illoire
Extra interesting stuff - Gorges du Verdon is second in size to The Grand Canyon and doing a headstand in a cycle helmet is a grand idea when there are rocks about!
Wednesday, 12 August 2015
Day 12 - Sault to Moustier-Ste-Marie
After leaving the lovely Hotel Le Louvre we cycled out of Sault on good smooth flat roads...leaving Ventoux in the distance. The smell of lavender was all around with fields at both sides of the road. Unfortunately most of the flowers had been harvested so there was nothing (just yet) to photograph. It was a very fast 18 miles, most of which I cycled alone. There was an incredible descent in to Banon where the first brew stop was. After a quick coffee we set off again, this time as a group and covered some fantastic miles of down, such a different ride from yesterday's Ventoux. It was however getting really hot, my Garmin kept showing 39 - 40 degrees.
We stopped for a picnic lunch just outside La Brillaine, I didn't eat much as I was hot and not particularly hungry, this I was to pay for later!
Again in our group we set out from lunch, knowing there was some climbing ahead, after about 3 miles of climbing the road topped out and there were beautifully planted lavender fields, and at last some that hadn't been harvested so I managed a small amount of purple in the photos! The road, which was as smooth as silk, descended and ascended many times and kept giving more and more lavender fields...it was lovely, the smells and the sights were just fabulous.
With about 10 miles to go to Moustier the road started climbing again, very gradually which for me is worse if it doesn't look like a hill. My energy levels were pretty much depleted and I was toiling. I took a gel but just had to push really hard to get myself going. thankfully I still had Bob and Sue for company and they pretty much dragged my sorry ass into town and to our hotel. I was in a different hotel than them but when I found it I found that we had a lovely pool and sun terrace so that was where I laid my head to recover.
Moustier is built into the rock faces of the start of the Verdon Gorge, this is where we will be cycling tomorrow, and having seen it before I am looking forward to my return.
https://www.strava.com/activities/367593380
Miles - 70
Ascent - 1350m
Cols - none, but lots of hills!
Rode with - various and Bob and Sue at the end
Weather - HOT 40 degrees
Extra interesting bits - Bonking on the bike is pants...lesson learned, eat more at lunch!
We stopped for a picnic lunch just outside La Brillaine, I didn't eat much as I was hot and not particularly hungry, this I was to pay for later!
Again in our group we set out from lunch, knowing there was some climbing ahead, after about 3 miles of climbing the road topped out and there were beautifully planted lavender fields, and at last some that hadn't been harvested so I managed a small amount of purple in the photos! The road, which was as smooth as silk, descended and ascended many times and kept giving more and more lavender fields...it was lovely, the smells and the sights were just fabulous.
With about 10 miles to go to Moustier the road started climbing again, very gradually which for me is worse if it doesn't look like a hill. My energy levels were pretty much depleted and I was toiling. I took a gel but just had to push really hard to get myself going. thankfully I still had Bob and Sue for company and they pretty much dragged my sorry ass into town and to our hotel. I was in a different hotel than them but when I found it I found that we had a lovely pool and sun terrace so that was where I laid my head to recover.
Moustier is built into the rock faces of the start of the Verdon Gorge, this is where we will be cycling tomorrow, and having seen it before I am looking forward to my return.
https://www.strava.com/activities/367593380
Miles - 70
Ascent - 1350m
Cols - none, but lots of hills!
Rode with - various and Bob and Sue at the end
Weather - HOT 40 degrees
Extra interesting bits - Bonking on the bike is pants...lesson learned, eat more at lunch!
Tuesday, 11 August 2015
Day 11 - Vaison-la-Romaine to Sault...via Mont Ventoux
MONT VENTOUX...it's a wrap folks. Great climb in great weather with great people. Loved it.
https://www.strava.com/activities/366521664
https://www.strava.com/activities/366521664
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