Day 14: we made it!!!

Yayyy!! We made it!!! 

It was raining and very windy in Frejus, with thunderstorms forecast in Nice. Not ideal for the last day of cycling. 

I left Frejus at 8 to collect Becky from the airport. Her flight got in at 10 and without knowing the terminal I took a gamble with the car parks and lost. Oh well. Navigating through central Nice was quite difficult. 

Having found the car park and apartment we had thirty minutes to spare before the boys were due to arrive. 

I got a text from james to say they were passing the airport - my 3 mile warning. I got in position with my camera and waited for them. It was pouring with rain so only used my iPhone. 

It was great to see them coming round the corner, and they were happy and smiling despite the rain. 

I can't believe it's all over. There have been. Some epic highs and lows, in both altitude and morale. 

Day 13: Trets to Frejus

Day 13 was lovely. I finally had a day off admin and didn't set the boys for lunch. I went straight to Frejus which was a really nice seaside town. 

I got there about 3pm and spent a few hours in the town and at the beach. Lush. 

The hotel offered massage therapies, so I booked myself in for one at 7pm while the boys went for their first dinner at McDonald's. 

I then met them at 9 and we went out for their dinner number 2. Jake ordered a four course dinner for just himself, and when the waitress forgot his desert spoon he face dived the plate and finished it before she got back, with it all over his face. She then came out 5 minutes later with one profiterole on a plate, smothered in squirty cream and chocolate sauce. She's brought all the other waiters to come and take pictures and watch him do it again. 

Day 12, Wednesday 2nd July. Carpentras to Trets.

Ugh. Highs and lows. 

Got up at 5am to drive for four hours to Ambert to collect things from James' car and swap the hire car over. As james' car can't be repaired before we leave, our insurance will repatriate his car and give us a hire car all the way home. The new one can be off hired at Rosscoff. 

Can't be bothered with the details, it was boring. We got back to Carpentras as 4pm and the boys started their 80 mile cycle to Trets at 5pm, arriving at 11. 

The town of Trets is nice but I just had a bath and got take out pizza for the boys. 

Ventoux!!!

Ok so I will leave the boys to write a blog post about their climb, as I'm sure it will be more interesting than mine!!

My drive up the 22km climb was amazing!!! It was of varying steepness, with gradient and altitude markers each km. it was 11% for 4km straight!

I held my breath most of the way as it was very scary. I pulled over often to rest the car and take pictures, they don't do it justice it was beautiful 

I got to the top and it was very windy and very cold - 12 degrees. 

Here's my mountain selfie

James and Joe made it in about an hour and a half. Jake about 30 mins later. 

Day 11: Le Pouzin to Carpentras, via Malaucene and Mont Ventoux.

It's lunch time and I'm sat in a sports bar, about 20km away from the base of Mt Ventoux in a town called Malaucene and this place is buzzing with cyclists. Some grabbing a quick energy boost before making the climb, and others seeking replenishment after. The boys are about half an hour away, so I am grabbing a quick coffee. 

The boys will have already ridden about 80 miles so far this morning, but they seemed very keen to make the journey up Ventoux when we discussed it last night. On the drive here, even from 100km away it looked menacing on the horizon, far taller than all the other peaks. Up close it looks even more dramatic. The image below does it no justice. 

I have concerns for the car making it up, but we are all keen to get there as a group. If their motivation is faltering, this is sure to get them excited again. Everything is Ventoux themed - like giant ice creme sundaes, and there are loads of cycling shops selling Ventoux themed jerseys. 

I walked over to one of those "you are here" maps. It displayed proudly that this is an area of cycle routes, attracting riders from all around. Yet of all the suggested cycling routes, none of them went to the peak of Ventoux. Even on Strava's difficulty rating it is listed as "beyond classification."

I feel nervous for them...

Day 10: Saint Etienne to Le Pouzin, along the Rhone Valley. Monday June 30

Heads are saw from trying to think up alternative routes and options, given the drama with the car. The hire car is fine, but I only have it until Wednesday. So either way I have to go back to Ambert. It's a balance now between getting the miles in on the bikes, to arrive at Nice by Friday, but at the same time keeping in mind that every mile towards Nice adds extra to my journey back to Ambert. Even if the car is fixed today, it's a 400 mile round trip. Each day adds an additional 150 on to that. 

It's a sorry state but the only option is to bin off Mont Ventoux. It was a diversion from the initial route, and the boys were keen (?!) to do it, but with the rest day yesterday and safety miles today and tomorrow it's just not possible. On Thursday the boys may need to cycle 170 in one day. 

Not ideal!

Also it's costing us much more too. There's no way we could fit all our things into the Panda, so the camping stuff plus all none essentials for around 4 days were left behind. While hotelling it up and meals out every night is nice, it's much more that the average of 15 euro a night we had previously been spending on accommodation. 

I'm trying to keep my own spirits high too - it's been quite a stressful few days all round, and although I've not been cycling it's been quite draining for me too. The Panda has no air con, and right on queue the cloud has broken and we're back to baking heat and clear skies. A left hand drive is also really hard to get used to. 

Anyway. 

Today's drive has been lovely. I opted for the scenic route, cutting down the mountains along the the River Rhone. I have stopped off for a coffee and a few photos in Tournon Sur Rhone, a pretty little town on the river. The views driving here were spectacular but I daren't stop at one one the many picnic stops - I was desperate to get off the death roads in the mountains. Maintaining my position in the road has been quite a challenge, and bumping into the curb is one thing, but falling off a mountain is another!! So I don't have many pictures of the route I'm afraid. But I have tried to take some at Tournon. 

I waited there for the boys to give them their lunch. They had said it was their best ride so far, so that's brilliant. A big mountain at the start, then all down hill and then flat along the Rhone Valley with some spectacular views. Lovely stuff!! At the top of the mountain it was 13 degrees, at the bottom it was 26! They averaged 17mph for the ride, even with the mountain! Scenery looks very different this side of the mountain. 

After lunch I headed for our hotel, the Ibiz in Le Pouzin. We had a couple of beers and dinner in the hotel after searching for the village for a restaurant. 

After much discussion the boys have decided not only to make up the miles lost from the rest day, to get us to the same place we should be at the end of Tuesday, but they have decided to take the detour to go up Mont Ventoux!! Lads lads lads!

I have booked us a hotel called "le coq hardi" tomorrow in Carpentres. 

Day 9: rest day in Saint Etienne.

Not much to report from today. As it was Sunday, everything was closed, except for the McDonald's which we took advantage of. 

After hours of research and even downlaoding an app, jake and joe navigated us to McDonald's and couldn't agree on a direction. James and I stood by laughing, pleased that me and him were doing the navigating for when it mattered!

Here's a picture of the new streamlined Ligne-Mobile:

It has been cold and cloudy all day, but the sun has just come out (it's 9pm) and there's a lovely rainbow

...I told you today was dull!!

Oh, james took this picture yesterday, they were so high up they were at a ski resort!!