Two Up - Again

Maggie and I have been back to the Alps - the Alpes de Haute Provence, this time. We went on a CTC Tour led by Sheila Simpson, which was based on the Relais de Mont Ventoux, at Aurel in the Vaucluse. It is a very pleasant little hotel that deals well with cyclists.

Some of the participants drove - we did - the majority came on the Bike Bus, which worked well enough, but there is no doubt that a number found the 70k from Orange a bit of a slog. Last year, Chris Ellison met the group at the bus with a van and carried their luggage for them. That's the way to go, if you've got a choice.

The format was the choice of an easy ride or a hard ride on most days, or the option of independent touring. Most people did some and some - there were very few takers for the harder rides.

We ended up doing Ventoux twice. The first was the group ride on the Monday, with a screaming Mistral blowing and very violent winds. Having seen people blown down we walked from the Tommy Simpson memorial to the top, struggling to hold the tandem down. A lot of people gave up - it was very hard to stand on the top, bike or no bike. By contrast, we rode up on Thursday with another tandem and it couldn't have been nicer - warm, calm and easy riding.

All in all, a good trip - the Vaucluse is an excellent area for cycling with good weather, good roads and very little traffic. The food's good, too...

Mark