Arrived in France & Pedalling!

Goodness me, what a long journey! We watched The Imitation Game (v good) until around 1.30am & then attempted to get some sleep.

The chap sat next to me did the gentlemanly thing and found another seat to fall asleep on. Obviously my dribbling, wiggling & sleep-talking did the trick!

But this is when they also turned the air-con to full blast & we all turned into icicles. I was snuggled under my fleece top and fleece bodywarmer and some fluffy thick socks to stay warm. Best of all, I'd remembered to take my eyeshades which blocked out all the lights from the road.

I seemed to sleep in roughly 10 minute bouts before needing to launch into a new position in the limited but luxurious space of 2 whole seats. I might have got 3-4 hours sleep in total in the 27 hour journey, which is still more than the previous night. Perhaps the wine in the polystyrene cup really did help.

It was bouncing down outside during the early hours of the morning. Heavy rain outside is one of my favourite sounds so that helped me sleep a bit better.

Anyways, we arrived in Orange around 9am. I got changed into my cycle kit, packed up, shopped for supplies in the supermarket across the road and then set off (after a pain au chocolat for brekkie of course).

I'm glad I asked another cyclist if I headed right to get out of Orange and to where I wanted. No Madame, it is left. Ok! In fact it was the usual few false starts before getting out of the town.

I had many miles of happy pedalling on the flat past gazillions of vineyards (so many of my friends would definitely love to visit here!) and fields of sunflowers which are now past there best. Unusually, I had a lovely tailwind for many of these miles and I was bowling along. Fabulous as that was, I wanted to take it steadily, look around and savour every wonderful moment.

I stopped for a cuppa and was amazed that I got an actual teapot rather than just a cup. in fact, I got 2 teapots! One was full of hot water to which I added the teabag they gave me and the other was equally full of cold milk. Bizarre! And it cost nearly 4 euros - eek! Let's hope the wine is cheaper tonight :-)

The afternoon was mostly spent pedalling upwards into the foothills of the mountains. I think I've been pedalling towards Mont Ventoux all day but I can't see the top which has been covered in a thick blanket of cloud. That will either be suffocatingly humid tomorrow or freezing fog. I perform better in the former although neither are particularly appealing options.

The temperatures have been lovely and warm with lots of sunshine and some cloud. I've been in just a sleeveless top - no gilet! - which probably means everyone else would be melting in this!

For anyone following where I'm going on maps, I've done a fairly convoluted route from Orange to Bedoin today. If traced on a map, it would resemble a heart monitor with the heart beat going up and down and up and down. I knew it would be a super-short cycling day otherwise. The mileage was still low at 32 miles. But good to get the legs going after sitting on the bike bus for so long and it leaves me with plenty of energy to tackle Ventoux tomorrow on my heavy steel tourer.

The forecast is looking ok for tomorrow's ascent up Mont Ventoux (30 degrees, sunny, cloudy) although unfortunately windy - 30km winds in Bedoin so goodness knows what speed it will be racing at the top of the 'Windy Mountain'. Probably enough to blow me off my bike again, just like ex-hurricane Bertha on my Lancashire tour last year.

During my Summer tour of 2012, I experienced some bad camp pitches but nothing like what I have here in Provence. Rock and stones! I asked the lovely-looking couple in the next tent along and they have hammered enormous nails in to hold my tent out. I need to buy a tent capable of free-standing for future trips to France - the ground is frequently appalling and not suitable for tents at all, only caravans and motor homes. Anyway, my lovely canvas home is safely up again thanks to my rescuers.

Everything inside me is screaming for a glass of wine now (to help me sleep tonight of course) so I must oblige.

Thank you again to all of you posting comments on the blog - they're awesome to pick up and really make my day! As do all the texts and emails - thank you hugely for keeping me company and keeping me up to date :-))

Andi xx

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