nbjtours

Day 13 Fontaine de Vaucluse

77 miles

6473 ft climbed

Well if yesterday was a great day, today will be remembered for a very long time. Not only did we all successfully climb Ventoux but then we had an awesome ride along he majestically pretty Gorges de la Nesque.

Our luck was definitely in. Yesterday the weather was atrocious and the rain continued almost unabated until 3am this morning keeping us awake as it hammered on the roof. However getting up early again to clear blue sky and a great forecast we were set for the big one.

With a chilly start we donned long sleeves and set off at 7.30 for a 10 km run to the base of the mountain at Malaucene to start the 21km climb to the top.

Here we ended up splitting as mountain goat Nick managed to latch onto some keen looking French guys and kept up until he dropped his bottle. I just about kept pace with Peiter a much younger Belgian guy who had climbed another route the day before in the rain and got his parents to bring him down from the top to avoid hypothermia. Chris latched himself onto Robin a Californian ex- firefighter who was slower than he but enabled him to feel more powerful.

One of the strange effects about climbing a long hill like this is how the slope can play tricks. On this mountain there are sections which run for over a kilometre at between 10-13% ensuring that you have to pedal hard for over 20 minutes at a time so when the slope eases off to only 6 or 7 %. It genuinely feels as though you have started to go downhill.

As agreed with Nigel we stopped at the restaurant just above the Mt Serein ski station for a quick coffee and regroup. We now only had 6 km to go and apart from the first km the rest was under 10%, during this last section we and the mountain were buzzed on a low level pass by a French Mirage jet which thundered by. We then all finished with a flourish and very happy with our efforts.

Following getting to the summit we were then allowed to enjoy yet another fabulous coffee stop just below with this view over the bald summit of the mountain.

Leaving together we stopped as is traditional for every cyclist at the Tommy Simpson memorial, erected to commemorate the death of the English cyclist which occurred during the Tour de France in 1968.

We then continued down the mountain via the Sault route which was gentler, although it did mean a small climb as we got into the village.

From Sault we dropped down two very sharp hairpins before a gentle climb into the gorges of the Nesque where the verges were simply incredible and looked like someone had planted a rock garden alongside the road. I hope to publish a completely separate blog dedicated just to the flowers we have seen which have been so varied and beautiful.

Reaching the high point of the climb in the gorge was the first viewpoint where we came across lots of cyclists and bikers as well as a couple of over friendly wild boar. One of whom took a shine to Nick !

The other great thing was an incredible echo which came back clearly a couple of times across the gorge. The best call was that of Cuckoo. Talking of Cuckoos, although I have not always given a full update we have continued to hear their two note tone at all significant moments of the ride, such as the Col de Peyra -Taillade, the source of the Loire and today as we climbed Ventoux. Nick still claims he has heard nothing!

The next part of the ride along the gorge was fantastic as it was all gently downhill with incredible views across the gorge, with more flowers and tunnels to ride through.

Coming out of the gorge we had a short ride to lunch leaving only 22 miles for our final leg of the day.

These first two legs had been some of the most memorable cycling we have done, one up, one down, the third leg was largely flat across the plain to our final destination

The roads here were a bit busier as we were near to Carpentras, so took advantage where we could of getting off these busy sections to hit the farm roads through vineyards and other crops including these lovely cherries which I scrumped a few

The last leg then took us round to our campsite at Fontaine de Vaucluse which is the 5 th biggest spring in the world as a full sized river emerges from the ground below massive limestone cliffs in less than 100 metres.

Here we are dressed in our Ventoux T-shorts visiting the spring after having enjoyed a Nigel BBQ accompanied by a Monica coleslaw What more do you need. The end to a great day.

Tomorrow is the last day on the road and once again the weather is set fair so should see us reach the Mediterranean sometime in the afternoon – another tour coming to a close.