Monday 26 May 2014

Although it rained into the night, we awoke to a dry light overcast that shortly turned back to broken clouds and sunshine, just right for our planned trip up Mont Ventoux. We couldn't get the service point to work so resolved to look out for another later and re-joined the Route Napoleon.


Veering off, we started climbing before spotting a service point in the lovely little village of Banon, which wasn't in the book so after making use of the facilities we made a note of all the details to submit later. The road up Mont Ventoux is a stage of the Tour de France cycle race and was being well used by cyclists, as well as a number of motor-cyclists, so we were constantly on the lookout on this winding but well-surfaced road. A bit narrow but perfectly adequate for us.


We took a break halfway up for lunch then continued to the top, down to 2nd and 3rd gear for much of the time.  Peaking out at around 6000ft, we paused to take in the stunning all round view and try a couple of photos.

Nearing the top

Not snow, just colour of rocks

Views from the top

Coming down the other side was a slow affair, having to keep in a low gear to prevent running away. We paused halfway down to let the brakes cool off!


Then continuing north and west, we picked out a couple of aires then chose Montbrison, a small village in wine/olive oil country with a dedicated parking spot on the edge of the village. Joining a couple of other vans already in place, we again settled down for a quiet evening.

And it started to rain!