Day 3 – Les Baux: it was all hell…ah, hills today

I have to say the hotels since we left Nimes have been great.  Last night in Arles it was the Hôtel du Cloître, a family run hotel. It was charming and well maintained, in a great location, and exceptionally clean (and no rain inside!).

Tonight we are at the Hôtel Du Parc in Cavaillon.  This hotel can be similarly ‘adjectivized’ and staffs in both places were very friendly. We were not looking for the 5-star cycling trip where they do everything but wipe your…nose (where, per Lyn, they go out ahead of you and chalk route with little arrows so you don’t get lost—what fun is that!?), but we did expect to have a decent 2- to 3-star hotel stay in each city and they certainly meet/exceed that criteria.

Now, on to today’s ride… We were on the road by 9:30 and it started out perfectly—beautiful weather (partly cloudy…not too hot, not too cold), beautiful ride and landscapes—we were lovin’ it. Then rain...and not the couple of drops, great-it-will-cool-you-down kind of rain—it poured. At one point I had to take off my glasses because there was so much water running down my face I couldn’t see. We knew there was a town coming up, so we just kept riding.

After about 10-15 minute we pulled into the town of Paradou and took shelter in front of “La Poste” and started ringing out our shirts.  A few minutes later Mitch and Hanna rode up, and then we spotted John coming out the to grocery store—all were soaked. The funny thing is, none of us really cared.  It stopped raining 15 minutes later and the rest of the day was beautiful.

On to Les Baux! Now, we knew this was to be a “challenging” day, but none of us was prepared for how challenging—except of course Lyn who has led this ride before.  The first (major) hill was up to the town of Les Baux. It seemed to go on forever…just when we thought we were about to hit the top, we would find more ‘up’ around the corner. Of course even worse than the up was the speed at which two ‘real’ cyclists passed us near the top…"bonjour!....bonjour!" and then hey were gone.

Once we reached the top it was obvious the ride was worth it. Les Baux is an amazing—minus the touristy parts—medieval fortress. The views were spectacular and the history evident wherever you looked.

Back to the bikes—for some downhill this time. We met up with Lyn and rode (coasted!) down to the next town called Maussane. There we found a charming little square with a fantastic restaurant. The sun was out, a slight breeze was blowing, and the food and wine were delicious. We could have sat there for hours if not for the next leg of the ride.  Cavaillon, the night’s destination, was still 35 k away.

After a couple of wrong turns (“those signs were NOT there a minute ago…”) we were on our way to Eygalieres. For those of us who had assumed the difficult part of the ride was in the morning, we had quite a surprise when 5 of the next 6 k were uphill—beautiful, but challenging. We stopped in Eygalieres for pistachios, bread with Tapenade, and a very refreshing glass of beer with grenadine syrup (a Monaco).

Finally pulling into Cavaillon at about 7:30pm, we were all ready to relax.  The hotel for tonight and tomorrow night is great, as was Lyn’s choice of restaurants. It was traditional/regional cuisine with great atmosphere and better service.  We all shared stories from the day and learned some very interesting facts about regional cuisine in other parts of the world (special thanks to Hanna enlightening us on the unique (read: puppy and snake blood) culinary habit of the Vietnamese people.

Tomorrow is an optional ‘loop’ day…..hmmmm,  14 k or 40 k…..we’ll have to see how we feel in the morning.

Day 3 Stats:

• Ride Sheet - Arles to Cavaillon (53 to 77 k, Base Route is 63 k)
• Actual Ride - 65 k
• Lunch - Maussane
• To Remember - Hill to Les Baux, Rain in Paradou, Alpilles (little Alps), walking tour through Les Baux medieval chateau ruins, first Monaco

Comments

[Nathan]

Sounds like you are keeping up the good spirits even in the rain! Sometimes a nice rain can keep you cool for a while...

And boy do I know that feeling of mysteriously appearing and disappearing signs!

What does beer w/ grenadine taste like? I am not sure about this one...

[Deb Fasb]

My legs hurt from reading this! Sounds like you are having a great time.

[dave auch]

Thanks for all the pics and journal. The trip sounds fantastic and fun. Would love to be there with you. I can't believe you have the strength to write after a long day, but keep it up! Makes me feel like i'm there with you. I hope you took the 14 miles today! :) You earned a break with all you did Day 3!

[Steven]

After a long ride, the beer w/ grenadine is delicious(!) And the rain? The whole time we were preparing for the trip we were saying, "I hope it doesn't rain, I hope it doesn't rain." But when it really started pouring on us we just didn't care....at all. It's a great feeling.

[Steven]

Thanks Deb....bet mine hurt more :-) Actually hasn't been too bad at all. I'm a little surprised.

Dave: I'm posting later this evening, but we did the 40 mile route.